Jat protests: Haryana chief minister heckled in Rohtak as protests continue
With the agitations showing no sign of easing, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said a non-political panel should be established to decide on the eligibility for the quota.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday reached Rohtak, the nerve-centre of the Jat protests, and assured locals that the issue was not small and would be thoroughly investigated. He said action would be taken against officials who failed to control the situation and those who caused loss of private property. However, the minister was heckled while he addressed people in the city, which has been worst hit by the violent agitations. People raised "murdabad" slogans, and gheraoed his car while he was inside the Canal guest house.
Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the Haryana government to file a status report on the agitations by Monday. Elsewhere in Bharatpur, a goods train was torched at the Helak railway station by protestors. Pipraura station was also set on fire by protestors, India Today reported. More than a 100 trains have been cancelled in Haryana because of the protests.
Khattar is supposed to meet with the committee set up to deliberate over the Jats' demand for reservations in central jobs. Khattar was called to Delhi to hold discussions with a high-powered committee set up by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which will be headed by Union minister Venkaiah Naidu. The panel includes Union ministers Mahesh Sharma and Sanjeev Baliyan and party leaders Satpal Malik and Avinash Rai Khanna.
The BJP had bowed to pressure from agitating Jats and announced that they were setting up a committee under Naidu to examine their demand. However, Khattar on Tuesday said the Jat reservation won't be under the Other Backward Classes quota, but that they will be given reservation under a special category.
Amid the ongoing tensions, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Monday that a non-political panel should be established to decide on the eligibility for the quota. “The committee should be non-political so there are no vested interests,” he said at an interactive session of a Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, PTI reported. Adding that a person should not be denied opportunities for being born into a particular caste, the RSS chief said, “There should be a level playing field for everybody in the society... As long as this problem prevails, this situation [reservation] will be there.”
Protestors had damaged the Munak Canal in Haryana, which is Delhi’s main source of water supply. It led to a severe water crisis in the national capital, and the Supreme Court was asked to intervene. After army personnel took control of the canal and dispersed agitating people in the area, authorities began repair work. Water supply to Delhi will most likely be fully restored by Tuesday as Munak Canal has been partially repaired. While supply in North and Central Delhi has been restored, 70 water tankers were diverted to West Delhi.