Claiming that Jats’ reservation at Central Government is a rightful demand in the present scenario, the Sarva Jat Khap Mahapanchayat has threatened to seal Delhi borders in February next year if their demands for Other Backward Class (OBC) status and reservation were not met by December 23.
The khap panchayat said Jats would not sit calmly without getting their due right. It also resolved that they would oppose the Congress party candidates in coming parliamentary polls if the party does not fulfill their demand.
The panchayat also demanded immediate amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act in order to check honour killing and other crime against women in the state.
Earlier, a significant numbers of representatives of over 100 khaps across the state gathered at Jat Dharamshala here and discussed various aspects of the reservation issue in depth.
The meeting presided over by Nafe Singh Nain took around four hours to decide further course of action to build pressure on the union government for getting OBC status in centre.
“Reservation in centre is the due right of Jats who are all set to fight a long battle for getting their right. All sorts of Jat organasations are united over the issue and will fight the battle together. This time, we will not return empty handed from Delhi,” said the khap leaders at the meeting.
They said “We will wait for the government’s decision regarding reservation till Decemeber 23 next and will express gratitude of the union government if it announces OBC status for Jats otherwise a national level campaign will be launched to gherao Delhi in February.”
The khap leaders said the agitation campaign would be peaceful in all manners but no one would be allowed to enter Delhi during the gherao. The government would be fully responsible for any untoward incident if they force the agitating jats to vacate the national capital, they added.
While passing a resolution seeking amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, the khap mahapanchat said amendment in the act was the only solution to curb rising incident of honour killing in the state.
“The present marriage act does not prohibit weddings between people of same gotra and same village while our century-old social custom does not accept such marriages hence marriages within same gotra and same village should be proscribed in the eye of law and it is possible only when the marriage act will be amended,” said the khap leaders at the meeting.
They again made it clear that the khap panchayats never ever pronounced any verdict of honour killing and not provoked any one to indulge in such a heinous crime.
"We always oppose such incidents and wish to prevent it. That’s why, we have been raising the demand of amendment in the Hindu Marriage act for a long time," the khap leaders added.
The prominent khap leaders Tekram Kandela, Sube Singh Samain, Hawa Singh Sangwan, Kitab Singh Bhanwala, Baljeet Redhu, Jagat Singh Redhu, Har Narayana Bura also spoke on the occasion and present their suggestions to effiectively carry out the reservation movement.