HARYNARCHY: PART -3 /9 - BACKWARD MARCH . WHO ARE THE JATS. WHAT DO THEY WANT?

SOURCE:
http://indianexpress.com/article/explained/backward-march-what-the-jats-want/


                                                        PART-THREE

REFERENCES :-

(K)Part- 11/X:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/12/jat-reservation-agitation.html

(J) Part-10/ X:-      https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/sourcehttpwww.html

(I) Part-9/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-videos-politics-of-denial.html

(H) Part-8/9 :-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-8-let-there-be-no-more.html

  (G) PART- 7/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-79-let-truth-behind.html

 (F)  Part- 6/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-6-9-face-to-face-with.html

(E)  Part -5/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-5-days-later-govt.html

(D)  Part -4/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-4-why-haryana.html

(C)  Part -3/9:-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/harynarchy-part-3-backward-march-who.html                                              

 (B)  Part -2/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-2-blunting-instrument.html

( A)  Part -1/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/02/internal-security-indian-army-goof-up.html

 HARYNARCHY:BACKWARD MARCH . WHO ARE THE JATS. WHAT DO THEY WANT? 

Indian Express analyses the background and circumstances of the agitation for reservation that has Haryana on the boil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who are the Jats, and what are they demanding?

 

 Jats are an agricultural caste group in Haryana, and seven other states in North India, notably Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. In Haryana, they are the predominant caste, and therefore politically influential. In his tome on the “Panjab Castes” following the 1881 census, Sir Denzil Ibbetson noted that “from an economical and administrative point of view [the Jat] is the husbandsman, the peasant, the revenue-payer par excellence… he is usually content to cultivate his fields and pay his revenue in peace and quietness…” The Jats currently out on the streets across Haryana are demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions under the OBC category.

 

         

 

 When did the demand begin?

 

 

Discontent boiled over after the 1991 Gurnam Singh Commission report included Jats in the Backward Classes category along with seven other groups, and after the Bhajan Lal government withdrew the notification that had been issued for inclusion. Two more Backward Classes Commissions set up in the state excluded the group – in 1995 and 2011. Reservation for Jats was one of the poll promises made by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who came to power in 2004; he subsequently wrote several letters to the Union government seeking their inclusion of Jats. After an agitation, in April 2011, the government set up the K C Gupta Commission to go into the question once again. In 2012, the commission recommended the inclusion of Jats and four other castes, Jat Sikhs, Ror, Tyagi and Bishnoi, in the category Special Backward Classes (SBC). The Hooda government accepted the report and 10% quota was granted, but this was later set aside by the Supreme Court.

 

 

What are the legal issues involved in granting reservation to Jats? What is the policy in neighbouring states?

 

 

On March 17, 2015, the Supreme Court quashed the UPA government’s decision to extend the OBC quota in central government jobs to Jats, refusing to accept that Jats were a backward community. Consequently, the reservation introduced for Jats in Haryana and eight other states — Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand — was set aside. In April 2015, the NDA government filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against the March 17 verdict.

A decision on it is pending.

 

 

 

Where do the Jats stand in Haryana’s political hierarchy?

 

 

Since being carved out of Punjab in 1966, Haryana state has had 10 chief ministers, and seven have been Jats. Jats comprise 27% of the electorate, and are the state’s predominant caste group, who dominate a third of the 90 Assembly constituencies in the state. The leaders of the two main opposition political parties — Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress and Abhay Singh Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal — are Jats. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar represents the Punjabi community, and belongs to the Khattar caste.

 

 The Jat agitation is centred on Rohtak, Jhajjar and Bhiwani — the three districts that, along with Panipat, Sonipat and Hisar, are known as the state’s Jat belt. The three districts are mostly covered under two parliamentary constituencies — Rohtak and Bhiwani — and 18 Assembly constituencies.

The BJP won 10 out of these 18 seats, while six went to Congress and two to INLD.

 

Watch video: Visuals Of The Jat Agitation, Rapid Action Force & Central Reserve Police Force

 

 

 

  [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4-MLwpr7EE#t=82 ]

 

 

 

But if the Jats are so politically influential, should they not already be well represented in higher education and government jobs?

 

 

According to the K C Gupta Commission, Jats had 17.82% representation in Class 1 and 2 government jobs. In the lower grades, this representation is estimated at as high as 40 to 50%. The representation of Jats in educational institutions was 10.35%. The literacy rate among Jat men is said to be 45%; among women, about 30%.

 

 

The Jats’ primary occupation remains farming. The average landholding is 2-3 acres. Only 10% of Jats are landless. Over a decade ago, some sections of Jats were not ready to accept the status of “backward class” because at that time land was not fragmented, and most Jat landholdings were large. With changing times and dividing families, however, holdings began to shrink.

