Maharashtra cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal upped the ante on Monday by alleging that Kunbi caste certificates are being obtained on the basis of forged or fake caste certificates. Bhujbal, who is a prominent leader of the OBCs, is already at war with many Marathas not only in the state cabinet, but also outside. He is very categorical that the Marathas should not be granted reservation in matters of government jobs and education at the cost of the OBCs.

He clarified that he is not opposed to granting reservations to Marathas without adversely impacting the interests of the OBCs. But, he said he was totally opposed to the “ongoing practice of obtaining Kunbi (caste) certificates by submitting fake or forged documents”.

The government had set up the five-member panel headed by Justice Shinde to decide the standard operating procedure for giving Kunbi certificates to members of the Maratha community who (or whose ancestors) were referred to as Kunbis in Nizam-era documents.

The state government had on October 31 directed the officials concerned to issue fresh Kunbi caste certificates to eligible Maratha community members, paving the way for them to avail reservation benefits under the OBC category.

Bhujbal told mediapersons on Monday that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had set up the committee to find out Kunbi lineage from the Nizam regime in the pre-Independence period.

“I have no issues with this process. I am opposed to people from other regions of the state who are making fake claims to obtain Kunbi certificates so that they can enjoy the existing benefits of reservation in education and government jobs,” he said.

“The Shinde committee found sufficient number of proofs in the Marathwada region. Eligible people from Marathwada should get the certificates. Its work is complete now. It should be dismantled,” he added.

He reiterated that if all Marathas are given Kunbi caste certificates across the state there will be no Maratha community left in the state.

The caste-wise backwardness should be checked through a survey of all communities along with the Maratha community and then the facilities should be given,” he explained.

“OBC leader Prakash Shendge recently showed seven to eight documents to the CM which showed that old certificates were tampered with a pen. Such fake claims should not be entertained and Kunbi certificates should not be given to people on the basis of such forged documents,” he said.

Bhujbal noted that the Supreme Court has already stated that Marathas cannot be categorised as OBC.

“When the first list of OBCs came out after the Mandal Commission’s report was accepted by the Union government, some 200 backward communities were identified. Later more communities were identified as OBCs and the number increased to more than 350. I never opposed such a change,” he said.

On quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil’s recent remark that Marathas had to work under undeserving people, Bhujbal said “ many OBCs had worked under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. “Several saints were also from the OBCs. And now this new leader [Jarange-Patil] says that we are undeserving,” he observed.

Bhujbal said candidates from the OBC category were proving themselves in various exams. Their merit list cut-off in competitive exams is equivalent to the open category, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)