Jat leaders advocate right to reservation

Jat leaders of the state demanded reservation for the community at a programme organised by the Bharatiya Jat Sabha at Paryatan Bhavan here on Sunday. They also demanded Bharat Ratna for Jat luminaries like Chaudhary Charan Singh and Chaudhary Chhotu Ram.

Union minister of steel, Chaudhary Birender Singh, said, “Jats have always been the pride of the country. They have served not only in defence, but also in agriculture. That is why they are also entitled to reservation just like the Yadavs and the Gujjars.”

He said that while he would push for the case of Jat reservation, it was a community that didn’t know how to beg for its rights. “We only know how to earn our rights,” he said.

Minister in state cabinet, Chaudhary Laxmi Narain, promised that the UP government would work to resolve the socioeconomic issues that Jats had been facing.

Advocating the community’s right to reservation, Kaptan Singh, president of Bharatiya Jat Samaj, said, “Jats have always been known for their patriotism, but they never got their due. The report of Kaka Kalelkar commission in 1952 and Mandal commission in 1993 agreed that Jats were backward, however, the reservation benefits only went to Yadavs, Kurmis, Sainis, Kashyaps and Gujjars. Jats were excluded.”

He lamented that although there had been requests to the central backward commission to include Jats in its list, nothing had happened so far. “The central commission has no data or survey available for making that decision,” said Singh.

Also present at the event were minister of state in UP cabinet, Bhupendra Singh, member of UP Khadi Gram Udyog, Jai Prakash Tomar, and political leaders like Sanjay Lathar and Sardar Baldev Singh Aulakh.