BJP’s OBC leaders raise bogey of Congress ‘role’ in Jat quota stir

Pradeep Sharma

Chandigarh, July 28

Senior Other Backward Classes (OBC) leaders of the BJP today again raised the bogey of 2016 Jat quota agitation and Congress’ role in it, a development which is seen as part of the Jats versus non-Jats narrative of the saffron party in the run-up to the October Assembly elections.

Need to remind voters of matter

When asked why the BJP was raking up the Jat quota riots after eight years and before the Assembly elections, Rajya Sabha member Ram Chander Jangra said ‘certain things’ needed to be reminded to the electorate at the right time. “We will forget Lord Rama if we do not stage Ramlila every year,” he quipped.

Bhupinder Hooda owes explanation

The Congress has launched ‘Haryana Mange Hisaab’ campaign to divert attention from its own shortcomings. It is Hooda who owes an explanation for acts of omission and commission in his rule. Ranbir Gangwa, Haryana Deputy Speaker

The OBC leaders — Rajya Sabha member Ram Chander Jangra, Deputy Speaker of Haryana Assembly Ranbir Singh Gangwa, Haryana OBC cell chief Karan Dev Kamboj and Mayor of Yamunanagar Municipal Corporation Madan Chauhan — took potshots at the Congress for its alleged role in triggering the Jat quota riots that led to large-scale damage to the life and property, including vandalisation of the house of former Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu in Rohtak.

They also went to the extent of playing the purported audio of Virender Singh, a confidant of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to underscore the alleged role of the Congress in triggering violence during the Jat quota agitation. “The Congress tried to vitiate the atmosphere of communal harmony in the state through its questionable role in the riots,” Jangra alleged.

When specifically asked as to why the BJP was raking up the Jat quota agitation after over eight years, Jangra asserted that ‘certain things’ needed to be reminded to the electorate at the right time. “We will forget Lord Rama if we do not stage Ramlila every year,” he quipped.

He, however, refuted allegations that the BJP wanted to go to the Assembly polls on the non-Jat plank, claiming that the party was working in the spirit of ‘sab ka saath, sab ka vikas’ by taking 36 biradaries (communities) on the road to development.

The Congress has launched “Haryana Maange Hisaab” campaign against the BJP government to divert the attention of the people from its own shortcomings, asserted Gangwa. “It is Hooda who owed an explanation to the people of Haryana for various acts of omission and commission during his 10-year regime. We will go the voters on the basis of our 10 years’ development in the state,” he said.

Saying that the BJP government provided compensation worth crores of rupees to victims of the Jat quota agitation, Kamboj alleged that regionalism, casteism and goondaism ruled the roost during Hooda’s regime. “The BJP government, first under Manohar Lal Khattar and now under Nayab Singh Saini, instilled transparency in administration besides doing equitable development across the state,” Kamboj claimed.