BJP divided over Jat quota

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 29

The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government is unsure of the direction it wants to take on the issue of reservation to Jats as the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

While it certainly can’t afford to annoy the non-Jats who have voted the party to power, the government can’t even disregard the Jats.

Sources said the party, the leadership and the government has left it to individual leaders to take their own “personalised” stand on the issue, since there can be no consensus on the matter within the party.

While the BJP’s Jat faces — Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu and Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar — are standing by the Jats and their demand for reservation, party’s Kurukshetra MP Rajkumar Saini is the first one to openly oppose it.

Having stated that he would resign if the OBC quota is tinkered with to accommodate the Jats in any manner, he has emerged as the leader of the OBCs, who’s committed to watching their interest. In doing so, he has earned the support of the non-Jats who are opposed to reservation to the Jat community.

The sources said while it might be a compulsion for the Jat leaders to be supportive of reservation for their community, the party is unlikely to step in and ask leaders to toe the line or act against those who seem to proceed on a completely different tangent.

“Most of the BJP leaders have decided to avoid commenting on the controversial issue. If we espouse the cause of the Jats, we are betraying the public that voted us to power. In ignoring the Jats, we are still inviting trouble, since the community has already decided to protests on May 11 in Delhi. Either ways we are stuck,” a senior party leader said.

Accompanied by Capt Abhimanyu and Dhankar, leaders of the Jat community spearheading the fight for reservation and inclusion in the OBC category, The government seems to be headed for another crisis with the Jats mobilising support for their cause.