Press Trust of India
Chandigarh, June 5: Three months after their violent agitation left 30 people dead, Jat leaders Thursday renewed their agitation for quota in Haryana. The stir was restricted to small meetings in 15 districts amid tight security by the state’s BJP government which had drawn flak over its handling of the protest last time.
“It has been peaceful so far,” Haryana’s additional director general of police (law and order) Muhammad Akil said as nearly 20,000 security personnel from central and state forces kept a close vigil across the state, including on national highways and railway tracks which the protesters had blocked for several days in February.
Jat leaders in Jassia village of Rohtak district, the epicentre of violence during the stir, held a ‘havan’ as they started the second round of the agitation on a tepid note with influential Khap panchayats and some Jat factions distancing themselves from the protests.
All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS), which gave the call for the protest, pitched a tent along the Rohtak-Panipat highway just outside Jassia and also held dharnas in 15 of the state’s 21 districts.
The Jat protesters are demanding quota under OBC category, withdrawal of cases registered against the community’s members during the previous stir, the status of martyrs for those killed and jobs for their next of kin, besides compensation for the injured.
The agitation this time was restricted to the so-called ‘Jat belt’ comprising districts like Jhajjar, Sonipat, Rohtak, Panipat, Hisar, Fatehabad and Jind.
“There are small groups of protesters, mainly in the rural areas. At some places, the protesters handed over memorandums to district authorities,” an official said. Prohibitory orders were clamped at sensitive places in these districts and security forces conducted flag marches as the administration geared up to ensure that there is no repeat of earlier incidents when 30 people were killed, property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was destroyed and key routes were blocked by agitators.
A special round-the-clock control room was set up in Chandigarh to monitor the situation. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, senior officials including the chief secretary, the home secretary and the DGP, were keeping a close watch on the situation, officials said.