There were no lapses on the part of the Centre or state in the handling of the Jat agitation for reservation in Haryana, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Wednesday. The Centre ducked questions on the state government’s alleged lapses during the agitation, saying it would be better to wait for the report of the Prakesh Singh Inquiry Committee before drawing conclusions. Opposition members including Kumari Selja of the Congress, who is from Haryana, blamed the Centre for “intelligence and coordination failure” and the state government for inefficiency. Facing flak, Home Minister Singh said, “I don’t see lapses on the part of the Centre or state.” He said the Haryana government had expected that a solution to the issue would emerge from talks with Jat leaders, but the protests turned violent after an incident in which the BSF had to open fire on protesters, claiming three lives. Earlier attempts by MoS for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju to reply to the questions were thwarted. [related-post] “The government of Haryana was posted with intelligence inputs and an advisory was also issued to the state on February 19,” Singh said. Giving details of action taken following the violent incidents, Singh said 2,012 FIRs had been registered, 370 people arrested, besides 20 cases being registered by Government Railway Police. In a statement, the Home Ministry said the Centre had deployed 69 companies of central armed police forces and 56 Army columns to maintain law and order in the state. There was “good coordination” between the Centre and state, it said.
