‘Kunbi-lineage Marathas already granted OBC status in 2004 when Bhujbal was Dy CM’

The state government, through the 2004 GR, allowed the inclusion of nine castes and subcastes in the OBC category from the 151 recommended by MSCBC

MUMBAI: While protests against the September 2 Government Resolution (GR)—which enables Marathas to get Kunbi certificates, paving the way for their inclusion in the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category—are rising, experts and some OBC leaders have pointed out that the government had allowed people with Kunbi lineage to be included in the OBC category by issuing a GR as far back as June 2004, and the fresh GR is no different from it. Although food and civil supplies minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal has been leading the front, demanding that the September 2 GR be scrapped, the experts point out that the 2004 GR was issued when Bhujbal was deputy chief minister of the state.

Mumbai, India – 07, Oct 2025: National OBC Reservation Rights Convention protest rally, at Azad Maidan opposing the recent move to grant reservation to the Maratha community through the Kunabi OBC category, NCP leader and Maharashtra Minister Chagan Bhujbal, along with other OBC leaders, attended the event to voice their opposition, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Bhujbal and other OBC leaders, in their rally in Beed last week, pushed for the scrapping of the GR issued after Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil’s agitation in Mumbai on September 2. The GR says that Marathas should be issued Kunbi certificates on the basis of the Hyderabad Gazetteer of 1918, as it has references to the lineage of Marathas as Kunbis. The OBC leaders in the rally, while demanding the scrapping of the GR, said that there was unrest and fear among OBCs that Marathas would eat into their reservation pie.

Sachin Rajurkar, general secretary of the Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh, said that the fear was unwarranted, as both the GR issued on June 1, 2004 and on September 2 this year were similar in nature. “The GR issued 21 years ago has already termed the Marathas with Kunbi lineage as OBCs and allowed their inclusion in the OBC category,” he said. “This was on the recommendation of the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes (MSCBC) after a survey and hearings that went on between 2001 and 2003.”

The state government, through the 2004 GR, allowed the inclusion of nine castes and subcastes in the OBC category from the 151 recommended by MSCBC. The Congress-NCP government led by chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde issued the GR just three months before the assembly polls that year.

Chandrakant Bavkar, former president of the Kunbi Samajonnati Sangh, said, “It is true that the 2004 GR has already paved the way for Kunbi certificates to Kunbi-Marathas, Maratha-Kunbis and other similar castes, but the September 2 GR goes a step further. We believe that not only those with a Kunbi lineage but even pure Marathas have received Kunbi certificates on the basis of the 5.8 million documents collated by the Justice Shinde committee. In our petition in the Bombay high court opposing the September 2 GR, we have also noted that the 2004 GR was at the root of subsequent developments that enabled the inclusion of Marathas in the OBC category.”

Bavkar had appeared before the MSCBC in 2003 and said that they had opposed the inclusion of Kunbi-Marathas and Maratha-Kunbis even then. “Despite this, the commission recommended the inclusion,” he said. “We did not even realise at that time that it would have serious repercussions in the future.”

A member of the MSCBC, on condition of anonymity, said, “It is true that when the 2004 GR included people with Kunbi lineage in the OBC category, there was no need for the Mahayuti government to issue a fresh GR. Similarly, there was no need for a special order to implement the Hyderabad Gazetteer, as its implementation is implied while issuing caste certificates. The MSCBC refers to these gazettes while preparing the reports.”

The MSCBC member also pointed out that no gazette had any reference to castes or sub-caste but only to their population. “For instance, a 1931 gazette on Chandrapur says there were only 2 Manas (a scheduled tribe caste) in Chandrapur without any further details,” he said. “Now it would be difficult to find out if their population grew further, and if yes, are they the same as the ones referred to in the gazette? Because the gazette has neither names nor descriptions.”

The OBCs and Marathas are at loggerheads over the September 2 GR as the former feel that the GR will enable the mass inclusion of Marathas in the OBC category. Marathas have already been issued over 800,000 Kunbi certificates in the last two years on the basis of the 5.8 million documents establishing the Kunbi lineage of Marathas ferreted out by the Shinde Committee from past records.

Officials from the revenue department, however, say that even though the certificates have been issued, their validation is a Herculean task, as lineage cannot be proven without proper documents.