Jat, Saini community rallies pass off peacefully in Haryana

Two different rallies of the Jat and Saini communities, which are opposed to each other on the issue of reservation, passed off peacefully in Haryana on Sunday.

The Haryana government and the state police heaved a sigh of relief as no untoward incident was reported.

At the Jat community rally in Jassia near Rohtak, leaders of the All Indian Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) threatened to start a fresh agitation to seek reservation for the community if their demand was not met by the Haryana government by December this year.

AIJASS leader Yashpal Malik, who addressed the rally, accused the state's BJP government of going back on its promise of giving reservation to the Jats.

The rally was attended by Union Minister and Jat leader Birender Singh and Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala. Tight security arrangements were made by the Haryana Police and central forces around the rally venue.

The Jat agitation in February 2016 had turned violent, leaving over 30 people dead and scores of others injured. Government and private property and vehicles worth hundreds of crores was damaged in the agitation.

Another round of the Jat agitation for reservation earlier this year had affected life in several districts of Haryana.

In a parallel rally of the Saini community in Jind, outspoken BJP MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini said that he was not against reservation being given to any community but demanded that it should be given on the basis of population and all sections should be covered.

Well-known for his opposition to the reservation for the politically dominant Jat community in Haryana, he on Sunday announced a 31-member committee that will go into the issue of forming a separate political outfit in Haryana before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Saini, who is projecting himself as a leader of the OBCs, claimed that the OBC community had been, over the years, used by political parties as a vote-bank and that the community had not got the justice it deserved.

Security agencies in Haryana were put on high alert on Saturday by the state government ahead of two rallies.

--IANS

js/vd