Gujjars cannot be cowed

The thumping victory in Karnataka may give solace to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but it is certainly temporary since the party is under fire in Rajasthan. The agitation of the Gujjar community against the BJP-led government in the state has not only sent a shudder through the ruling party but also seems to continue for an indefinite period.

 

It has come to the knowledge that the leader of the community, Kirori Singh Bainsla, has already turned down the proposal of the State Government regarding the creation of an additional quota for the discontent community. However the security personnel, in the meanwhile, maintained the vigilance on the whole situation in the most apt way especially on the protestors holding the bodies of their slain associates. To calm the situation, the Honb’le Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje wrote a letter to the venerated Prime Minister advocating the introduction of four to six per cent reservation for Gujjars in the category of denotified class of tribals/nomadic tribe. This was confirmed by Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister R S Rathore in the state capital at Jaipur. To his consideration the Gujjars could also be considered as economically poorer than OBC.

But these approaches of the state government have failed to create an impact ion the community. On the contrary the letter was termed as a "farce" by Kirori Singh Bainsla, the convener of Gujjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti. He said at Karwadi that it "does not talk about granting ST status to Gujjars and our agitation will continue with full force".

This outlook has certainly intensified the situation that has made the government tighten its grip on the course of the movement. The way in which the security forces are interrupting the provision of essential items to the hundreds of protestors in Karwadi indicate that more is still to come.

Nevertheless, the protesters cannot be cowed. This is evident from the fact that the band of agitators have formed a "tiger force" to hold back leery elements and to make certain the regular flow of essential commodities in the areas under their dominance. For this purpose a handful of young persons, in their early twenties have been selected.

  

This conflict may continue indefinitely making the environment uneasy for BJP.