Opposition slams Haryana, Centre over Jat violence

The opposition Congress and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Wednesday lashed out at the BJP governments in Haryana and at the Centre over violence in the state during the Jat agitation for reservation in jobs and education.

"This (violence) in Haryana was due to utter failure of the state and central governments," Congress member Kumari Selja said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his junior colleague Kiren Rijiju denied the charge, saying a commission of inquiry headed by retired director general of police Prakash Singh has been set up to probe all acts of omissions and commissions.

"We have to wait for the report of the probe commission," the home minister said, adding there were intelligence inputs about the agitation and the Centre had alerted the state government about them.

Kumari Selja joined the issue with the minister on this and said the charge of "failure" of the state government lies in the reply of the government.

Senior JD-U leader Sharad Yadav supported Selja's contention and said: "Just to say a committee has been appointed is like running away from the responsibility."

The home minister disagreed with the opposition members and said the issue was serious and the situation in Haryana can be tackled only with all sides working together.

"You are responsible...we are also responsible," Rajnath Singh said.

"The issue is not whether we have a BJP government in Haryana or not....the issue is there is a state government and we are at the Centre," Rajnath Singh said.

The Haryana government last month announced the appointment of retired police officer Prakash Singh to probe the acts of omission and commission on the part of all officers in the handling of violence during the Jat reservation agitation.

The panel is expected to submit its report by next month.

Replying to questions from members, Rajnath Singh also said that besides the probe by Prakash Singh, the state government has also appointed another official panel to work on the compensation for the victims.