Jats to protest against Natwar’s "ill-treatment"

Special Correspondent

``He enhanced status of Jats at the international level’’

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Jat Mahasabha has threatened the Congress leadership against any "further humiliation" of the former External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh.

The Jat community in the State considered the "ill-treatment" of Mr. Singh an insult to itself, the Mahasabha leaders said, asking the Congress to mend its ways.

"Natwar Singh enhanced the status of the Jat community at the international level. It is the responsibility of each member of the community to stand up and speak against the injustice perpetrated upon a distinguished Jat leader," Rajaram Meel, president, Rajasthan Jat Mahasabha, told media persons here.

Mr. Meel, the prime mover behind the proposed rally in the capital in support of Mr. Singh on August 23, said the Congress leadership had acted against Mr. Singh and his son Jagat Singh under pressure from the United States. "The caucus around Congress president Sonia Gandhi had also been misleading her on this issue," he asserted. "Both Natwar Singh and Jagat Singh are innocent. The Pathak inquiry report also has admitted this," he claimed.

Warning the Congress leadership against any action, which would further alienate the Jats, Mr. Meel said the party had to face electoral setbacks in the past two elections in Rajasthan after the community deserted it. "As we taught Ashok Gehlot a lesson in the Assembly elections we can do it again to the Congress at national level," he said.

When asked about the aborted attempt of the Jat Mahasabha in May to hold a rally in the capital to protest against the murder of some Jats in Deedwana in Nagaur district, Mr. Meel said that after the community representatives discussed the issue with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje an interim settlement had been reached. "She announced a reward of Rs.1 lakh to the persons wanted in the case, which is the highest ever in such cases," he observed.

The Jat Mahasabha leaders said both Mr. Singh and his son would attend the proposed rally.