Kafarpur (Uttar Pradesh), Mar.6 (ANI): Hundreds of protesters belonging to the Jat community gathered at Kafarpur near Moradabad and blocked the railway tracks in the area.
The protesters were led by the All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti and were demanding a 27 reservation and the inclusion of their community in the other backward classes (OBC) category.
Mohammed Mustafa Choudhary, a leader of Jat community said: "We have been protesting since three years very peacefully. The government has always broken the promises made to us. Now, coming under pressure we have started our protest by sitting on the tracks."
" This is the first step of our protest and from tomorrow if the government does not give us a concrete promise then this protest will become violent," he added.
The agitators have threatened to block the rail links surrounding the region including the one leading to Mathura, if their demands are not met.
Yashwant Singh Malik, the president of the Jat Maha Sangh, has accused the government for not taking their demands seriously.
Malik said: "The Congress government had talks with us on 28th September 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 said.
Malik added, " We got reservation in Haryana for three years but the government withdrew the reservation in the fourth year. To give an answer to such cheap jokes being played with our sentiments we have started our protest. By tomorrow will capture other railway tracks as well."
However, the Jat community, which is mostly confined to north India, is considered a progressive class although in a couple of states, the Jats are bracketed with 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 social hierarchies, and to ensure that the lower castes get admissions in such institutes. (ANI)
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