OBC quota demand: First, it was the Jats, now it's the Rajputs in Uttar Pradesh

A little over a month after the Jats stirred Haryana with their reservation demand agitations, Rajupts in Uttar Pradesh are now demanding they be included in the OBC category to avail reservations in educational institutions and government jobs. The demand was put forward by the Rawa Rajput Sewa Samiti in Bijnor and Muzaffarnagar, according to a report in The Times of India. In their demand, they have said that Rajputs account for seven percent of UP’s population and asserted that a a large chunk of the community is backward and that they ’need to be integrated with the mainstream’. [caption id=“attachment_2687432” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file photo of the Jat agitations in Haryana. PTI[/caption] The Times of India report further said, Devendra Kumar,a member of the Rawa Rajput Sewa Samiti said that they will begin agitations and take to the streets to protest for the quota, however, “before we go on the streets, a delegation from the community will meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.” The district administration, as well as the police, have said that while it is a sensitive issue, they will not take any action till further development. A timeline of the events as reported in The Hindu said the Jat quota agitations began in the second week of February and took 30 lives. Their demands were to be included in the OBC category, so they had reservation in educational institutions as well as government jobs. The Haryana government deployed 8,000 paramilitary personnel to control the agitations . On 18 March, Haryana issued prohibitory orders to curb mobile internet services as precautionary measures. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said a solution will be found, following a  72-hour notice issued by the Jat community to the Haryana government for their demands to be met by Thursday, 17 March. An Indian Express report said the Jat community met with Haryana Chief Secretary DS Dhesi and Director General of Police Yash Pal Singal on Friday, 18 March. The meeting concluded with the Jats agreeing to give the government time till the end of the ongoing parliamentary sessions, which  ends on 31 March, to pass the reservation bill.