Jats of Bharatpur and Dholpur districts in Rajasthan have started agitation demanding quota in government jobs and admission in centrally-run educational institutes.
Hundreds of people from Jat community have started gathering at Jaichauli railway station on Delhi-Mumbai route.
They have warned government to give reservation in central government jobs.
“Our protest will be peaceful in the lines of Mahatma Gandhi till January 22, 2024. After that, we will dislodge railway track, jam the highway and stop the train movement. For that government will be responsible,” said Nem Singh Fouzdar, coordinator of Bharatpur-DholpurJat Reservation Struggle Committee.
He said that the first Mahapadao has been put up at Jaichauli, second would be held at Bedham and third would be at Rarah village in Bharatpur.
The district administration is geared up to deal with any emergency situation. For security and maintaining law and order, six companies of RAC, 180 policemen of related police stations, 100 RPF and GRPF personnel have been deployed at the site.
What Jats demand?
Jats of Bharatpur and Dholpur are demanding quota in central government jobs. When then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee extended reservation benefits to Jats under OBC in 1999, Jats of Bharatpur-Dholpur were denied the quota with they being from ruling class. However after protest, in 2013 Jats of Bharatpur-Dholpur also got included under OBC reservation.
Later in 2015, a ruling from Supreme Court struck down the reservation for Bharatpur-Dholpur Jats and both central and Rajasthan government discontinued the quota.
The apex court, while striking down the Jat reservation, had said “the perception of a self-proclaimed socially backward class of citizens or even the perception of the ‘advanced classes' as to the social status of the ‘less fortunates' cannot continue to be a constitutionally permissible yardstick for determination of backwardness”.
After long drawn protests, again 2017, the Vasundhara Raje resumed quota for Jats of both the districts. But the central government continues to deny them the reservation.
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