Jat Stir Is Another Example of Khattar’s Failure at Governance

The Jats’ quota stir has brought to fore factionalism within the BJP, making the task more difficult for CM Khattar

For close to 40 years since Haryana was carved out of Punjab in 1966, Jats have been dominating the political discourse in the state. Seven of Haryana’s 10 chief ministers have been from this community and, barring Bhajan Lal, the astute politician who was a self-proclaimed PhD in politics, the other two non-Jat CMs were inconsequential.

Though the Jats constitute only about 29 per cent of the state’s population, their leaders such as Devi Lal, Bansi Lal, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Om Parkash Chautala, held the reins of power. They were also generous with recruiting Jats in government jobs and posting officers from the community to key posts. Besides key portfolios in the ministry, Jat leaders were also accommodated as chairpersons of various boards and corporations.

Khattar Must Take the Blame

There has been a demand for reservation by the community for long and it was no coincidence that the Jats, who are the deciding factor in one-third of the 90 assembly constituencies in the state, have taken to the streets around the same period every year. The period coincides with the time when farmers are relatively free from agricultural operations.

This year the agitation spun out of control and the new state government, headed by the first-time MLA, Manohar Lal Khattar, must share blame for inept handling of the developing situation. Khattar, who belongs to the minority Punjabi community in Haryana, is also fraught with internal bickering.

In fact, a BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini added fuel to the fire by openly declaring that the demands by the Jats was untenable.

Saini, an OBC leader, had said that the Jat community was very well off and did not need reservation. He had even said that if the Jats were given reservation, members of the OBCs would launch a counter-agitation. His remarks at a juncture when the Jat agitation was spreading came under severe criticism and fanned further unrest.  A mob also attacked his house in Kaithal on Saturday.

Unrest Over Quota Demand

• Stir by the jats is an old phenomena, the new state government, headed by Manohar Lal Khattar must share the blame for inept handling of the situation. Factionalism within BJP also comes to fore with a BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini openly declaring that the demands by the jats was untenable.
• Khattar’s efforts to negotiate have yielded no result so far, with the option of including jats in the EBC category not going down well with protestors.
  
• BJP suffers from lack of jat leadership on the ground to tackle the agitation which makes the situation worse for the state government.
  

Negotiations Have Failed

The reason why the OBCs are watching the agitation closely is because they would be directly affected in case the demand of the Jats is accepted. The acceptance of the demand would dilute the share of reservation currently enjoyed by the communities listed under the OBC. The Jats with their high percentage share in the state’s population would  then emerge as the biggest beneficiaries of the 27 per cent OBC quota in government jobs at the expense of the communities currently listed as OBCs.

The previous Congress government under the leadership of Hooda had sought to deal with the issue by announcing during its last year in office that Jats and four other castes, Jat Sikhs, Ror, Tyagi and Bishnoi would be included under Specially Backward Class (SBC). He had also granted 10 per cent reservation for SBCs. However, the order was set aside by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It has been challenged in the Supreme Court, as it would have exceeded the reservation quota fixed by the apex court. and a decision is still pending.

Khattar’s efforts to tackle the situation has not borne fruit partly because of the multiple factions heading the agitation. There is no identifiable leader or a group of leaders representing the various groups which has made his task difficult. As many as 126 leaders were invited by him for discussions at his residence where the talks failed because no consensus could be reached.

His offer to include Jats and four other castes, Jat Sikh, Ror, Tyagi and Bishnoi under a new category of Economically Backward Persons (also called as Economically Backward Class) also failed to appease the Jats. He also announced that the government shall increase the quota under Economically Backward Persons (EBP) from existing 10 per cent to 20 per cent for all communities including jats. Besides he proposed an increase in the annual income ceiling from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh. However, the Jats have refused to accept these offers and are adamant on their demand for inclusion in the OBC category.

Will the Centre Intervene?

Jat leaders from other political parties, including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress and the leader of opposition in the state Assembly Ajay Singh Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) have lent support to the jats. They have appealed for peace but workers from their parties are actively associated with the agitation. On the other hand, BJP suffers from lack of Jat leadership on the ground to tackle the agitation.

With three protesters dead in police firing and army being called in eight districts of the state, the situation has spun out of control. Since the issue of reservation crossing the percentage mandated by the Supreme Court has come to the fore, the Centre may have to intervene to diffuse the situation.

(The writer is a Chandigarh-based senior journalist.)

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Khattar Government Lets Jat Agitation Get Out of Hand