Army columns were deployed at nine locations in Haryana on Friday and curfew was imposed in Rohtak and Bhiwani city limits with shoot-at-sight orders, after one person was killed in police firing as an agitation demanding reservation for Jats flared into violence.
Agitators tried to torch Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu’s house, burnt vehicles and blocked highways.
An Army official confirmed to The Hindu that “the Rohtak column has already moved and others will move as soon as they are ready.”
It is learnt that Haryana Chief Secretary spoke to Army Chief General Dalbir Singh on the situation, following which Army units were put on standby.
Curfew was imposed both in Rohtak and Bhiwani later in the evening. Though there were no official figures, at least 70 people were said to have been injured in Rohtak, local sources said.
Though only one death was officially confirmed, the local sources said two more people were killed in different parts of Rohtak during the violence.
The State government, caught unawares by the ferocity of the violence, called an all-party meeting in the morning but events quickly got out of hand in Rohtak and surrounding districts, with the administration imposing section 144 and blocking Internet access in these areas.
Later the government conceded the demand of the Jats and promised to bring in a quota Bill. Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar said a committee chaired by the Chief Secretary would submit its report in the Budget session of the Assembly.
‘Bill will have legal sanctity’
The Haryana government, which said it accepted the demand of the Jats for reservation after their stir turned violent on Friday, gave an assurance that the relevant Bill would have legal sanctity.
“The new Bill will have legal sanctity. With a view to ensuring that no loss is caused by including them in the category of Economically Backward Classes (EBC), the quota for the same will be increased from 10 to 20 per cent and the income ceiling go up from Rs. 2.5 lakh to Rs. six lakh,” Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar said.
All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) national president Yashpal Malik, however, said if the government was sincere about meeting the Jat demands, it should immediately pass an ordinance. “As soon as they pass the ordinance we will stop our agitation,” he said.
Earlier in the afternoon, police said the protesters who had gathered at the Rohtak bypass road of the Delhi-Hisar National Highway turned violent and allegedly attacked police vehicles and the house of State Finance Minister Capt. Abhimanyu.
Haryana DGP Y.P. Singhal told reporters that in view of the volatile situation, the Army has been called out in eight districts including Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Hisar, Sonipat and Panipat. “We have asked for Army deployment in eight districts,” he said.
Mr. Singhal said a mob attacked a Haryana police DSP and other policemen near the Maharishi Dayanand University gate and set the house of the Finance Minister on fire.
Meanwhile, top Union Ministers — Rajnath Singh, Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj — on Friday night reviewed the situation in Haryana.