Former Punjab Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh was unanimously elected president of the All India Jat Maha Sabha on Sunday. And, soon after his election, Capt Amarinder demanded reservation for Jats in jobs under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota. “The quota for Jats in jobs is required to enable them improve their social, educational and economic status,” the Congress veteran said.
“The Jat Maha Sabha will hold its national conference within next two-three months to decide its future course of action to get this demand accepted,” he said. He added that all Jats were not prosperous. “In states like Punjab and Haryana, a large number of them are economically poor and socially and educationally backward. Therefore, they deserve reservation,” said Capt Amarinder. He said, due to the shrinking of land holdings quite a number of people belonging to this community, otherwise believed to be affluent, were reduced to penury and poverty. The rich and prosperous families among Jats could be excluded from reservation as “creamy layer”, he added.
The Jat Maha Sabha was demanding quota only for those who needed it and not for those who fall in the creamy layer, the former Chief Minister said. Quoting examples from Punjab, he said that the educated youth belonging to the community were not finding jobs, and as a result getting trapped in various social evils like drug addiction.
“My preliminary inquiries from delegates coming from various states indicate that the situation there is also no different,” he said.
He said that Jat Maha Sabha was a non-political organization and there were people in it who belonged to different political parties, be it Congress, BJP, lok Dal or any other organization.
The former Chief Minister said that several states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, and Madhya Pradesh have already provided reservation to the Jat community.
“When the reservation has been implemented by the Central Government in Rajasthan, why it could not be implemented nationwideIJ” he questioned.
He said, he had been associated with the Maha Sabha for last 30 years as its patron since 1980 when Capt Bhagwan Singh was its president.
Delegates from Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttrakhand had gathered here to attend the meeting of the All India Jat Maha Sabha.