Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal 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.