 

 

 

So, which are the castes that do have reservation in Haryana?

 

 

Out of 80 castes, only 16 — Ahir, Arora/Khatri, Bishnoi, Brahman, Gossain, Gujjar, Jat, Jat Sikh, Kalal, Mahajan/Bania, Meo, Muslim, Rajput, Ror, Saini and Tyagi — do not find mention in the lists of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes notified by the Haryana government. The Ramgarhia caste, which is synonymous with Khati or Barhai, also does not find mention in the list of Backward Classes of the Haryana government. The remaining 63 castes/communities have been notified either as a Scheduled Caste or Backward Class.

 

Did the Khattar government fail to anticipate the anger of the community?

 

 The BJP is heading the government for the first time in the state, and the lack of experience could have led to an inaccurate assessment of the situation. The Jat agitation for reservations has been an annual affair around this time of the year (February-March) since 2012, but this year’s violence could have something to do with the BJP still being seen as an outsider in Haryana’s traditional Jat politics, its election victory notwithstanding. Of the eight cabinet ministers (including the Chief Minister), only two are Jats.

 

Where is this agitation now headed?

 

 The Jats have trashed a government offer to include those with annual income of less than Rs 6 lakh under an Economically Backward Persons (EBP) category with a 20% quota, to be shared with four other castes: Tyagis, Rors, Bishnois and Jat Sikhs. The government has now announced it will prepare a draft Bill for reservation, and try to bring it in the Assembly session beginning March 17. However, such a Bill may not stand judicial scrutiny in view of the 50% ceiling on quota in government jobs imposed by the Supreme Court. This ceiling has been reached in Haryana, which has 27% reservation for OBCs, 20% SCs and 3% for the disabled. This is why the Punjab and Haryana High Court had struck down the Congress government’s 10% per cent quota for Jats, Jat Sikhs, Bishnois, Tyagis and Rors as Special Backward Classes

 

 

 

                    ROILED  ELSEWHERE

                                    By: Satish Jha


Patidars in Gujarat

 On July 6, 2015, Hardik Patel, 22, started an agitation under the banner of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti to demand the inclusion of Patidars in the OBC list. A mega rally in Ahmedabad on August 25 led to caste riots. At least 9 Patidar youths and one policeman was killed. According to police records, between June and December 2015, Patidars organised 1,251 protest meetings.

Patidars, who are farmers, are counted among Gujarat’s wealthiest communities. They have nearly 14% of the vote share, and are traditionally BJP supporters. They have applied to the Gujarat OBC commission seeking OBC status. Hardik is in jail, charged with sedition. He has been accused of trying to “dislodge a democratically elected government” by waging war against the state in order to force it to take an “unlawful decision” on reservation for the community. The charges under Sections 124A (sedition) and 121A (conspiracy to wage war) have been upheld by Gujarat High Court; an appeal is pending in the Supreme Court.


Kapus in Andhra
By: Sreenivas Janyala

On January 31, sidelined former TDP leader Mudragadda Padmanabham called a meeting of Kapus to demand the TDP government fulfil its poll promise to include Kapus in the BCs list. The YSR Congress Party extended its support to the meeting, held near Tuni railway station in East Godavari. The crowd turned violent, set a train on fire, attacked the police station and set vehicles afire.

The government has been dragging its feet in giving guidelines to the K L Manjunath Commission constituted to recommend the inclusion of Kapus in the BC list without disturbing the existing quotas. In 2014, Kapus, who constitute 23.4% of the population of AP, backed N Chandrababu Naidu.

After the unprecedented violence, a shocked Padmanabham withdrew the protest but warned the government he would sit on a protest fast. Naidu has assured that the Manjunath Commission would submit its report within six months.



Jats in Rajasthan
By: Mahim Pratap Singh


Before March 2014, Jats were in the central list of OBCs in Gujarat — Jat (Muslim) — and Rajasthan (except in the districts of Bharatpur and Dholpur). Jats also figured in the state lists of Haryana, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, UP, MP, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
The UPA sought the advice of the National Commission for Backward Classes on including Jats from these nine states, and the two Rajasthan districts, in the central list of OBCs. The NCBC advised against it, “as they are not socially and educationally backward community”, but the government notified an amended list anyway. The decision was challenged in the Supreme Court, which in March 2015 scrapped the central OBC quotas for the Jats in question, including in the two Rajasthan districts.
Rajasthan Jat leaders have now expressed solidarity with the ongoing protests in Haryana. Some college students have carried out a protest in Bharatpur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HARYANARCHY : PART-7/9 :- LET THE TRUTH BEHIND THE "HIGHWAY HORROR" PREVAIL

