Jat quota — Oppn comes down heavily on Chautala

However, the Congress and sundry Opposition parties have come down heavily on Chautala for his “smart move”. Accusing the Chief Minister of hoodwinking people, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, president of the Haryana Congress, has demanded implementation of a report on the same subject, which had been shelved after the Mandal Commission. For the Congress, which is still licking its wounds after its humilating defeat in Haryana in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Jat issue has come as a God-send. The party has decided to exploit the issue to the hilt as it comes at a time when Chautala isall set to announce the Assembly elections and the Congress edifice is in shambles.

The Congress has asked Chautala to implement the recommendations of the Gurnam Singh Commission, which had categorised Jats, Bishnois, Tyagis etc as Backward Castes. Though the panel’s recommendations had been unanimously okayed for implementation by the Assembly, with the advent of the Mandal Commission, which gave similar recommendations, it was allowed to lapse.

Hooda claimed that Chautala faced no hurdle in directly confering OBC status on Jats and other communities and there was no need for him to look to the Centre for this.

Congress leaders say the issue will electrify the political atmosphere in the state. The party, which is the main rival of the Chautala-led INLD and BJP combine in the likely elections early next year, has vowed to launch a state-wide agitation on the reservations issue. Chautala has all reasons to feel peeved over the way the BJP ignored his interests in the Jat reservation issue.

Observersfeel that Chautala is trying to suppress the issue at least until elections are over. In case he commits himself to the reservation for this community, he may face a backlash from other communities.

Jats constitute about one thirds of Haryana’s population and are a politically dominant group here. Chautala’s rivals have also floated a front, Gurnam Singh Ayog Sangharsh Samiti, to mobilise opinion on the reservation issue. Meanwhile, Chautala today said the Union Government’s decision not to give OBC status to Jats in a particular area of Rajasthan was not based on the principle of equality. He said it was surprising that the districts of Dholpur and Bharatpur in Rajasthan had been left out because these were a part of an estate which was once ruled by a Jat. If the ruler had been a Jat, it didn’t follow the entire population of the area was of the same status, he added. He said it appeared that the BJP-led Central Government was trying to mislead the Jats just as the Congress had been doing. Such an act wasnot in accordance with the Constitution, he said. He feared that some people may go to the court against such a decision and the issue would linger on. Chautala said the BJP was just trying to gain political mileage out of the issue.

Chautala urged the PM not to apply different yardsticks and give OBC status to the entire Jat community in Haryana, Punjab, UP and other parts of the country.