Former Chief Minister and President of the All India Jat Maha Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh.
Patiala, December 22, 2013: Former Chief Minister and President of the All India Jat Maha Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh has written to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh demanding that the latest cabinet decision on providing reservation to Jats under Other Backward Classes category be extended to the states of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh also.
Besides, he added, the reservation should be based on the caste and not religion as Sikh and Muslim Jats have been excluded from the benefit at several places.
Meanwhile, Capt Amarinder lashed out at the ruling Akalis in Punjab for failing to provide reservation to Jats in the state as has been done by other states in the country. He asked, “what stops the Akalis from giving the benefit of reservation to Jats within the state?”
He asserted that he will ensure that the Jats are provided reservation in Punjab also by the centre but let the Akalis not run away from their responsibility in the state. The former Chief Minister said, the state government also needs to communicate to the centre for getting various benefits under OBC reservation extended to particular sections of people. “It is surprising that Punjab has not communicated anything to the centre so far on the issue”, he said.
In his letter to the Prime Minister, Capt Amarinder said, Jats have presence in 13 states all over the country. While the government of India in its last cabinet decision approved the reservation for nine states, those residing in Punjab, JK, AP and Maharashtra have been left out. He said, this is unfair and discriminatory and national decisions cannot be applied selectively. He said, this was arbitrary and will be viewed as partisan.
Maintaining that the decision must be applied uniformly across all the states, he said, no national decision can be made for a part of the community falling within the part of the country. In this case, he added, Jats be they Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims have been divided on national basis which is unjust and unfair.
Capt Amarinder had earlier in the month of November written to the Congress President Ms Sonia Gandhi also arguing for reservation to the Jats across the country and all communities under OBC category.
He hoped that the matter was handled with more sensitivity and the genuine demand of a large community spread across several states is conceded uniformly without any discrimination towards anyone.// punjab news live, punjab news online, punjab news, punjab news headlines, punjab breaking news, india news, punjab news,