The unabated violence during the quota agitation by Jats in Haryana cast a shadow over the “Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit-2016” which began on Monday in Gurgaon.
Speaking at the Summit, industrialist Anand Mahindra, chairman and managing director of Mahindra Group pointed out how the issue can possibly affect those considering investing in the state. "Any investor looks for security and law order, recent events have cast shadow on that," said Mahindra.
He added, “I'm sure Chief Minister will do whatever he can to maintain social harmony and law and order.”
The first ‘Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit-2016’, in which investors from 12 nations are participating, started days after the Jat agitation in which 30 people died, more than 200 were injured and property worth hundreds of crores was destroyed.
For almost ten days, the Jat protesters had blocked rail and road traffic and targeted vehicles and shops across several districts and the stir was called off only after the BJP led Central Government intervened and promised to introduce a bill to give reservation in jobs to Jats and four other communities in the upcoming Haryana assembly session.
Referring to the Jat agitation in the State, Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar said that just a fortnight ago, some dark clouds began to loom large over this summit. We had just been through one hundred difficult hours when seven of our 21 districts witnessed some unfortunate law-and-order events. During those hours, I often thought of President Abraham lincoln handling one of the most consequential periods in American history. After this period was over, many people in and outside my government, asked me to reconsider holding this Summit, he said.
He added, “I knew that the right action was to carry on with this summit sans the frills and celebrations.”
“Natural calamities and law and order disturbances are risks in all locations in the world. What really matters is… how the Government responds. I was confident that we had done the right thing for our people and our investors in the most challenging times in the history of Haryana”, said Khattar.
Haryana Government has set a target to attract investment of more than Rs one lakh crore during the summit. The participating countries include China, Czech Republic, Japan, Malawi, Mauritius, New Zealand, South Korea, Peru, Poland, Spain, Britain and Tunisia.