With the Jat agitation escalating across the State, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar on Friday announced to bring in a Bill in the ensuing State Assembly session to give reservation to Jats.
The Chief Minister also said that the State Government has already filed SlP in the Supreme Court against the stay order of Punjab and Haryana High Court dated July 27, 2015 regarding reservation.
With Jat agitation entering its sixth day and also turning violent on Friday, Khattar convened an all party meeting to deal with the ongoing agitation by the Jats, who are demanding reservation in the Government jobs and educational institutions. Addressing mediapersons after holding an all-party meeting, the Chief Minister said that the State Government would prepare a draft Bill for reservation and suggestions have been sought from all parties in this regard. If all parties agree, the Government would bring a Bill in the ensuing session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha on Jat reservation issue, he added.
The Chief Minister said, “The Government is open to talks to the agitators. We are waiting for feasible suggestions and a resolution or a Bill, whatever required would be passed for providing reservation to Jats.”
During the all party-meeting, the opposition parties condemned BJP Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini for his anti-Jat stand and also blamed the ruling BJP for encouraging its leaders which led to Jat agitation across the State. The Congress and INlD also demanded apology from Raj Kumar Saini for issuing anti-Jat remarks in the past. When questioned on taking action against Saini, the Chief Minister told the media that at present, priority is to maintain law and order situation in the State and to end the agitation.
Khattar added, “I have talked to Raj Kumar Saini who is in Visakhapatnam for some meeting. If the words of Saini has hurt the sentiments of the Jats, all his statements may be treated as withdrawn. Saini is out of station and as and when he comes back, he would take his words back.”
On being asked whether it is an intelligence failure of the State Government as Jat agitation intensified within few days in various parts of Haryana, the Chief Minister refrained from answering and replied that all this should not be discussed now.
When asked till when the Government would wait for the agitation to end and take strict action against agitators, he said that by evening, the Government is hopeful that the protest will end.
Replying to another question on politicisation of Jat agitation, Khattar said that a party or an individual cannot be blamed for the ongoing agitation. There are several ways to protest peacefully other than blocking roads, railway tracks and creating problem to the common masses, he added.
The all-party meeting was convened following Cabinet meet on Thursday evening. The talks between State Government and Jat leaders held on February 9 and later on February 17 had failed to appease the Jat protesters who continued their agitation on Friday.
Former Chief Minister and Congress MlA Bhupinder Singh Hooda, ClP leader Kiran Choudhary, Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala, INlD Haryana president Ashok Arora, INlD MlA Jasvinder Singh Sandhu, BSP MlA Tek Chand Sharma, independent MlA Jai Parkash, Cabinet Minister Ram Bilas Sharma among others were present in the all-party meeting.
Earlier, the State Government had announced to enhance the quota of reservation in Government jobs and for admission to educational institutions for economically backward classes from 10 to 20 per cent. A committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary has also been constituted to study all aspects of the issue of Jat reservation for special backward classes.
In the agrarian milieu of Haryana, Jats come across as dominant community with more than 26 per cent of State’s electorate.
The Supreme Court had in March 2015 quashed the decision of the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre to provide reservation to Jats under OBC category. Another expected setback to the Jats came in the form of order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in July 2015 which stayed the decision of the previous Hooda Government to grant 10% reservation to Jats, Jat-Sikhs, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis under the special backward classes (SBC) category.