Jat reservation agitation
[1] The protestors sought inclusion of their caste in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category, which would make them eligible for affirmative action benefits.
[6][7] Police and onlookers described the initial phase of the protests as peaceful but it later transformed into violent riots led by Jat community, especially in the city of Rohtak.
It agreed to include the Rajasthan Jats (except those from the former Jat-ruled princely states of Bharatpur and Dholpur) in the Central OBC list.
[29] On 27 October 1999, the BJP-led NDA government implemented the recommendation to include the Rajasthan Jats (except those from Bharatpur and Dholpur) in the Central OBC list.
[30] Subsequently, in July 2011, the NCBC suggested that the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) conduct a survey in 6 states to analyze the socio-economic status of Jats.
In August 2013, the government constituted a special Group of Ministers (GoM) to "engage with representatives of the Jat community".
On 19 December 2013, the Union Cabinet asked NCBC to expediate the process and make a decision based on existing material.
[30] Based on this analysis, on 26 February 2014, the NCBC unanimously ruled that the Jats in Haryana did not meet the OBC classification criteria.
[26] A year later, on 10 January 2000, the state government extended the OBC quota to Jats from these two districts as well, bowing to political pressure.
In 1991, the Gurnam Singh Commission report recommended including Jats of Haryana in the state's OBC list.
[33][34] In 2004, the Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda promised the Jats of Haryana a reserved quota, while campaigning for the 2005 State Assembly elections.
[23][35] Before the 2014 Indian general elections, BJP had a limited presence in the Haryana state, where the Jats play the dominant political role.
[42] BJP MP Raj Kumar Saini openly opposed the Jats' efforts to get included in the OBC category, despite party's warnings not to do so.
[35] In March 2015, days after the Supreme Court scrapped a proposal for Jat reservation, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy asked the government to bring an ordinance to provide quota for them.
Awareness rallies will be held in different states including Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan to seek reservation for Jats.
The protest was led by Hawa Singh Sangwan, a retired CRPF commandant and the Haryana chief of the All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti.
In 2012, Sangwan had organized a similar protest at the same site, as a result of which the Congress government gave community the SBC status.
The protest was called off by the night of 13 February, after BJP's Jat minister Om Prakash Dhankar assured that the state government will meet their demands by 31 March.
[38] Nearly 105 DSIs (daily summary of intelligence) comprising inputs about meetings held by Jat organisations, various khaps and their plans of action were conveyed on a day-to-day basis to government officials during the period (June 2015 to February 39, 2016).
On 18 February, 35 Biradari Sangharsh Samiti, a group claiming to represent 35 non-Jat castes organized a protest against the blockades imposed by Jats.
[38] On the night of 18 February, when the police tried to open a blockade at Pandit Neki Ram Sharma Government College in Rohtak, some people threw stones at them.
[38] The next day, Jat youth from nearby rural areas came to Rohtak in large numbers, and protested violently.
[55] It is quite painful that large scale of violence took place during Jat protests that claimed several lives in the state.
In Rohtak district, Jat mob set fire to vehicles, shops and a petrol pump at Kalanaur.
On 21 February, the Jats attacked the Chhavani Mohalla, where they targeted shops, vehicles and houses belonging to Sainis, Nais and other backward castes.
Later, six Jat leaders including Yashpal Malik were charged by police on accusations of sedition and "promoting enmity between groups on the basis of caste."
Some Jats, such as the owners of Neelkanth Star Dhaba in Murthal, provided free food and lodging to those stuck on highways because of the protests.
[72] Columnist and social activist Shivanshu K. Srivastava wrote that "By an estimation, the Jats own three-fourths of the agricultural land in Haryana.
[76] The BJP government announced formation of a committee chaired by M. Venkaiah Naidu to look into the Jats' demands for reservation.
"[78] Affirming former Haryana cabinet minister Captain Ajay Yadav's statement that the "Jats got the reservation at gunpoint," Hawa Singh Sangwan said that "no revolution was possible without struggle .... people of several states like Telangana, Nagaland and Mizoram had to struggle a lot before coming into existence and if Jats did it to fight for their legitimate rights, they did no wrong in achieving it.
