Haryana minister Ram Bilas Sharma today hit out at All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti chief Yashpal Malik, alleging the Jat leader from Uttar Pradesh is using innocent people of Haryana to grind his political axe.
"Look, a person wants to fight Uttar Pradesh elections, by using innocent people of Haryana," Sharma said here attacking Malik whose outfit is spearheading the fresh phase of Jat agitation for reservation in government jobs ans educational institutions in Haryana which began on Sunday.
The influential Khaps or caste councils and prominent Jat bodies from the state this time have decided to stay out of the stir, preferring to wait and watch for the outcome of the case before the courts.
Sharma charged, "Yashpal Malik tried to disturb peace in Haryana. He doesn't present himself before Courts in Haryana but in UP he raises pro-Mayawati slogans."
"In Haryana, there are many leaders who hail from the state including the former and the present Chief Minister, there are other leaders also. So, what is the moral authority in what he (Malik) says," he said while replying to Malik's "outsider" tag.
On May 27, a sedition case was registered the Jat leader and 125 others for allegedly threatening peace and communal harmony in Haryana by instigating people to launch a fresh quota agitation.
Malik is currently in UP garnering support from the Jat community there for the stir which All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti (AIJASS) has started in Haryana.
Meanwhile, a prominent Jat leader from Haryana, Hawa Singh Sangwan, said Jats were pre-dominant community in the state and therefore larger responsibility rested on their shoulders also to not take any such step which may disturb peace.
The community will continue to struggle for its rights in a peaceful manner. The reservation issue is still pending before the courts and they will wait before deciding on next course of action, Sangwan told reporters in Bhiwani.
The agitation continued on a tepid note in various parts of the state for the fourth day today.
The state remained peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from any part, officials said.
Protests were held by Jats owing allegiance to AIJASS at various places including Sonipat, Rohtak, Uchana, Hisar, among other towns.
Besides heavy deployment of state police, paramilitary personnel drawn from CRPF, ITBP and BSF have been mobilised in sensitive districts of the state.
A close vigil is being maintained across the state,
including on national highways and railway tracks which the protesters had blocked for several days during the previous phase of Jat quota agitation in February.
The Jat protesters are demanding quota under OBC category, withdrawal of cases registered against community members during the previous stir, status of martyrs for those killed and jobs for their next of kin, besides compensation for the injured.
After the Jat agitation in February, which caused a lot of death and destruction, the state government had brought laws to provide 10 per cent reservation for Jats and five other communities under a newly carved Backward Classes (C) category.
However, the High Court stayed it, acting on a public interest litigation, after which some Jat groups announced the fresh stir.
