New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday reiterated his demand for inclusion of Delhi’s Jat community in the Centre’s Other Backward Clases (OBC) list. Kejriwal had a meeting with a delegation of Jat leaders at his residence. The community holds a substantial portion of the vote in around 70 assembly constituencies in Delhi, essentially in the outer regions.
At a press conference, Kejriwal said that the Jats here are included in Delhi’s OBC list but not in the Centre’s list. “Jats from Rajasthan can get admissions in the Delhi University and its colleges, jobs in the AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and all the central government organisations but not the Jats of Delhi,” Kejriwal was quoted as saying by PTI.
He added that the top two leaders of the country — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah — had promised the Jat community of Delhi that they would be provided OBC quota at the central level but the promise has not been fulfilled. Kejriwal raised a question: “I want to ask Modi, Shah and other BJP leaders, when will they include Delhi’s Jats in the Centre’s OBC list?”
Taking to X, the AAP national convenor wrote that the delegation of Jat leaders, who met him, voiced their anger over being “betrayed” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue of reservation for the last 10 years and the “injustice” they have been subjected to. He contended that the AAP “supports the justified demand of the community”.
आज अपने निवास पर जाट समाज के प्रतिनिधियों से मुलाकात की। उन्होंने पिछले 10 सालों से आरक्षण के मुद्दे पर बीजेपी द्वारा ठगे जाने पर अपनी नाराज़गी ज़ाहिर की, दिल्ली के जाट समाज के साथ अन्याय हो रहा है। आम आदमी पार्टी जाट समाज की इस जायज़ मांग के साथ है। pic.twitter.com/OqXgLUpsNA
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 13, 2025
BJP dubs Kejriwal’s demand as poll gimmick
Earlier last week, the AAP national convenor had said that he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising the demand to include Delhi’s Jats in the Centre’s OBC list. Slamming Kejriwal, the BJP had described his demand an “election gimmick”.
BJP’s Lok Sabha MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat was quoted by ANI as saying: “For the last 10 years, the government that was in power in Delhi with a complete majority did not raise this issue in the Vidhan Sabha or any public platform…Granting reservations is a subject of the state government.”
Sehrawat claimed that Kailash Gahlot, who has since left the party, confirmed he had informed the former Delhi CM 2-3 times about the inclusion of Delhi’s Jat community in central reservations. He alleged that one of the main reasons for the community’s exclusion from central reservations was the government led by former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
BJP leader and NDMC vice chairperson Kuljeet Singh Chahal pointed out that Jat reservation is merely a “political stunt” as the AAP is on a “ventilator”, and that’s why they are resorting to such tactics.
