Raj Kumar Saini Raj Kumar Saini

BJP’s Lok Sabha member Raj Kumar Saini, whose remarks opposing reservation for Jats had triggered a row, said Wednesday that “if people were to get into the OBC category at gunpoint, it would lead to murder of democracy”. “Forget quotas, they will also grab power by their muscle,” he told The Indian Express.

The MP from Haryana’s Kurukshetra constituency also criticised the announcement of compensation for people killed during the Jat stir. “Peaceful and law-abiding people whose properties were looted and burnt by agitators should be given compensation because the state machinery failed to protect them. Why should families of those who were killed while indulging in loot and arson get compensation?” he said.

When it was pointed out that he was being held responsible for the trouble, he said, “Far from it, I am the sole person to stand up for the rights of 35 caste groups (Jats being the 36th) of the state. Are quotas meant for empowering weaker and underprivileged sections or for the monopoly on job and educational opportunities by those who already have a 50 per cent share?” He added: “Show me a single statement which can be considered provocative.”

He said OBCs will “not let anyone disturb their 27 per cent quota” and suggested that the government earmark quota of each caste in proportion to its population, taking 1947 figures as base so that communities whose numbers increased do not get extra benefit.

Saini held the Congress responsible for the violence, citing an audio clip of a purported telephonic conversation of Prof Virender, an aide of former CM and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. “Why was Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency (represented by Hooda’s son Deepinder) the epicentre of violence? Why was the house of Finance Minister Abhimanyu, a Jat, set on fire at Rohtak? Why did the worst-hit areas happen to be represented by Congress MLAs?,” he asked.

Saini stopped short of blaming the BJP government in Haryana for ineptitude, but said the police allowed their armouries to be looted. When the Army and paramilitary forces were called in, they seemed to have no mandate to act, he said. “Therefore, people continued to be looted, robbed and thrashed and their factories, hotels, shops and homes were allowed to be reduced to ashes.”

Regarding a purported threat to his life, he said Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP chief Amit Shah and CM Manohar Lal Khattar were worried while he was on tour to Kolkata and Andamans. “I know many people are itching for my elimination, but it is all destiny. I am not afraid of anyone.”

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