Jats call off tomorrow’s Delhi agitation after meeting Haryana CM

NEW DELHI: A planned agitation by members of the Jat community to gherao Parliament on March 20 has been postponed following a meeting between Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior ministers of the Narendra Modi cabinet and Jat leaders here on Sunday.

Union Minister Birender Singh, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Jat leader Yashpal Malik addressing the media in New Delhi on Sunday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 19

A planned agitation by members of the Jat community to gherao Parliament on March 20 has been postponed following a meeting between Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior ministers of the Narendra Modi cabinet and Jat leaders here on Sunday.

The two sides arrived at an ‘agreement’ for implementation of the demands of the Jat community.

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It looks more of a temporary peace, as the matter to include Jats in the reservation list in the state of Haryana is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

An announcement to postpone the ‘Dilli kooch karo’ (move to Delhi programme) was made in the national capital at a joint press conference conducted by Khattar and the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) leader Yashpal Malik on Sunday evening.

The details of the agreement were thrashed out over a four-hour meeting at the Haryana Bhawan here. Among those present at the meeting were Union Steel Minister Birender Singh and PP Chaudhary, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice.

Khattar announced that the Central government will commence the process of putting the Jat community on the list of ‘reserved’ castes once the chairman to the National Backward Classes Commission is appointed.

In Haryana, he said, as and when the court case ends the Jats will be included in the reservation list under Schedule 9. He was referring to the Indian Constitution’s Schedule 9 which sort makes it immune from judicial intervention.

The state will review all cases registered during the previous ‘jat reservation’ agitation in February 2016 and jobs for all those who were disabled during the last agitation, the CM said while promising probe against all those responsible for violence during the last agitation.

Yashpal Malik said, “We have decided to agree to the assurances laid down by CM and have decided to suspend agitation scheduled in Delhi for March 20.”

Malik, however, added that it will take him five-six days more to reach and meet all the ongoing protests in the state of Haryana to convince them.