With an eye to 2014 lok Sabha elections, the Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the inclusion of Jats of nine States in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The Government’s approval to the recommendation of the Group of Ministers, set up for the purpose, is seen as a pre-poll sop — especially against the backdrop of reports that the Jat community was veering away towards the BJP following the Muzaffarnagar riots and also to counter BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s OBC identity.
For his part, Modi too has not been holding himself back in wooing his community. The GoM constituted by the Prime Minister in August had recommended the inclusion of Jats of Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan (two districts), Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Bihar in the Central list of OBC. Jats are already included in the State list of OBCs in these nine States.
Their inclusion would enable the Jat community to avail the benefits of reservation available to the OBCs for employment, admissions to Central Government services and posts and educational institutions.
The Samajwadi Party had termed the Congress’s plan a conspiracy to divide people and accused it of ignoring its demand to include 17 backward castes in SC category.
Recently, the heads of a number of Khap panchayats from different States besides hordes of others from the OBC category had protested at Jantar Mantar against the Government’s proposal to include Jats in the central OBC list and give them the benefit of reservation.
The Cabinet held that NCBC should reconsider its earlier decision of not conducting a survey of Jats in the country. "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 in Central Government jobs and central education institutions as per the existing norms. After detailed deliberation and analysis of data by the Government, the Cabinet decided to ask the NCBC expeditiously and revert to the Cabinet," Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said briefing the Cabinet’s decision.