PM assures Jat leaders of solving issue

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured a delegation of Jat leaders that the Centre would provide solutions “within legal framework” after going through the Supreme Court judgment scrapping reservation given to the community under the OBC quota.

The community is upset since the apex court order took away 27 per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions which they were getting by virtue of figuring in the central list of OBCs in nines states. They are — Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan (two districts of Bharatpur and Dholpur), Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Annulling the reservation, the court had also said that “historical injustice” could not be sole reason for giving reservation to the community.

“The Prime Minister listened carefully to the issues raised by the delegation. He said the government is studying the Supreme Court decision and will try to find a solution to the issue within the legal framework,” a statement issued by the PMO stated.

A 60-member delegation of Jats, including ministers from the Centre such as Birender Singh, Sanjeev Balyan, Haryana minister OP Dhankar, MPs and MLAs from various states met Modi after interacting with BJP chief Amit Shah a few days back to seek remedial solutions for the powerful land owing community post court verdict. A committee under Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is going through the SC verdict to ascertain if the government could file a review petition for upholding the reservation again to Jats.

Haryana Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar told reporters that the group handed over to Modi a wish list of the Jat community which wants that they should have quota in jobs similar to the way Ahirs and Gujjars get.