Gujjar faction accuses Bainsla of compromise, threatens stir

Former MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri “appealed” to the Rajasthan government to implement the 5 per cent quota for Gujjars within six months, failing which he threatened to launch a “massive agitation” from Delhi’s Ramlila ground in December.

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“This scheme (of quota over and above the 50 per cent cap) can never work. If Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Bainsla can make it work, the Gujjar community will weigh them in gold,” Bidhuri said. “But if they can’t, a massive agitation will be launched on December 20 demanding 5 per cent reservation within the Supreme Court prescribed 50 per cent cap,” he added.

He accused Bainsla of accepting the government’s proposal and letting the community down. He also said that Rajasthan government’s rationale of “social equity”, cited during the talks, was weak in view of “one community hogging all the OBC quota”.

While Bainsla, under who’s leadership the Gujjars blocked rail and road traffic in eastern Rajasthan for about nine days, represents the Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti, Bidhuri is the president of the All-India Gurjar Arakshan Samiti.

Both fora have been demanding reservation for the community in government jobs. Both started out jointly demanding Scheduled Tribe status, but later, following opposition from the influential Meena community, diluted their demands seeking a 5 per cent chunk of quota within the OBC category.

The Gujjars had called off the agitation late Thursday night after the government promised to bring a law providing them with 5 per cent quota under the Special Backward Classes category.

“There is another matter. In 2008, the state government had promised that all criminal cases against the agitators would be withdrawn. However, not a single case has been withdrawn yet. This time too, the government has promised the same, but will Bainsla ensure that?” he asked.

Bidhuri, regarded a prominent Gujjar leader outside Rajasthan, is known to “experiment” with varying political ideologies. He has represented Delhi’s Badarpur assembly constituency thrice from different parties — Janata Dal (1993), NCP (2003) and BJP (2013). In 2008, he contested, and lost, on a Congress ticket. In this year’s Delhi assembly polls, he lost to Aam Aadmi Party’s Narayan Dutt Sharma.