BackSplit in Jat leadership tempers Haryana quota protests
The problem for BJP is that this time the agitation is not confined to Haryana, but will also extend to Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, all of which go to elections next year
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New Delhi: A split in the Jat leadership has punctured the elaborate plans to carry out protests against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Haryana government over the demand for reservation as other backward classes (OBCs).
The first two days of the protest in Delhi and Haryana have not witnessed large crowds or any road blocks because senior leaders of the BJP in Haryana and central leaders have been asking Khap (community-wise) panchayats not to support the agitation called by the Jat Sangharsh Samiti (JSS). The protest had started on 5 June in Haryana and was launched in Delhi on 6 June.
“There was a deliberate effort by the state government and central leaders not to let this agitation get out of control and become a law and order problem. We have managed to divide the various community based panchayats and have tried to convince them that they should not support such efforts which not only lead to violence but also bring a bad name to the state," said a senior BJP leader from Haryana. The BJP leader also pointed out that while BJP leaders support the demand made by Jat community, there should be no violence or the law and order crisis as in the case of protests in February this year in which 30 people were killed.
The Jat community is the single largest social grouping in Haryana and consequently wields significant political influence. The second round of protests by Jats will be a test for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) not only in Haryana, where the party has its first chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, but also in Delhi, where agitators held protests on 6 June. Similar protests are planned in 61 places in Uttar Pradesh, especially, western Uttar Pradesh, on 8 June. Similarly, the Jat Sangharsh Samiti plans to hold similar protests in Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
“The khap panchayats are divided this time. Some of them are supporting us and some are supporting the state government. We don’t want violence like the last time. We are purposely not allowing people to gather in large numbers. We want less number of people only to register our protest. We feared that if there would be more people or crowd during protests, the chances of violence increases. So in order to maintain law and order situation in all states, we decided not to let a crowd gather," said Yashpal Malik, chief of the Jat Sangharsh Samiti (JSS).
Malik added that JSS members had met some of union ministers, but there has been no effort made by the state government under Mahohar Lal Khattar to hold talks with the JSS.
The problem for BJP is that this time the agitation is not confined to Haryana, but will also extend to Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, all of which go to elections next year.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on 26 May stayed reservations for the Jat community provided by bills cleared by governor Kaptan Singh Solanki on 1 April and notified on 12 May. The two bills—Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2016, and Haryana Backward Classes Commission Bill, 2016—were introduced by Khattar in the assembly on 29 March and passed the same day.
The bills propose quotas for Jats and five other castes—Jat Sikh, Ror, Bishnoi, Tyagi and Mulla Jat/Muslim Jat—by constituting a new classification, Block ‘C’, in the Backward Classes category. The changes were proposed after a violent Jat agitation that crippled the state and ended in the death of 30 people, injuries to 320 others and widespread damage to property. It was brought under control only after the army staged a flag march.
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