NGO opposes Jats’ inclusion in OBC categoryChandigarh, January 23
Tribune News Service
A non-government organisation headed by a former spokesman of the Haryana Congress has indirectly opposed the inclusion of the Jats in the category of the other backward classes (OBC) for the purposes of reservation in jobs and educational institutions.
The president of the Gramin Bharat, Ved Prakash Vidrohi, a close associate of Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, has written to the Chairman of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission, Justice KC Gupta (retd), urging him to collect data about the educational status and its share in the government jobs before including any caste in the category of the OBC.
Pointing out that according to the Constitution, only those castes could be included in the category of the OBC, which were socially and educationally backward, Vidrohi claimed that in Haryana a particular caste, which was not backward in any manner, wanted to be included in the OBC category “on the basis of its numerical and political strength”.
Admitting that every caste had a right to stake its claim for the inclusion in the OBC category, Vidrohi said it would be better to ascertain if that caste was really backward by taking into account the data about the educational, economic and social status of that caste.
Vidrohi also urged the commission to make the data public so that it could be debated. He said it was necessary to collect the date as suggested by him to ensure that there would be no injustice towards the castes who were already in the OBC category.
Cong leader for firm action against Jat stir
Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 21While opposition parties are keeping mum, there are protests from within the ruling party over the alleged soft handling by the government of those Jat reservation activists who have blocked the rail track near Hisar.
In a statement issued here today, former spokesman of the Haryana Congress Ved Prakash Vidrohi said the blockade of the rail track was an open challenge to the law and order situation in the state by a particular caste. He expressed his surprise over the “inability” of the state government to tackle the situation according to law, adding that the government instead was taking the side of the agitators.
He said the Backward Classes Commission was examining the demand of the Jats for inclusion in the backward classes. The community had placed its case before the commission. The other communities opposing the demand of the Jats had also pleaded their case before the commission.
Now it was for the commission to decide on this matter. He regretted that the Jats were trying to intimidate the commission. Vidrohi said it was not understandable why the police was giving a free hand to the agitators to hold their agitation in whatever unjustified way they wanted. Urging the Chief Minister to deal with the situation with a firm hand, he said the Congress had already paid for the lapse of the administration by losing its security deposit in the Hisar Lok Sabha by-election.