MUMBAI, Aug. 15 -- As the deadline for Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil's "final and decisive protest" against the BJP-led Mahayuti government approaches, the state government has denied his charge that Kunbi certificates are not being issued to Marathas. According to the government, 1.4 million Kunbi certificates have been issued to Marathas since October 2023, when Jarange-Patil began his agitation for reservation. The government has issued over 5.17 million OBC certificates since 1986, when the demand for Maratha reservation began, according to government officials. Jarange-Patil says he will begin his "largest ever" protest on August 29 as the government has allegedly not been issuing Kunbi certificates despite the Sandeep Shinde committee being appointed to find records establishing Kunbi antecedents among Marathas. He also alleged that many of the Kunbi certificates issued have been rejected by caste scrutiny committees at the district level. The quota activist alleged that the certificates were rejected by the committees on orders of revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, an OBC leader. The government has rejected these claims, saying the rejection of certificates by the committees was not intentional and that applications from members of all communities had been rejected. "The Sandeep Shinde committee found over 5.8 million documents with Kunbi antecedents. Since the constitution of the committee, the government has issued 1.4 million Kunbi certificates. Of these, 389,160 certificates were issued since August 22, 2025," said a revenue department official. The quota activist has also alleged that the government has failed to withdraw cases registered against Maratha protesters over the last three years. According to government figures, most cases have been withdrawn since September 2023. "We have provided the data demanded by Jarange-Patil. I will persuade him to call off his proposed protest," said water resources minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil. Virendra Pawar, one of the coordinators of the Sakal Maratha Samaj, said, "The government figures are misleading as most of the certificates have been given in Vidarbha and the Konkan, where Marathas are already known as Kunbis. The real need for the certificates is in Marathwada and North Maharashtra, where Marathas are in the open category. We are firm on the protest from August 29."...