SOURCE:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/perspective/let-truth-behind-the-highway-horror-prevail/202085.html

REFERENCES :-

(K)Part- 11/X:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/12/jat-reservation-agitation.html

(J) Part-10/ X:-      https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/sourcehttpwww.html

(I) Part-9/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-videos-politics-of-denial.html

(H) Part-8/9 :-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-8-let-there-be-no-more.html

  (G) PART- 7/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-79-let-truth-behind.html

 (F)  Part- 6/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-6-9-face-to-face-with.html

(E)  Part -5/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-5-days-later-govt.html

(D)  Part -4/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-4-why-haryana.html

(C)  Part -3/9:-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/harynarchy-part-3-backward-march-who.html                                              

 (B)  Part -2/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-2-blunting-instrument.html

( A)  Part -1/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/02/internal-security-indian-army-goof-up.html

 

HARYANARCHY :  LET THE TRUTH                             BEHIND
THE "HIGHWAY  HORROR" PREVAIL 

Haryana Counts its Losses

• Rs 20,000 crore(Industry body Assocham's estimate)
• As state shares borders with Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan and UP and is the transit route to highways and trunk railway lines, the collateral damage would be more.
• Govt asks affected people to file their claims as early as possible so that interim relief could begin by Feb

The rumour weighed more than hearsay, too revolting to be true. The allegations of a gang-rape near Murthal on NH-10 in the heat of the Jat quota stir deserves to be looked into given the lawlessness that built up in many parts of the state in the past fortnight. In such a heinous crime, social stigma is the big challenge for victims to come out openly. Yet there was credible information. 

Within hours of the report appearing in this newspaper, two senior Haryana officers, one IAS and another IPS, visited the areas mentioned in the report and came out with official statements that "nothing had happened." 

The police were in a hurry, so much so that it forgot to scan the fields where the alleged rapes took place. It was only after news channels showed soiled and torn clothes that the local police was forced to retrieve them.

The Tribune team was pressured to withdraw the story in the same way as the eyewitnesses who narrated the tales of horror were forced to turn hostile. The National Commission for Women (NCW) took a suo mou notice and visited Murthal. The NCW member, a former BJP spokesperson from Panchkula, met the quoted eyewitnesses after they had been "tutored" by the police. A notice was issued to a Tribune journalist on Feb 25 via an email asking him to appear before the Commission in New Delhi, with all "evidence." The NCW was politely asked to reschedule the appearance. 

One of The Tribune staffers has been warned: 'Reveal the evidence or we (police) will register an FIR and arrest you.' Attempts have been made to hack another team member's Twitter account. The phones are already under surveillance.

Meanwhile, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has taken two separate suo motu cognisance of the news report. 

The question is: How can the Sonepat police, accused of dereliction of duty, conduct a probe against itself and give it a clean chit too? Despite all kinds of pressure, eyewitnesses are now coming out to narrate the tales of horror. Truth will prevail. 












 

HARYANARCHY : PART-5/9 - DAYS LATER GOVT STRUGGLES WITH ITS OWN PARALYSIS

SOURCE:http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/perspective/days-later-govt-struggles-with-its-own-paralysis/202084.html

REFERENCES :-

(K)Part- 11/X:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/12/jat-reservation-agitation.html

(J) Part-10/ X:-      https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/sourcehttpwww.html

(I) Part-9/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-videos-politics-of-denial.html

(H) Part-8/9 :-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-8-let-there-be-no-more.html

  (G) PART- 7/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-79-let-truth-behind.html

 (F)  Part- 6/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-6-9-face-to-face-with.html

(E)  Part -5/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-5-days-later-govt.html

(D)  Part -4/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-4-why-haryana.html

(C)  Part -3/9:-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/harynarchy-part-3-backward-march-who.html                                              

 (B)  Part -2/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-2-blunting-instrument.html

( A)  Part -1/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/02/internal-security-indian-army-goof-up.html

  HARYANARCHY :    DAYS LATER GOVT STRUGGLES WITH ITS OWN PARALYSIS

 

 

 

Worst Affected

• Rohtak
• Jhajjar
• Bahadurgarh
• Hisar
• Bhiwani
• Jind
• Gohana
• Sonipat
• Kaithal
• Karnal
• Panipat

Death toll

• Jhajjar 13
• Sonepat 8
• Rohtak 5
• Jind 2
• Kaithal 1
• Hisar 1

• Also in this section

• Why Haryana continued to burn

• Let truth behind the ‘highway horror’ prevail

 

 

 

The fire that has scalded the traditional social and cultural ties between the chattis biradris was set off on Valentine's Day, when the world was exchanging the message of love. Ever since Jats were perceived to be 'displaced' by the BJP's non-Jat-dominated Manohar Lal Khattar government in October 2014, an uneasy calm has prevailed in the community. Many Jats found consolation in the promise by the chief minister to implement reservation in jobs and educational institutions.

