The Mumbai Police on Thursday deployed more than 1,500 personnel at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai to ensure law and order during activist Manoj Jarange’s indefinite fast over the Maratha quota demand, officials confirmed.

Jarange, 43, had earlier announced that he would begin his hunger strike at Azad Maidan on August 29. Accompanied by thousands of supporters, he left his native Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna district on August 26. On Thursday morning, the activist paid tribute at Shivneri Fort, the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, before heading to Mumbai, according to news agency PTI. 

Jarange has been pressing for the inclusion of all Marathas in the Kunbi category, an agrarian caste already listed under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota, which would grant the community reservation benefits in government jobs and education.