leaders must engage peacefully with the State
Irrespective of whether the Jat community's demand for Other Backward Caste status has any merit, the violent nature of the agitation is deplorable and only discredits the overall movement. Over the past few days, Jat protesters have blocked roadways, disrupted rail movements with more than 600 trained being cancelled, destroyed public and private property as well as engaged in large scale assault and arson. Police stations, rail offices, toll plazas and shopping malls have been targeted, shops have been looted and factories shut down. Senior politicians and sitting Ministers have not been spared either protesters torched State Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu's residence in Rohtak, a mob pelted stones at Cabinet Minister OP Dhankar's home in Jhajjar while Member of Parliament Raj Kumar Saini's house in Kaithal was also attacked. The situation was so bad in Rohtak, the epicentre of the movement, that the Army could not even approach the problem spots by road soldiers had to be air-dropped into the areas. The priority now is to establish law and order, and restore normalcy. The State Government has done well to call in the Army and other paramilitary forces in a timely manner. Over the weekend, curfew was also imposed in several districts. This brought temporary relief but the problem is far from over.
The agitation is still gaining ground and spreading from one district to the other. In fact, it has already moved out of Haryana and reached the national capital were Jat students have joined the movement. One cannot rule out the possibility that Jat communities in other States such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand may also be mobilised. The situation has been made worse by the fact that the protest movement seems to be rudderless at the moment, most just progressing on its own momentum. Reports suggest that the traditional leaders of the movement did not have control once the protests turned violent. For the Haryana Government, this makes its effort to restore law and order even more complicated.
Notably, on Saturday, after an all-party meeting, Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar sought to douse some fire by stating that the Government would find a way to give reservation to the Jat community. While there is no doubt that the two parties must engage in dialogue and resolve the situation, it is also important to keep in mind the history of the Jat agitation. The movement began in 2009 and since then, it has been through several violence phases. In 2013, the Haryana Government partially relented by offering a 10 per cent quota under the special backward class category. As this offer did not include benefits in Central Government jobs and universities, the protests, therefore, continued. In 2014, on the eve of the lok Sabha election, the UPA Government at the Centre threw in the additional benefits as well. However, in March 2015, the Supreme Court struck down the Central Government benefits; and four months later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court put the brakes on State benefits as well. In other words, these are complicated issues that require proper debate and discussion, not bullying tactics or knee-jerk reactions.