Fatigued by assurances, community leaders displayed restlessness as the government delayed its response following legal hurdles. Also, the BJP remained tongue-tied as its Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini openly chided the Jats. This is perceived as a precurser to the unprecedented anarchy across the state. 

Yet right from day one, the failure of the government machinery to deal with the emerging situation was visible. There was no heads-up for the "inexperienced" BJP leadership as to how to deal with the quickly unfolding volatile situation. Civil servants and district administration kept waiting for directions, which never came.

"When Haryana was burning, the state police turned into mere information gatherers. All they did was brief their political bosses about the nature and the extent of damage. The advice of some officers, such as the IG Rohtak, forewarning the government about calling in paramilitary forces were ignored. In hindsight, the same officer has been transferred and suspended for dereliction of duty," says a senior Haryana minister.

The Jats' Swabhiman rally at Sampla in Rohtak was a warning enough. The Hindi word 'Swabhiman' (self-respect) was chosen in response to a series of 'invectives' unleashed by Saini. Temperatures were rising as some youths were not ready to wait any longer for a government response to their ultimatum till March 31. This led to 'direct action' to block the National Highway-10.

Moderates among the agitators demanded a Jat leader must assure them of reservation. Since both Jat leaders in the state cabinet, Captain Abhimanyu and OP Dhankar, were not available on February 14, no such assurance came. Yet the agitators agreed to lift the blocked if the district administration took their memorandum to the CM. The deputy commissioner spoke to some leaders on phone, but avoided a one-on-one. Humiliated, the agitators started blocking other roads. The agitation had by then began to be run by “invisible forces.” 

When Dhankar spoke to the CM in the presence of Captain Abhimanyu on February 15 in Rohtak amid the swearing-in of panches and sarpanches, Khattar announced that the government would wait till March 31 for the report of a committee set up to deal with the issue. The Jat agitators felt the government was merely buying time. They started blocking more roads. By Feb 17, Rohtak town came to the emerging might of the Jat protesters. The next day, non-Jats expressed their bitterness and frustration over road blockades and disruption of normal life. Local traders took out a procession that was seen as an 'anti-reservation' march. 

The government's inability to assess the gravity of the situation set the stage for the havoc that followed. A small clash led to rumours about Jat agitators having been beaten up. Hundreds of Jats from adjoining villages gathered in Rohtak. The police cracked down on Jat students who they alleged had thrown stones at them. The police went inside Jat College and Neki Ram Sharma College and singled out the students after checking their identity cards. All this only added fuel to the fire. For the agitators, it was time to for 'revenge'. They went to the local IG Office and damaged the property, vandalised the local RN Mall, looted guns and ammunition from a private armoury, burnt vehicles and finally set the house of Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu, with his family members inside, on fire. The protesters also burnt down schools.

The rioting then, shifted to neighbouring Jhajjar and Bhiwani. 

Meanwhile, the Centre realised that the situation was beyond Khattar's control. BJP chief Amit Shah called Khattar on Feb 20 and told him to step back. The 'war room' shifted to Delhi where Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju met at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. State BJP leaders also met separately and concluded that announcing reservation for Jats was the only way out. 

This was meant to douse the fire. Instead, another squabble began, this time within the BJP with the Jat and non-Jat ministers taking divergent views. Health Minister Anil Vij has let it be known that those who indulged in arson and violence cannot be given compensation. Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, while briefing the media, did not say anything about the compensation part. Even when his briefing was on, Dhankar tweeted that families of those killed will be given a job and Rs 10 lakh compensation besides protection against registration of false cases. Sharma came back to the media and repeated Dhankar's tweet. Non-Jat ministers are opposed to this announcement, causing a vertical split in the Khattar cabinet.

As normalcy returns, incidents of inhuman tragedy, tales of horrors like the Murthal gang-rape are coming out. The administrative machinery is clearly divided on caste lines with officials taking a stand based on their loyalty to political masters. The manner in which government machinery failed is apparent from the trail of destruction left behind.











