The violent agitation by Haryana’s Jats to be classified as an OBC group to derive the benefits of reservations had threatened to snowball across northern India, affecting Delhi and its neighbouring states, but the Centre’s efforts to contain the situation appear to have worked somewhat, with a few blockades partially lifted late Sunday.
Earlier, the entire state had come to a near halt, and Delhi too faced the heat, given Haryana’s geographical proximity to the national capital, and the fact that it gets a good part of its water supply downstream from Haryana.
The BJP government at the Centre, given that its party’s government in Haryana was overwhelmed and chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar didn’t seem to be cutting much ice with the agitators, had to intervene and send out the signal that it would bring a bill in the state Assembly in this regard, and also set up a committee headed by a senior minister to examine the demand for quotas in Central government jobs.
This was not a day too soon, as the confrontation was armed, with the Army and paramilitary forces having to be called in. The rising death toll could have made matters much worse. Haryana is full of retired servicemen, and Jats supply a strong contingent to the Indian Army. A prolonged agitation could have had a wider impact than just on the Haryana’s streets. There was the also risk of the agitation spreading to contiguous areas of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, which have a strong Jat population.
The BJP made extravagant promises, including on Jat reservations, during the last Lok Sabha polls, and this was recoiling now. Jats are about a quarter of the population of Haryana, and are predominantly farmers. This gives them a lot of heft. Some elements in the Haryana BJP had been campaigning for some time that Jats shouldn’t be given reservations. This was pointless needling.
The state government was hampered by the fact that it lacked any heavyweight Jat representation, and politically Jats may feel they were given short shrift. This perception needs to be addressed. Since Jats are largely a well-to-do community, it is hard to see how they can be put on the backward castes list.
The Supreme Court had earlier rejected the idea when the previous Congress government of Bhupinder Singh Hooda had tried to create a special quota. On the existing criteria, it is difficult to bring Jats into the group entitling them to quota benefits in education and government jobs. Their case is not dissimilar from Marathas in Maharashtra, Kapus of Andhra Pradesh and Patels of Gujarat.
The time may have come to revisit eligibility rules for reservations so that an individual’s economic condition is given significant weight in any calculation.
