In a renewed call for political support, Arvind Kejriwal, the national convenor of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), has once again urged the Centre to include Delhi’s Jat community in the official Other Backward Classes (OBC) list. The former Delhi Chief Minister met with a delegation of Jat leaders on Monday, where he highlighted the disparity between Delhi’s local OBC list and the Centre’s exclusion of Jats from it.
During the press conference, Kejriwal pointed out that while Jats from other states, like Rajasthan, benefit from reservations in central government jobs and institutions such as Delhi University, AIIMS, and Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi’s Jat community does not enjoy these privileges. “The Jats of Delhi are included in the Delhi OBC list, but not in the Centre’s,” Kejriwal stated, criticizing the unfulfilled promises made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during their tenure.
Kejriwal went on to question when the central government would honor its commitment to the Jat community, pressing the top leaders for a clear answer. In a post on X, he shared that Jat leaders had expressed feelings of betrayal, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of not fulfilling the decade-old promise of granting them central reservation.
The AAP leader reaffirmed his support for the community’s rightful demand and called it a crucial issue of justice.
In response, BJP leaders dismissed Kejriwal’s demand as an election ploy. BJP’s Lok Sabha MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat, who belongs to the Jat community, argued that Kejriwal’s government never raised the issue in the Delhi Vidhan Sabha, nor took any action in the past 10 years. Sehrawat also claimed that former Delhi CM Kejriwal’s government had hindered the inclusion of Delhi’s Jat community in central reservations.
BJP leaders, including NDMC Vice-Chairman Kuljeet Singh Chahal, also criticized the move, calling it an “election stunt” as AAP faces mounting challenges. Despite the political back-and-forth, the issue of Jat reservation remains a contentious one, with both parties continuing to stake their claims.
