Jats hint at withdrawal of stir by Thursday

New Delhi, Mar 16 (ANI): The representatives of the Jat community after an hour-long meeting with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram over their demand for a quota in Central Government jobs on Wednesday hinted that they would withdraw their stir by Thursday.

A delegation of Jat leaders after their meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram and Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik said that they would hold a meeting of their 'core committee' by Wednesday evening or Thursday to discuss the request made by the government to suspend the agitation.

"The Home Minister told us that the government needs two-three days time to discuss our demand. He also requested us to suspend our agitation. We will discuss it among ourselves in the evening or tomorrow morning and let them know," said Yashpal Malik, a eader of the Jat delegation.

Describing the meeting as positive, Malik said the Union Ministers told them that another round of meeting would be held within three-four days, as the demand for inclusion of Jats in the Central government list of OBCs would be discussed with the Ministry of Law and other relevant wings of the Government.

"As of now our agitation is on. But we will review it following the government assurance," Malik told reporters here.

The decision to hold the talks was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA), which was chaired by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday.

Earlier, Malik had said: "The Congress Government had talks with us on September 28 requesting us to stop our agitation till the Commonwealth Games end and said they would hold talks about our demand for reservation. Now, they (government) have sent us a letter from the Backward Class Authority that the Jat community can't get reservation because the case was rejected in 1997. "

"After 1997 we got reservation in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The government has made a joke of the sentiments of our community since 1991. We get reservation in one state and in other states we belong to the forward caste category. We do not have reservation in Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir," he added.

The Jat community, which is mostly confined to North India, is considered a progressive class, though in a couple of states, they are bracketed with the other backward classes (OBC).

The Indian Government has reserved about half of all seats in state colleges and universities for lower caste people and tribal groups to reduce disparities in the social hierarchy. (ANI)