Jat leaders in state demand review of SC judgment on quota

JAIPUR: The Supreme Court judgment striking down reservation for Jats from Bharatpur and Dholpur districts, along with their communities in eight other states, evoked strong responses from politicians and social organisations on Tuesday.
Leader of opposition Rameshwar Dudi supported demands that the Centre should file a review petition to justify reservation for Jats in government jobs, while the Samta Andolan Samiti said it would fight against reservation to the community in panchayat elections too.
“Jats are really backward, even in the Bharatpur-Dholpur region, and deserve to get reservation benefits. I am of the strong opinion that the central government should file a review petition at the earliest to protect Jats’ quota benefits,” Dudi said, reacting to the SC judgment.
Earlier in the day, the SC quashed the Centre’s notification of March 2014 to include the Jat community in nine states in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category that enjoys 21% quota in government jobs and educational institutes. The notification included Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (Bharatpur and Dholpur).
The community was in the OBC lists of these states too. In Rajasthan, however, the state OBC list does not include the Jats from Bharatpur and Dholpur districts since the community was considered the ruling class and, hence, not backward here. The latest court judgment would affect Jats from Bharatpur-Dholpur region only, while the community members from rest of Rajasthan would continue to get quota benefits as usual, both at the Centre and in the state.
Bharatpur’s ex-royal and Congress MLA from the district’s Deeg-Kumher constituency, Vishvendra Singh said, “The judgment is unfortunate, especially for the Jats of Bharatpur-Dholpur as they are equally backward. We were excluded from the OBC list initially also in 1999. We had to fight a long, long battle and the UPA-II government finally included us last year. After today’s judgment, we will have to undertake yet another long battle for our rights.”
BJP leader and former cabinet minister from Bharatpur, Digamber Singh said, “It is a court judgment, so has to be respected. But it will have far-reaching repercussions. Contrary to the general belief, the Jats of Bharatpur-Dholpur are hardworking farmers with little resources at their ends, so they deserve the reservation benefits.”
At the same time, the Samta Andolan Samiti that fights legal battles against the reservation policy welcomed the SC judgment. “The court has referred to Jats as a ‘politically organised class’, which suggest that it cannot be termed ‘backward’ even politically. We are examining the possibility of filing a writ to get Jats excluded from reservation benefits in panchayat elections too,” said Parashar Narayan Sharma, the Samiti’s state president.