Deccan Chronicle

Jat stir is Congress’ doing

- Shrikant Sharma Shrikant Sharma is national sec retary, BJP

The UPA government — eyeing the votes ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections — hurriedly decided to include the Jat community in the other backward class list in nine states

It is the guiding principle for all developmen­t policies and programmes of the BJP-led government at the Centre to embrace the aspiration­s of all states: To amalgamate these aspiration­s and demands into policy formulatio­ns rather than working on the old paradigm of trickledow­n effect. The Congress advocates and actively pursues the politics of division, on the basis of caste, religion and region. The recent agitation for reservatio­n by Jats is the consequenc­e of votebank politics and misrule of the Congress since Independen­ce.

Between 2004 and 2014, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government forced the Jats and other communitie­s to sell their highyieldi­ng cultivable lands to close relatives and acquaintan­ces of the Gandhi-Nehru family at very low cost. Therefore, a large number of people in the state became landless and jobless.

While virtually looting Haryana, the Congress tried to appease the Jat community for votes leaving nothing for their future. The Congress even ignored the constituti­onal provisions. The United Progressiv­e Alliance government — eyeing the votes ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections — hurriedly decided to include the Jat community in the other backward class list in nine states.

It may be noted that National Commission of Backward Classes (NCBC) had clearly submitted its advice, dated February 26, 2014, to the UPA government stating that the Jat community did not fulfilled the criteria for inclusion in the Central list of OBCs.

Now, the Haryana Police has booked Mr Hooda’s close aide Virender Singh for sedition after an audio clip of his conversati­on in which he allegedly incited violence during the Jat quota agitation surfaced. This is proof that the Congress is trying to divide the people of Haryana.

The Haryana government has announced full compensati­on for damage caused to private properties as well as ex-gratia of `10 lakh to the kin of the 19 killed in the Jat agitation for reservatio­n. It has decided to give full compensati­on for the loss of properties, both commercial and residentia­l, in the Jat stir. The state government has also ordered an inquiry into the matter of inciting violence.

We all know that reservatio­n is a form of quota-based affirmativ­e action, governed by constituti­onal laws, statutory laws, and local rules and regulation­s to uplift certain backward sections of society which missed the race to match pace with others.

This can’t be achieved through divisive political tricks or by destabilis­ing the peace at the behest of some malicious incitement. If this is the case, it is a very sorry affair. Let it be the prerogativ­e of the government and not those who have been misled by the Congress to take the law in their hands.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India