Jat reservation Bill: BJP MLAs express resentment, seek adjournment motion

Dissent is brewing in a large section of Haryana BJP MLAs over the decision of the Manohar Lal Khattar government to grant reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to Jats and four other castes -- Jat Sikhs, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis.

Dissent is brewing in a large section of Haryana BJP MLAs over the decision of the Manohar Lal Khattar government to grant reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to Jats and four other castes -- Jat Sikhs, Bishnois, Rors and Tyagis.

The BJP, which has 47 MLAs in the House, owes its majority to non-Jat legislators. There are only six Jat MLAs -- Capt Abhimanyu, Om Prakash Dhankar, Subhash Barala, Prem Lata, Sukhvinder Sheoran and Mahipal Dhanda. Besides, Bakshish Singh Virk is a Jat Sikh and Harvinder Kalyan is a Ror.(Keshav Singh/HT Photo)

Even as the cabinet on Monday approved the Bill to provide quota to Jats and four other castes, as many as five ruling party MLAs expressed their resentment by seeking to raise the reservation issue in the House. These MLAs collectively gave notices for moving an adjournment motion, a short adjournment motion and two calling attention motions on the quota issue. All the notices had one common thread- the MLAs sought a white paper from the government on caste-wise break up of government jobs given since November 1, 1966 till December 31, 2015. However, their requests were disallowed on one ground or another.

The MLAs who sought to move these motions are Rewari MLA, Randhir Singh Kapriwas, Sohna MLA Tejpal Tanwar, Bawal MLA Banwari Lal, Nangal Chaudhary MLA Abhe Singh Yadav and Narnaul MLA Om Prakash Yadav.

While their notices were disallowed by the speaker, what is significant is that the move to seek a white paper on caste-wise distribution of government jobs and a House discussion on the state government’s decision to provide reservation to Jats and four other castes echoed the sentiments of majority non-Jat MLAs of the ruling party.

When asked, Kapriwas said they wanted to bring into public domain as to who actually needs reservation and who does not. “The white paper would make it clear which caste and community stands where in terms of government employment in Class 1, 2, 3 and 4. What is the share of each caste in government jobs? Also, we would have raised an important point that castes already getting reservation should not get adversely affected due to fresh inclusions,’’ Kapriwas said.

The BJP, which has 47 MLAs in the House, owes its majority to non-Jat legislators. There are only six Jat MLAs -- Capt Abhimanyu, Om Prakash Dhankar, Subhash Barala, Prem Lata, Sukhvinder Sheoran and Mahipal Dhanda. Besides, Bakshish Singh Virk is a Jat Sikh and Harvinder Kalyan is a Ror.

So while effectively there are just 8 MLAs who can be termed as stakeholders in the fresh quota provision, the number of those opposing the Jat quota Bill will be significantly more. “We know that despite our resistance, the government will table the Bill,’’ said another dissenting legislator.