New Delhi: Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil was offered a glass of juice by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday, January 27 morning, marking the end of the indefinite fast he began on January 19 demanding quota for his community. The Shinde government accepted all his demands.Together with Shinde, Patil garlanded the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s statue in Navi Mumbai’s Vashi. A victory rally is being planned by Patil and his supporters in Vashi. Earlier, he had threatened to march to Mumbai with his supporters in tow unless his demands were not met.Patil has been demanding Kunbi (Other Backward Class) certificates for all Marathas, free education from kindergarten to postgraduate level, and reservation of seats for Marathas in government job recruitments.Marathas constitute 33% of Maharashtra’s population. They are a heterogeneous group covering many castes and are into a number of occupations such as landowners, peasants, and warriors. Some of the most common surnames of Marathas are Deshmukh, Bhonsle, More, Shirke, and Jadhav while Kunbis are predominantly agrarian sub-caste.In 2004, the Maharashtra government included Maratha-Kunbis and Kunbi-Marathas in the list of OBCs but left out those who identified as Marathas. Kunbi came under the OBCs category. Due to agriculture distress and low yields, a number of Marathas hailing from the state’s Marathwada region have been demanding reservations for all Marathas in both employment and education. So far, 37 lakh Kunbi certificates have been given, and with the government now accepting reservation demand of all Marathas, the number of such certificates in the state are expected to go up to 50 lakh.In 2018, the then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis did pass a Bill, granting 16% reservation to Marathas in education and jobs. However, the Bill was challenged in the Bombay high court, which upheld the Bill but reduced the quota to 13% in jobs and 12% in education.However, the Bill hit a roadblock in the Supreme Court in 2018 when it struck down the Maharashtra government’s law stating that it breached the 50% ceiling set on the reservations.