WE’LL BE BACK, JATSSAY AFTER PROTEST IN DELHI

NEW DELHI: The Jat stir for quota in government jobs and education reached the Capital on Thursday, as protesters threatened to cut off food supply to Delhi and block roads if their demands were not met by March 20. The day passed off peacefully though several thousand Jats from various states had gathered for a rally at Jantar Mantar, the city’s protest zone.

But, the leaders of the landholding community warned that five million of them would descend on the Capital, with their tractors and cattle, if the government failed to act by March 20.

“Be prepared for a blockade… Apart from water supply, supply of essential goods will also be curtailed,” All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti’s (AIJASS) Yashpal Malik, who is leading the renewed stir, told the protesters.

Delhi depends on neigbouring states for milk, fruits, vegetables and other essentials.

Taps ran dry in several parts of Delhi in February last, as Jat protesters in Haryana damaged the Munak canal that carries water to the Capital.

Thirty people were killed in Haryana as the protest turned violent. The AIJASS resumed agitation across Haryana on January 29. On Thursday, the community members from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Delhi joined their Haryana counterparts in demanding “aam maafi (general amnesty)”.