Succumbing to the pressure from agitating members of the Jat community, the Haryana Government on Friday agreed to provide Special Backward Class (SBC) status for Jats in the State and announced to introduce legislation in the ensuing State Assembly session to give reservation to the Jats.
With the agitation turning violence in various parts of the State, the move to bring in a Bill in the State Assembly is seen as the last resort to
restore law & order situation in the State.
Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar, who held an all-party meeting on Friday said, “The State Government would prepare a draft Bill for reservation and suggestions have been sought from all parties in this regard. Meanwhile, the committee headed by Chief Secretary to study aspects of giving reservation to the Jats has also been asked to submit its report at the earliest.”
Khattar issued an appeal to the Jats for maintaining peace and calling off agitation.
late on Friday, top Union Ministers — Rajnath Singh, Manohar Parrikar, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley — reviewed the Haryana situation. Rajnath Singh talked to Khattar and assured Central help.
Political leaders who took part in the meeting with the CM included senior Congress leaders Ashok Tanwar,
former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda and Kiran Chaudhary, INlD leaders Jaswinder Singh Sandhu and Ashok Arora, BSP’s Tek Chand Sharma and State Cabinet Ministers.
Speaking to the mediapersons after attending an all-party meeting held in Chandigarh, Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar said, “We have accepted all the demands of Jats including reservations and providing Special Backward Class (SBC) status to Jats.”
During the meeting, the Opposition parties condemned BJP Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini for his anti-Jat stand and also demanded apology from him for issuing anti-Jat statements time and again.
With agitation, which began in Rohtak, spreading to the entire State and entering the sixth day, all political parties also made an appeal to the Jat community to end their agitation.
Earlier, the State Government had announced to enhance the quota of reservation in Government jobs and for admission to educational institutions for economically backward classes from 10 to 20 per cent, however, the proposal had failed to appease the Jat protesters.