Describing Centre's move to provide reservation to Jats in Central Government jobs “only” in nine States as “unfair and discriminatory”, Punjab’s former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh has shot off a communique to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to extend it to Punjab and three other states too.
Capt Amarinder Singh, a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and also the president of All India Jat Maha Sabha, added that the reservation should be based on the caste and not on religious basis, as Sikh and Muslim Jats have been excluded from the benefit at several places. He had also written to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the same issue this month. In his letter to the Prime Minister, copies of which were released to the media on Sunday, Capt Amarinder Singh said, “Jats have presence in 13 States all over the country”.
He demanded that the benefit should also be extended to Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. With an apparent attempt to woo Jats ahead of lok Sabha polls, the Centre on December 19 took a step forward towards granting them reservation in Central Government jobs as it asked the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) to expeditiously take a call on it. The Cabinet asked the NCBC to take an early decision on including Jats in the central list of OBCs by which the community members can avail benefits of reservation.
The senior Congress leader said that the move is “unfair and discriminatory” and national decisions cannot be applied “selectively”. “This is arbitrary and will be viewed as a partisan attitude,” he said.Singh said that no national decision can be made for a part of the community falling within the part of the country. “In this case, Jats be they Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims have been divided on national basis which is unjust and unfair,” he pointed.