Getting OBC status is just a tool to progress, nothing more.
With declining land holdings, and declining educational, and economic opportunities, for the Jats this is a sensible thing, as its gives them the opportunity to go in for higher education, and job opportunities, which was not possible before.
This has only occurred, due to Jat unity and clout. It would not have happened otherwise.
Jats have borne the brunt of the Islamic invasions, and it is largely because of them that India has remained free and non Islamic. It is no accident the Islamic power could not succeed in and around the Greater Delhi area, as well as it did in the outer regions.
This is something to be proud of.
As a result of these continual battles, the Jat society did get weakened, and with the advent of British rule, it did suffer.
Its schools, its system of education, its judicial systems was wiped out. In areas like Rajastan, they were reduced to a pitiable state, as Zamindari was enshrined in Feudal hands.
In other words, the Jat society was destroyed, and Jats were reduced to little above the levels of serfs.
If that does not in it cause an inferiority complex I do not what will.
What is to the credit of our community, that they are bouncing back- in all fields, education, jobs, and businesses?
In Rajasthan they won back their rights, as they did in U.P and Haryana.
The other fallout of the destruction of our society was that our history was lost, and usurped by other groups as theirs.
As has been said elsewhere, a people without a history, are reduced to being less than human.
The tragedy is that the efforts of the Jats( largely saved most Hindu communities, yet it is these same communities which have not acknowledged that jat contribution , but indeed have sought to exploit Jat society- by denial of education and economic opportunities to them.
Thanks to efforts of some dedicated Jats, Thakur Desraj (1925) and others, serious efforts are being made to rediscover and reconstruct our history.
Doing this involves some free wheeling thinking, including looking at ideas like the Israeli – Dahiya Connection, or the noun ‘Tomar” being found in Portugal, as the name of a town, or ‘ Gill’ being found as a clan name in Ireland.
For a list of common clan names in India and Central Europe see:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JatHistory/files/
Jat Clans I
Jat Clan names in various countries I 421 KB ravichaudhar...
Nov 24, 2002 Edit Delete Cut Jat Clans II
Jat Clan names in various countries II
All of this is part of the re-construction process.
All of it needs to be discussed, the chaff winnowed out, and the wheat retained.
We should not stop people from exploring their past, and coming up with “ wild ‘ theories.
Better they be wild, than have no theories at all.
Ravi Chaudhary