 

HARYANARCHY : PART- 4 /9:- WHY HARYANA CONTINUED TO BURN

SOURCE:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sunday-special/perspective/why-haryana-continued-to-burn/202083.html

REFERENCES :-

(K)Part- 11/X:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/12/jat-reservation-agitation.html

(J) Part-10/ X:-      https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/sourcehttpwww.html

(I) Part-9/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-videos-politics-of-denial.html

(H) Part-8/9 :-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-8-let-there-be-no-more.html

  (G) PART- 7/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-79-let-truth-behind.html

 (F)  Part- 6/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-6-9-face-to-face-with.html

(E)  Part -5/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-5-days-later-govt.html

(D)  Part -4/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-4-why-haryana.html

(C)  Part -3/9:-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/harynarchy-part-3-backward-march-who.html                                              

 (B)  Part -2/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-2-blunting-instrument.html

( A)  Part -1/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/02/internal-security-indian-army-goof-up.html

Run-up to the Caste Conflagration

• February 2Sarva Khap Jat Panchayat threatens to intensify protest by blocking roads at about 40 places in the state on February 15 at a Jind rally.
• February 9 CM Khattar holds talks with a section of the community; sets up a panel under the chief secretary to review the quota. Jat groups put off the Feb 15 protest.
• February 12Jats unite under All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti, resume stir from Mayyar (Hisar) after a rally by blocking railway tracks on Delhi-Hisar section.
• February 14Khap and other leaders hold Swabhiman Rally at Sampla (Rohtak). Young members block the Delhi-Fazilka (NH-10) passing through Sampla.
• February 15Even when the CM and Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar are in Rohtak, protesters block roads linking the town to Delhi, Sonepat and Jhajjar.
• February 16The agitation intensifies. College students roughed up. Rohtak completely cut off. Agitation spreads to Sonepat, Jhajjar, Bhiwani and other towns.
• February 18Protesters and non-Jat activists clash. Scores of properties damaged in Rohtak. Police try to stop clashes. Uneasy calm prevails in city.
• February 19Protesters clash with police/BSF personnel, Jat and non-Jat members fight on the streets, setting buildings and vehicles ablaze.
• February 20After the police fail to control thesituation, the Army airdrops its men in Rohtak. Troops flag-march in eight other districts.

  HARYANARCHY :  WHY HARYANA                    CONTINUED TO BURN

 Feb 28, 2016




Rohtak, Feb 21: Charred remains of shops set on fire by Jat agitators demanding reservation. PTI

Caught in the maelstrom of complete lawlessness, a localized incident on Feb 19 in Bhiwani, Haryana, gives you an idea of the mindlessness: A college girl walking to her home in the evening was prevented by stick-wielding youths. She called up her friends and there was a minor clash. The girl escaped in the melee. Later, everyone said the girl was a Rajput. A few hours later men from 'OBC Brigade' arrived and tried to disperse the warring sides and asked the Jat agitators to lift the road blockade. What happened next was unprecedented: it was Jat vs Rajput, OBCs and others with Punjabis getting caught in the crossfire. District policemen, sources said, were deployed elsewhere, so none came. Soon, it was nothing short of a full-scale caste war.

Army troops on a flag march in Rohtak on Feb 20. AFP

The situation in Rohtak, the parliamentary constituency of Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda, was explosive: Several residents said they themselves worked the phones to the Prime Minister's Office, but the officials "concerned" expressed their inability to do anything. As violent mobs went on the rampage, no help was forthcoming. Recalls VK Juneja, owner of Silver Bells School on the Gohana Road: "On February 19, my school watchman called up saying a mob was about to set the school building afire. I immediately called up the local police and fire-station officials, but they plainly expressed their helplessness. The school building was ransacked and burnt."

Then on Feb 22, almost a day after the Army was deployed in parts of Hisar, despite curfew, an armed mob arrived in tractor trailers and motorcycles and looted houses located in the fields of Dhani Pal village. At least 20 houses were ransacked and burnt down. Policemen and an Army column failed to control the mob. Harphool, whose house was torched, said the rioters took away jewelry and cash. "The security forces were thinly spread out in the fields. We kept shouting for help, but no one came." A day later, the body of a youth, Mintu, was found when security forces conducted a flag march.

Off the record, top government sources said something akin to 'politics of silence' prevailed in the government, paralyzing law-enforcement. "For the Punjabi community in Sonepat, Rohtak, Gohana and Karnal, the violence resembled the Partition horror. "It will take years before inter-caste trust is restored," said a government officer in Panipat.

What could have been a controllable rural upsurge soon mushroomed into a caste conflagration: 30 people were killed (official count), hundreds injured, women assaulted, and property worth thousands of crores perished across the state. Worse, the inter-caste bond was allowed to be damaged.

