The ‘Jat reservation’ issue, once again, echoed in Haryana Vidhan Sabha with legislators of treasury benches and Opposition party engaging in a heated debate, forcing the House to be adjourned for half an hour on Friday.
The Haryana Assembly plunged into a chaos when Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar withdrew the calling attention motion over the ‘Jat reservation’ issue, which he had earlier allowed for debate in the House.
The calling attention motion was moved by leader of opposition and INlD senior leader Abhay Chautala who also spoke on the issue urging the State Government to take required steps and request the Centre to re-consider the issue of inclusion of Jat community in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The ruling BJP’s poor floor management, poor coordination and complete disarray come to the fore when its Cabinet Minister Krishan lal Panwar gave the reply on behalf of the government following which Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan while continuing Government’s reply said, “As per the rules, a State Assembly can not discuss sub-judice matter and it would be appropriate to not discuss the issue in the House.”
No resolution and no motion can be taken up in the Assembly regarding a matter which is sub-judice, according to the rules, added Baldev Raj Mahajan, who was present in the Assembly to given government’s reply on the ‘Jat reservation’ issue.
Soon after, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress legislator Karan Dalal objected to the statement made by Haryana AG. “In what capacity AG is participating in a debate in the House, asked Karan Dalal while Hooda pressed for a reply from the Government on the calling attention motion.
Amid commotion, the Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar stood up to clarify saying, “Reservation has become a political issue, just to take advantage. This is a social issue and not a political issue.”
Referring to the statement read out by Abhay Chautala, Manohar lal pointed out that he has stated, “To take political advantage, Jats were given reservation following the recommendation of Haryana Government just before the polls.”
Responding to the comments, Congress MlA Karan Dalal said, “This is like… looking london, Talking Tokyo. The debate is going on a different track.” Health Minister Anil Vij, then stood up to read out the rules of Vidhan Sabha which mandates that a sub-judice matter can not be discussed in the House. Reading out three quoted rules, Vij urged the Speaker to immediately withdraw the calling attention motion, which should not have been accepted in the first place.
After almost one hour of discussion on the issue, the Speaker while accepting AG’s and minister’s views, withdrew the calling attention motion saying that the issue can not be taken up in the House.
Provoked over the withdrawal of the calling attention motion, the INlD legislators rushed into the well of the House and raised slogans like ‘Jat Virodhi Sarkar Murdabad’ and ‘Aarakshan Virodhi Sarkar Murdabad’. “This is for the first time that a debate has been stopped after its initiation,” said INlD and Congress legislators.
As the ruckus continued, the Speaker announced to adjourn the house for 15 minutes. later, the Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav announced to adjourn the house for another 15 minutes. When the House reconvened after half an hour, the INlD and Congress legislators remained adamant to continue discussion on ‘Jat reservation’ issue and sought government’s reply on the same.
Taking strong objection of it, several BJP legislators stood up and protested saying that the opposition is politicising the issue of reservation.
Protesting cancellation of the debate on the grounds of sub-judice, leader of Opposition Abhay Chautala said that the issue is crucial for the State.
Jats, Jat Sikhs, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis should be given reservation as approved by the Government earlier. The Government should put up a strong case for the same in the Court, which has quashed the reservation orders, he added. later, the Chief Minister sought suggestions from them so that the Government can put up a strong case in the court on the Jat reservation issue.