Assembly Election: Kejriwal accuses BJP of ‘betraying’ Jats of Delhi over reservation issue

PTI, Jan 13, 2025, 3:11 PM IST

Arvind Kejriwal (PTI / File)

New Delhi: AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Monday accused the BJP of “betraying” the Jats of Delhi over the issue of reservation, asking the party when will they be included in the Centre’s list for the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Kejriwal met a delegation of Jat leaders at his residence, ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls on February 5. The community accounts for a significant chunk of votes in some Assembly constituencies in the national capital, especially in the outer Delhi areas.

The Jats here are included in Delhi’s OBC list but not in the Centre’s list, Kejriwal said.

“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,” the former chief minister said at a press conference.

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 will be given OBC reservation at the central level but the promise remains unfulfilled, he added.

“I want to ask Modi, Shah and other BJP leaders, when will they include Delhi’s Jats in the Centre’s OBC list?” he questioned.

In a post on X, the AAP national convenor said the delegation of Jat leaders, who met him, expressed anger over being “betrayed” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue of reservation for the last 10 years and the “injustice” done to them.

He asserted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supports the justified demand of the community.