In the run-up to the reservation agitation, even when khaps and other Jat leaders were bitterly complaining against government "betrayal" and warning of an aggressive agitation, the state machinery, it'd seem, was at best sleeping, or worst, pretending to be talking.

Here's a surgical analysis of worst affected districts and the response, or the lack of it, from the authorities, especially the police.

Rohtak, Feb 25: School buses and buildings were set on fire. Photo: Manoj Dhaka

Administration gives in

Rohtak, Feb 20: A curfew was imposed on February 19 and the Army was called out. Jat protesters had dug up roads blocking access to the city. Army troops were airdropped to the Rohtak Police Lines. The troops carried 'Army' banners as they marched along with BSF and state police personnel. Yet the violence didn't stop. This was the seventh day since NH 10 passing through Sampla was blocked.. When residents met Deputy Commissioner DK Behera a day before, his officials had told them quietly: "Don't depend on sarkari help, you are on your own." Says Sanjay Khurana, a community leader based at Patel Nagar: "After the district authorities expressed their helplessness, we formed groups of armed youths to keep a watch round the clock." He says hordes of violent youths tried to enter their locality several times, but were met with equally belligerent response. Several shots were fired in the air to scare away the mob and keep us safe," he said.

The mayhem was in addition to the fear among thousands of people stranded on roads in and around Rohtak. Armed youth continued to vandalize public property as well as showrooms, shops, hotels and restaurants.

"The people's trust in the state machinery could have been saved to some extent had the police personnel and administrative officials stepped in. It was free-for-all," said Lovely Mittal, a local resident. So bad was the situation that the police posts were abandoned and police stations locked by the very personnel. The result was all too clear: total anarchy in Rohtak and nearby Kalanaur and Meham.

"Shockingly, for four-five days neither any MLA, nor did any community leader bother to approach the agitators for calm," said a resident, Dinesh Kumar.

Several prominent businessmen and industrialists are now weighing moving their operations/units to some other state.

The educated and well-meaning members of the Jat community regret the large-scale devastation but intelligentsia sees it from a different perspective. "Economic frustration resulting from agrarian crisis has been vented out as caste frenzy. Law-enforcement agencies have failed the people," says Dr Ravi Mohan, a leading medical practitioner. Dr Rajender Sharma, a Professor of Political Science at Maharishi Dayanand University thinks that in a democratic set-up, the shift of power should be accepted by the established political elites, including the members of the dominant communities.

For Phool Kanwar, a former Air Force official, the cracks in communal harmony is the most unfortunate part. And for Vijay Balhara, Principal of Model School in Sector 4, destruction happened in minutes, but construction would take a long time. "The damaged buildings will get reconstructed, but the social fabric that has been destroyed will take a very long time to repair," says Sandhya, a schoolteacher.

Left to fend for themselves

Jhajjar: Locals blame the police inaction, saying policemen bothered more about the safety of their officers while common man was left to fend for himself. "No policeman was present in any of the police posts," said a resident. "The police have lost the faith of people," said Om Prakash, another resident. Over 15 houses at Chhawani Colony, 20 business establishments, new buildings of PWD rest house, BDPO, Red Cross and Excise offices, Railway Station, Police station, Bank of Patiala, Chhotu Ram Dharamshala and over 50 roadways buses, government vehicles, private cars and two wheelers were set on fire in a town that aspires to be an industrial hub of the state.

Most shops are still closed in all main markets. Residents in each colony take up thikri pehra (night patrolling) in self-defence in the absence of any worthwhile police help that suddenly vanished for four-five days since Feb 20.

"How can you blame the police alone when the Army was also deployed? Arson and violence took place in the presence of army personnel who were mute spectators in the absence of orders," said a police officer, claiming that the police did not receive any order to resort to firing to disperse the mobs.

Om Prakash Dhankar, a leader of Dhankar Khap, said "We want to financially help families who lost their loved ones. The violence is the direct result of government ignoring the Jat community even as BJP's Rajkumar Saini made inflammatory statements."

"The police were nowhere to be seen when people were being thrashed and killed by hooligans," said Ram Niwas Saini, a resident of Chhawani Colony where two men were killed and 20 others were injured when protesters attacked their houses. Said TV mechanic Anil Kumar whose shop was torched: "It was horrible. Let no suffer the way I have."

Warnings ignored

Hisar: Feb 21, just when violence seemed ebbing in other areas of the state, caste clashes broke out in parts of the district. Jats hailing from Sisay village clashed with Gurjars and Sainis in adjoining villages of Sainipura, Dhani Pal and Jaggabara in the Hansi region. Senior Superintendent of Police Ashwin Shenvi said it was a free-for-all. "The area is wide, where houses are thinly spread out. So, we didn't have a particular area to defend. Even then, we managed to prevent clashes," he said.

