Reservation is Jat community’s right, says Union minister Birender Singh

The call for the renewed agitation has been given by the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti after the Punjab and Haryana high court stayed the reservation for the Jat community in jobs and educational institutes under the other backward caste (OBC) category.

Amid the ongoing protests by the Jats for quota in jobs and education in neighbouring Haryana, minister of state for rural development Chaudhary Birender Singh, on Monday said reservation is right of the community.

BJP MP Sanjeev Balyan (L), Union minister Chaudhary Birender Singh (C) and Haryana BJP incharge Anil Jain address press conference on Jat Agitation in New Delhi, India, on February 20, 2016. (Mohd Zakir / HT Photo)

“Reservation is the right of Jat community, there is no difference between Yadavs and Gujjars,” Singh told the media in New Delhi.

The call for the renewed agitation has been given by the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti after the Punjab and Haryana high court stayed the reservation for the Jat community in jobs and educational institutes under the other backward caste (OBC) category. However, some sections of the Jat community and its leadership have distanced themselves from the agitation call.

Over 7,000 troops of central security forces are helping the Haryana Police patrol highways, railway tracks, important government offices and public places to prevent violence.

The districts on high alert include Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Jind, Bhiwani, Hisar, Fatehabad, Panipat and Kaithal.

The agitation began on Sunday but has received a poor response in Haryana’s northern districts of Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Kaithal.

Jats, Jat Sikhs, Rors, Tyagis and Bishnois, are seeking reservation under the Other Backward Classes(OBC) category.

They had been promised that the Economically Backward Category (EBC) quota will be increased from 10 percent to 20 percent by the state government.