Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange spearheaded a significant agitation in Maharashtra, demanding reservation for the Maratha community under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. His core demand was that all Marathas be granted Kunbi caste certificates, which would make them eligible for OBC reservation benefits.

Jarange initially issued a stern warning from Azad Maidan in South Mumbai, where he had been staging a protest. He declared that if the Maratha community's demands were not met, members from across Maharashtra would join the protest by the following weekend. To further intensify his agitation, Jarange announced his intention to refuse to consume water, starting the Monday after his warning. He expressed an unwillingness to grant additional time to the Mahayuti government, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, to address the issue, accusing them of ignoring the Maratha community's demands. Jarange asserted that the youth, who formed the main force of the movement, had not yet fully arrived, and their eventual participation would demonstrate the protest's true scale. He also warned that if Marathas withdrew support from the Mahayuti, it could lead to the defeat of alliance candidates in both village and municipal elections, highlighting the community's political leverage.

During this period, senior minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, who chaired a cabinet sub-committee on Maratha reservation, held a crucial meeting with Maharashtra’s Advocate General Biren Saraf, retired High Court judge Sandeep Shinde, and other committee members. The discussion focused on the legal feasibility of implementing historical documents, specifically the Hyderabad and Satara gazetteers, to support the classification of Marathas as Kunbis. Following the meeting, Vikhe-Patil stated that the Advocate General and Justice Shinde required more time to study the application of these gazetteers in line with Jarange’s demand. He also acknowledged a Supreme Court observation that Marathas and Kunbis were not the same, noting that this could not be overridden, but affirmed the government's openness to finding a solution through continued discussions.

Amidst the escalating protests, the Bombay High Court sharply criticized the Maharashtra government for its failure to manage the situation at Azad Maidan, where Jarange's indefinite fast and thousands of his supporters caused significant inconvenience by blocking roads and railway stations in Mumbai. The High Court, hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding the disruptions, observed that the protest site could have been