Parallel rallies in Haryana: BJP, INLD back Jat quota demand, Congress gives rally a miss

All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) president Yashpal Malik’s rally in Rohtak’s Jassia village got a major boost on Sunday with INLD leader Abhay Chautala backing the community’s demand for quota and Union minister of steel Birender Singh sharing the dais at the venue.

The rally, which was organised to lay foundation stone of an education institute the AIJASS is constructing for the Jat community at Jassia, was given a miss by the Haryana Congress leaders, including former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in whose bastion it took place.

The rally had Abhay Chautala and AIJASS’s Malik and Ashok Balhara bashing chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the BJP government for betraying the Jat community and planning large-scale violence in Haryana, even as senior BJP leader Birender Singh watched in silence.

“CM Khattar says he wants to help Jats, but does nothing to grant reservation or withdraw cases against the Jat youths,” Abhay said.

The INLD leader didn’t mince his words and attacked Birender as well, asking him where he was when his government was killing innocent Jat youths last year. He also announced ₹1 crore donation for the educational institute and promised all Jat youths arrested in the quota violence cases will be out of jail within 36 hours of his party being voted back to power.

Birender, in his address, offered no defence for CM Khattar, the BJP government or even himself. He said he supported reservation for the Jat community and will ensure it is given at all cost. Being steel minister, he also promised to donate steel required in building the educational institute for Jats.

Earlier in the day, the National Highway-71 A (Rohtak-Panipat road) remained choked due to the rally. Around 3,500 police personnel were deployed on ground to keep a check on the situation. The rally, however, passed off peacefully.

Govt resumes mobile internet service

Mobile internet service resumed in Haryana after two parallel rallies of the All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) chief Yashpal Malik at Rohtak’s Jassia village and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Raj Kumar Saini passed off peacefully on Sunday.

Mobile internet and SMS services were suspended by the state government in 11 districts of the state, including Jind, Hansi, Bhiwani, Hisar, Fatehabad, Karnal, Panipat, Kaithal, Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajjar and Charkhi Dadri, two

days ahead of the rallies to control spread of rumours and inflammatory messages apprehending threat to law and order situation.

Highlights | Haryana Jat rally: Internet services restored, situation remains peaceful in state