NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal has accused the BJP-led central government of failing to honour its promises to include Delhi’s Jat community in the OBC (Other Backward Classes) list.
Kejriwal, addressing the issue in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pointed out that over the last decade, both Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured the Jat community that they would be included in the central OBC list, but the promise has not been fulfilled.
Reacting to Kejriwal’s demand, BJP New Delhi assembly candidate Parvesh Verma alleged that Kejriwal, whose political standing appears to be weakening, is now resorting to caste-based politics to divide Delhi’s voters. “Kejriwal’s political ground is slipping, and now, as elections approach, he is dividing Delhi on caste lines. The fear of losing has gripped him. He never remembered the Jat community in the past 11 years. Now, with rural Delhi—whether Jats, Gurjars, Yadavs, Tyagis, or Rajputs—united against him, Kejriwal suddenly remembers the Jats,” Verma said. The Jat community constitutes around 5% of Delhi’s population, with a significant presence in South and Outer Delhi. Political analysts suggest that the Jat community holds sway over more than a dozen seats, particularly in rural areas where 225 out of 364 villages are dominated by Jats. Historically, the community has had a prominent political representation, with leaders like Sahib Singh Verma, who served as Delhi’s Chief Minister in the late 1990s. Current influential Jat leaders include Parvesh Verma, Kailash Gahlot, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, and Mukesh Ahlawat, who have strong support in Delhi’s rural constituencies.
In his letter, Kejriwal said, “The BJP has betrayed the Jat community over the last 10 years. While Delhi government recognizes the Jat community as OBC, the central government’s OBC list excludes them. As a result, Jat students from Delhi do not receive the benefits of reservation when applying to Delhi University.”
