Jat quota stir: Community leaders threaten to vote against BJP in UP, Punjab polls

New Delhi: Accusing BJP of “cheating” them on the issue of reservation, leaders of Jat organisations and Khap panchayats on Thursday said members of the community would vote against the party in next year’s assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. “We have decided to shun the violent mode of protest and work for defeat of BJP in assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh as the party has cheated the Jats on reservation issue in Haryana,” Choudhari Omvir Singh, founder of Vishwa Jat Manch, told reporters in New Delhi. “Jats from Haryana will tour UP and Punjab and tell the voters there that BJP has cheated the community,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_2852610” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of the Jat agitation. PTI[/caption] The gathering of Jat leaders passed five resolutions, including one which demanded the Haryana government order a judicial inquiry into the violence during the February agitation by the community. “We demand a judicial probe into the violence allegedly by the Jats during the protests in the state by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. Jats were not involved in violence which occurrred in the state as they were busy with their rail-roko agitation,” he said. The other demands included release of “innocent” Jats arrested in Haryana and reservation to the community under OBC category as has been done in UP, Rajasthan and other states where the community has a sizeable presence. Singh said Jat organisations from Haryana, Delhi, UP and Delhi will demonstrate peacefully at Ramlila Gorund on 28 September to force the BJP government in Haryana to immediately stop its work of “dividing” the people in the state on caste lines.

“We are protesting against BJP because the party has not paid compensation to those killed in violence and scores of people who have been arrested have not been released,” said SS Sandhu, president of Jat Arakashan Sangharsh Samiti. “We will ask the community to vote against BJP but we will not ask for voting in favour of any particular party,” Sandhu said. At least 30 persons were killed in the violence during the Jat quota stir in Haryana in February.