Ludhiana: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday slammed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in the centre for deliberately denying the other backward castes (OBC) status to Punjab`s Jat Sikhs.
Talking to the media here after an event, Badal said the central government had recently started a process to include Jat community of north Indian states in the OBC list but the Jat Sikhs of Punjab have not been included in the same.
"This reflects a step-motherly treatment meted out to Punjab. It is another instance of discrimination with the state, which has been denied its own capital, legitimate share in river waters and even Punjabi-speaking areas in the past," Badal said.
He said the Jat Sikh community, primarily agrarian, helped the country become self-sufficient in foodgrain over the years.
He blamed the Congress for playing politics of divide and rule and said this omission was not in the interest of the nation.