It all began from the district's Mayyar village, the centre of Jat agitation in 2010-13. This time again, the All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) announced it'd resume the stir with a sit-in on the railway tracks. On Feb 12, AIJASS boss Hawa Singh Sangwan, addressing around 1,000 of his supporters, seemed undecided about how to reignite the stir. A group of 10 persons went into a huddle near him and announced: March to the railway tracks. "The government didn't respond to our 3pm deadline. We had no option. Let the 'OBC Brigade' of Rajkumar Saini dare remove us from the tracks," the Jats sounded the battle cry. Yet things were in a flux.

Sangwan finally withdrew the stir after an assurance from state agriculture minister OP Dhankar on Feb 13. But a group of the Samiti was disappointed and refused to clear the blockade. The next day, this group too lifted the blockade. But some of them went to Sampla in Rohtak, the birthplace of legendary Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram, where an indefinite dharna began.

Meanwhile, sensing the buildup in the Rohtak region, the Yashpal Malik group, too, started a dharna on the railway tracks between Mayyar and Ramyana village in the district from February 17. The agitation thus split between the moderates and extremists.

Loud & clear

Bhiwani: Om Prakash Mann, state president of All India Jat Mahasabha and a khap spokesperson makes it plain: the community is a victim in Bhiwani district. "The Jat Dharamsala was vandalized and torched. At least 10 private properties of community members, including one belonging to me, were attacked by Rajputs," he said.

The Rajputs guarding a community centre attacked during violent situation, have a different story to tell. One of them claiming to be an ex-sarpanch said that the Jat agitation was a facade in the garb of disturbing law and order situation to malign the image of a non-Jat Chief Minister. The Rajputs as well as other caste members blame the police for inaction.

Such is the caste divide that persons who are now coming forward to lodge complaints are questioning the caste of investigation officers or the SHOs concerned. A senior police officer admitted that there was a complete failure of the system in which even policemen had to run away. "Police posts at several places were burned down by goons who wanted to destroy their criminal records," said an officer.

Superintendent of Police Pratiksha Godara said the force could not dispatch reinforcements to rural areas as all the roads were blocked. "We had inputs that what happened in Rohtak on Feb 19 could be replicated in Bhiwani. So I and the Deputy Commissioner set up a control room to assess the situation," she said.

She said many individuals settled their personal scores taking advantage of the volatile situation. Deputy Commissioner Pankaj said they were told not to order firing until it was absolutely necessary, and that too, after permission from higher authorities. As the events unfolded, it'd seem no permission to open fire was sought.

'Heavily outnumbered'

Jind: Former additional director general of police, Haryana, BK Sinha says the police force in the present agitation largely remained confined to their safe offices as its movement was restricted by agitating mobs blockading the roads. How else would you explain the burning down of around seven railway stations and a police post? However, the question is when the mobs were chopping over 5,000 fully grown trees to use them as obstacles, what was the forest department or the police doing? Senior police officers said since villagers didn't allow policemen to move ahead, they had to take interior routes, which delayed the response, enabling mobs to loot and plunder.

The district forest office deploys only one guard at every 10km. Officers said they were helpless when they were heavily outnumbered by agitators.

Jind Deputy Commissioner Vinay Singh and Superintendent of Police , Abhishek Jorwal said ultimately it was people's support that brought some semblance of order.

Sunit Dhawan in Rohtak, Ravinder Saini in Jhajjar, Deepender Deswal in Hisar, Sat Singh in Bhiwani and N Kalia in Jind. Coordination & anchoring: Prashant Saxena

 

HARYANARCHY : PART 2 /9- BLUNTING THE INSTRUMENT OF LAST RESORT

SOURCE:
                                                                                   

                                                      PART  TWO/NINE                                                                                                             REFERENCES :-

(K)Part- 11/X:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2020/12/jat-reservation-agitation.html

(J) Part-10/ X:-      https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/sourcehttpwww.html

(I) Part-9/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-videos-politics-of-denial.html

(H) Part-8/9 :-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-8-let-there-be-no-more.html

  (G) PART- 7/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-79-let-truth-behind.html

 (F)  Part- 6/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-6-9-face-to-face-with.html

(E)  Part -5/9:-    https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-5-days-later-govt.html

(D)  Part -4/9:-  https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-4-why-haryana.html

(C)  Part -3/9:-     https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/harynarchy-part-3-backward-march-who.html                                              

 (B)  Part -2/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/03/haryanarchy-part-2-blunting-instrument.html

( A)  Part -1/9:-   https://bcvasundhra.blogspot.com/2016/02/internal-security-indian-army-goof-up.html

