Quota for Marathas won't disturb existing policy: Fadnavis

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that the reservation for Maratha community in the government jobs and admission in public sector academic institutions would not have any adverse impact on the state's existing quota policy.

"Without disturbing 52 per cent reservation we have for the state's OBCs, SCs and STs, we will give reservation to the Maratha community. Our government is committed to this," said Chief Minister Fadnavis amid uproar in the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday.

Lashing out at the opposition over the reservation issue, Fadnavis asked why the previous government did not give scholarships to Muslim students. "The opposition is dividing the people and they are doing politics on the reservation. They are talking about Muslim reservation for the sake of vote bank politics," he claimed.

Only recently, Maharashtra government approved the Maratha Reservation Bill, for which the community has been protesting since 2017. According to the Bill, the government will give separate reservation to Maratha community people under the category called socially and economically backward class or SEBC as per the recommendation of the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission.