Haryana: Central forces deployed in seven districts as Jats threaten to relaunch quota agitation

Chandigarh: In the wake of members of the Jat community threatening to launch a fresh agitation for reservation, security was beefed up in Haryana on Saturday, as central forces were deployed in seven sensitive districts across the state. The Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonipat, Hisar, Bhiwani, Jind and Kaithal, a top police official told PTI. “The deployment has been done as a precautionary measure,” Haryana’s Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Mohd Akil said, adding that police were fully geared up to meet any situation. On Friday, a sedition case was registered against Jat Sangharsh Samiti chief Yashpal Malik and 125 others for allegedly threatening peace and communal harmony in Haryana by instigating people to launch a fresh quota agitation. [caption id=“attachment_2802972” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of the Jat agitation. PTI[/caption] Haryana Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu said the government would not allow the recurrence of a February-like situation in the state. “We are fully prepared to tackle any situation,” the minister said. Abhimanyu alleged that the recent violence in the state was not caste-based or related to the issue of reservation, “but the leaders of Congress had used the youth of the state to spread unprecedented political and criminal violence in a well-planned manner.” Thirty people were killed and property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was destroyed during the violent agitation in February this year, with districts including Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonipat, being the worst affected. The finance minister said that the committee constituted under the chairmanship of former Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Prakash Singh had submitted its report to the government on large-scale violence during the Jat quota agitation in February and the government was studying it at its own level. The supporters of the opposition were exerting pressure to make this report public, Abhimanyu alleged. Two days back, Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed the reservation for Jats and five other communities provided by the Haryana government under a newly carved Backward Classes (C) category.