Capt to CM: Clarify stand on quota for Punjab’s Jats
Saturday, 15/02/2014
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=94411&boxid=57265&uid=&dat=2014-02-15
Chandigarh : Senior Congress leader and president of the All India Jat Maha Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to clarify his stand on Jat reservation, on whether he supported or opposed it.
In a statement issued here, Capt Amarinder accused Badal of “double standards”. He pointed out that on one hand the Shiromani Akali Dal passed a unanimous resolution seeking reservation for Jats in Punjab, while on the other the state government had not taken any initiative to follow up what the party had unanimously resolved.
The Jat Maha Sabha president reiterated his charges that Badal was “not keen” to get the Jats of Punjab reservation. Otherwise his government should have made the case with the National Backward Classes Commission by now, he said.
“Despite repeated reminders, the state government has not moved even an inch and the final decision is to be taken in the first week of March,” Capt Amarinder said, while warning Badal that he will be “responsible” if the Jats in Punjab do not get the benefit of reservation.
He said that there are about six lakh vacancies in the Union government every year and of these, about 1.5 lakh are reserved for the OBCs. If, he added, Punjab Jats also get the OBC status, Punjabi Jat youth can avail the benefits of reservation. He said that most of the Jats in Punjab were now reduced to the level of small and marginal farmers and providing them reservation under the OBC category could alleviate their plight.
