Congress, INLD supporting Jat stir: Haryana minister

Chandigarh, Feb 3 (IANS) Haryana Finance Minister Abhimanyu on Friday accused the opposition Congress and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) of supporting the resumed protests by the Jats in support of their demands in the state.

"Earlier it was the Congress; now, the INLD is extending support, which clearly indicates the agitation is politically motivated and has nothing to do with the common man," Abhimanyu said in a statement here.

"Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his (Congress) party, who had plunged the state in violence under the guise of agitation, are supporting the ongoing agitation at some places," the minister said.

Abhimanyu said Jat leader Yashpal Malik too was misguiding the people of Haryana.

The minister said the Haryana government had extended reservation to the Jats and other castes by getting a Bill passed unanimously in the assembly last year.

The bill was challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which stayed the reservation announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana.

"Chief Minister Manohar Lal has already made it clear that as soon as the stay on reservation is vacated, his government will write to the Centre to include it in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. In such a situation, there is no point of the agitation for reservation," he said.

Claiming the Congress and the INLD were doing politics over reservation, he said the INLD remained in power in Haryana from 1999 to 2005 and the Congress from 2005 to 2014 but they never thought of extending reservation to the Jats.

The Jat agitation resumed on January 29.

Violence in the Jat stir last year left 30 people dead and over 200 injured. Government and private property and vehicles worth hundreds of crores were destroyed in violence during the agitation.

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