Even as the second round of the talks between the five-member committee of the Haryana government officials and the agitating Jat leaders is scheduled for Monday afternoon, the protesters’ demand for regular government jobs for kin of those killed in Jat agitation last year and withdrawal of cases against all the accused, is likely to remain the main bone of contention.
Even though the five-member committee led by chief secretary D S Dhesi had held its first meeting with the Jat leaders led by All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) president Yashpal Malik on February 11, it remained inconclusive with the latter firmly demanding acceptance of the two demands named above.
While their other demands include reservation for Jats in jobs (besides and educational institutions) in the Central government as well, the Jat leaders also pointed out that the compensation paid to those who got injured during last year’s stir was about Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh and not what was announced – Rs 2 lakh each. They also demanded immediate action against BJP MP from Kurukshetra, Raj Kumar Saini for his repeated remarks against quota for Jats.
Though the BJP government had enacted a new law, the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016, in March last year to grant reservation to Jats and five other communities, it was stayed by the Punjab and Haryana high court on May 26, last year.
About 4,000 youths had been booked in about 2,100 cases of murders, large scale violence and arson, besides other offences, only about 60 arrests were made while other accused were either absconding or on bail. Since most of these cases had been lodged by individual victims, the government could not withdraw them.
The government was also divided on the issue of giving government jobs to the kin of 30 persons who were killed in last year violence and most of them were accused of rioting and were killed in police firing or group clashes. Though the government had initiated steps to give jobs to some of the kin of those killed, the same was instantly rejected by Malik saying that these were temporary or contractual jobs.
Source: HindustanTimes