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

             BLUNTING THE INSTRUMENT
                                      OF
                             LAST RESORT

                                        By 

Lt Gen NS Brar, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd)

                     

 Now  that the nation and its institutions have lost as nothing appears to have been gained by the agitation. The issue of reservations is a complex and emotive national socio – political matter within which the sub text of the Jat agitation was played out. Perhaps nothing in the country is so deeply mired in politics, to the exclusion of all else, as caste, ethnicity and religion focussed on reservations. In the final analysis the country, its leadership and the people will have to address and redress the whole question of reservation sooner rather than later. There is no doubt that there will be many such agitations to come. What is imperative is the way they are handled with specific reference to employment of the Army (and the armed forces).

The military is a nation’s instrument of last resort. ‘It’s the final argument of kings’. If it fails the nation has nothing to fall back on. Consequently, the nation has to ensure that it is maintained and employed to deliver when all else fails. 

It was quite apparent that the Jat agitation, soon after its launch, had degenerated into a serious law and order problem and needed firm handling. However, the inability of the state to act only confirmed that like its neighbour Punjab, the police and civil administration of Haryana had been totally politicised and compromised. So when the mobs came out to block highways and railways, and allegedly rape, the state machinery did not act and instead requisitioned the Army. It simply abdicated its responsibility, which was bad enough, but what followed was worse. Having called out the Army it failed to hand over restoring the situation to the Army by the simple expedient of not executing the legal provisions for doing so. Here was a situation, when leave aside clearing the road blocks, the Army was unable to move its own vehicle columns to the affected areas and employed helicopters to so. 

The law mandates and authorises the civil administration to requisition the Army for ‘aid to civil authority’ for restoring law and order or in situations of natural disasters. Inbuilt into the authority is the proviso that the civil administration has employed and exhausted all means available at its disposal and has no other option. The law also provides that a designated magistrate has to sign and hand over the situation to be restored and the Army having done that hands back the situation to the civil administration. It also implies that the magistrate has to be present on the spot to assess and hand over the situation. In short the Army does not come out on its own and nor does it act on its own to restore law and order.  

  

Here was a situation when mobs were damaging and looting public and private property indicating a total breakdown of law and order. The administration was unable or unwilling to employ the police to control the situation and to add oil to the fire was unwilling to hand over the situation to the Army. Seeing the lumpen mobs vandalising public and private property and the ‘State’ unwilling to hand over to the Army a soldier on the spot would well ask why was he there if he was not to be employed for the purpose for which he was deployed. The military legal system binds a soldier to obey a ‘lawful command’. Seeing mobs on the rampage and the civil administration unwilling to hand over and situation to the Army may be interpreted as an ‘unlawful command’ by the designated civil authority prompting the military commander on the spot to act to execute a ‘lawful command’ without the formal handing over by the magistrate. The soldier would not have ‘taken the law into his own hands’ but would have abided by the law. Perhaps the courts of the land will adjudicate on this aspect one day and if it finds favour, it would render a serious blow to the democratic principle of civil control of the military. It would not be of the making of the military.

The politics of employment of the Army, as played out, should also enlighten those who propagate doing away with the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSP) in disturbed areas. Consider a terrorist induced situation where the civil administration and police is obviously unable to handle it and in the absence of the state being declared disturbed, and AFSP not being promulgated, the Army cannot act without formal requisition and handing over by a magistrate. And, the magistrate is either not available or is unwilling to hand over!

The country has paramilitary and armed police strength perhaps equal to or more than the Army. The proliferation in its strength has been matched by the proliferation in adopting military uniforms, badges of rank and protocols but it has not adopted the military leadership and accountability. Needless to say it does not inspire confidence in the populace at large. Resultantly, the Army columns carried placards to so as to distinguish them from the paramilitary. Implying therefore that the columns were not from the paramilitary with its known inability and ineffectiveness. Having done that the Army too was made ineffective by political and legal jugglery. 

We seem to have spared no efforts to blunt the instrument of last resort by playing politics with it. Whether it is the Sikh Regiment at the Republic Day Parade, One Rank One Pension, requisitioning the Army in aid to civil authority for mundane tasks or calling out the Army and then playing politics over its employment even when the mobs run riot. The Jat agitation and its handling, and specifically the employment of the Army, chipped away at the purpose and perception of its capability both within the Army and the public at large. It added in blunting the instrument. If the decision and directions from the highest quarters was not to use force then why call out the instrument of force ? There will be many more such agitations to come. The nation needs to be alive as to how it employs the Army to respond to such agitations. Mishandling obviously has grave long term consequences for the Army and the country.