'Dhangar First, Politician Later': BJP’s Face from Maha Community Gopichand Padalkar to Intensify Quota Stir

Gopichand Padalkar, the ‘Dhangar’ face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra, has decided to intensify his agitation for reservation.

From October 12, Padalkar will start the first phase of the ‘Dhangar Jagar Yatra’, his Maharashtra tour for reservation for the community. Padalkar recently posted on X, earlier Twitter: “I am a Dhangar first and later a leader.”

Taking cognizance of the post, the state has called for an urgent meeting on the issue.

THE YATRA

In the first phase, Padalkar will visit Marathwada, western Maharashtra, Vidarbha, North Maharashtra and will end the tour at Konkan on October 17. Padalkar had done a similar tour five years ago, when he tried to get government attention to the issues faced by the Dhangar community.

This time his aim is to galvanise the community and get their support.

Caste-based reservation has become a hot topic in the state. As the Maratha community has taken a strong stand for their quota, tribals and Dhangars are also protesting in different parts of Maharashtra, asking the state to take a call on their reservation.

Last month, Padalkar had threatened his party’s government of a ‘Jat’ community style agitation, if their demands were ignored.

The state government, which recently had a meeting with Padalkar, other leaders and representatives of the Dhangar community, had sought two months’ time to decide.

While speaking to the media, Padalkar said, “We are fighting the legal battle on this issue in court. We are confident that we will win. We will not be quiet until we get what is our right. With this tour, we want to reach maximum people from the Dhangar community and seek their support for the cause of reservation and the various demands we have put forth in front of the government.”