Gujjars agree for fresh talks with Raj Govt

Rajasthan government promptly welcomed the development.

Bainsla would communicate the strength and composition of the Gujjar delegation Wednesday morning, the officials said.

The breakthrough in the stalemate over the future of the talks came after Sri Sri Ravi Shankar stepped in as a mediator meeting Raje in Jaipur and Bainsla at Karwadi-Pilupura, the nerve centre of Gujjar agitation for the last 19 days.

The spiritual leader first met Raje and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, the party’s prominent OBC face, and then held an over hour-long meeting with Bainsla.

The spiritual leader came into the picture at a time when talks between the two sides had hit new roadblocks as Gujjars came up with fresh preconditions for continuing the exercise.

On the other hand, Rajasthan government sent mixed signals sending a letter to Bainsla to send a delegation for talks and at the same time filing criminal cases against him and some other top Gujjar leaders for allegedly making inflammatory speeches.

Emerging from the meeting with Bainsla, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said “there was a lot of mistrust between the state government and the Gujjars. Some mistakes had been made in the past but it’s time to leave that behind and make a new beginning”.

He said he had conveyed to the two sides that only negotiations could bring about a solution.

The spiritual leader said he had told the Gujjars that they should accept whatever immediate benefits they get and then work on their long-term objective. “They should get justice”, he added.

Earlier in the day, Bainsla, heading Gujjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, made the release of arrested women Gujjar activists and withdrawal of murder charge against 20 protesters conditional for the talks to move forward.

A senior Rajasthan government official accused Bainsla of going back on his written commitment given in Bayana on Tuesday, when the first round of discussions between Gujjars and the government took place, about holding of the next round of negotiations.

However, still hoping to continue to engage the Gujjars in talks, the state government sent a letter to Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, spearheading the agitation for ST status, this afternoon asking him to send a delegation for further talks.

The fresh letter to Baisnal was sent after deliberations by the Vasundhara Raje government based on the feedback provided by ministers L N Dave and S M Jat, who attended on Tuesday’s talks with a 37-member Gujjar delegation at Bayana, an official said in Jaipur.

“We are making all efforts from our side” to revive the dialogue process, the official said on phone from Gujjar stronghold of Bayana in Bharatpur district.

The state government has assured Gujjars that all issues mentioned in Bainsla’s letter, which was submitted to the two ministers, would be discussed to arrive at a mutually- acceptable solution, the official added.

Bainsla, who is holding a sit-in at Karwadi-Pilupura area in Bharatpur district, told reporters that he would not go to Jaipur for talks unless all arrested men and women in connection with agitation were released unconditionally.

Bainsla also demanded restoration of civic amenities, including water, power and mobile services in Gujjar agitation-hit areas, halt to police raids and arrests by lodging “false” criminal cases against Gujjars.

In a related development, Rajasthan police filed criminal cases against Bainsla and some other Gujjar leaders on the charge of making inflammatory speeches.

The cases have been registered against them under Section 121 A (conspiring to commit offences against the state) and Sections 147 A, 148 and 149 of IPC relating to rioting, Inspector General (Bharatpur range) Umesh Mishra said.

Rajasthan government envoy S N Thanvi meanwhile said he spoke to Bainsla this evening and was given an assurance that a Gujjar delegation would be sent to Jaipur for talks with the government.

He said the Gujjar leaders were expected to make an announcement to this effect on Wednesday.