Gujjars don’t buy Raje’s claims, want ST status

By afternoon, as the news of the state Government recommending 4-6 per cent reservation for the Gujjar community as a denotified tribe to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh trickled in, the anger of the community sharpened.

Col Kirori Singh Bainsla, speaking to The Indian Express, said the community would only agree to a Scheduled Tribe status. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Let them show us the letter where they recommend ST status for our community and we’ll call off the strike,” he said.

At a press conference in Jaipur, Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore announced that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had written such a letter to the PM, and said she was also in the process of asking for a conference of Chief Ministers of all Gujjar-populated states to work out an amicable answer to the community’s demands.

“This is a sensitive issue and the UPA Government should decide whether to accord and shift Gujjars from OBC category to Scheduled Tribe (ST),” Rathore said, quoting the Cabinet’s decision.

Rathore added that the government was ready for dialogue wherever Bainsla wanted, but ruled out holding it on the rail tracks where Bainsla and his men have been camping for the last four days.

Back in Bayana, the Gujjars reacted angrily to the Government calling their agitation “undemocratic”. “What has happened to us is undemocratic and the cruellest injury any government can inflict. After more than 40 deaths and hundred odd injuries inflicted by the police on us, they have no right to call our agitation undemocratic,” Bijendra Singh, a Gujjar activist, said.

Captain Harprakash Singh, member of the Gujjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti headed by Bainsla, pointed out that the letter sent by the state Government on Monday repeats the Chopra Committee recommendations which were sent to the Centre much before. “We do not agree to the recommendation made today. The state Government is simply betraying us,” said Singh.

In the evening, C B Sharma, an IPS officer with the state Government who acted as a mediator between the Government and the Gujjars last year, visited Bainsla, seated firmly along the railway tracks in Pilupura. Speaking to The Indian Express, he commented: “However hard they try, they won’t be able to continue the agitation.”

However, Bainsla — who now faces two FIRs over the death of two policemen — remained unfazed. “Let them bring the Army or register the cases. We are not afraid. We’ll die on these tracks but will not go back on our demands,” he said.

At the press conference, Kataria had warned of commando action if protestors didn’t give up arms immediately and release the bodies of those killed in the agitation.

“Gujjars posing themselves with notorious dacoit Jagan at the sit-in site in Pilupura and Dumariya villages in Bayana teshil should (know) that if they do not give up their arms and ammunition, the Army and BSF would take action against them,” Kataria said.

“Hathiyar se samjhauta nahin ho sakta… Voh sarkar ko chunauti nahin de sakte… Mujhe agar commando action lena para to dukhi man se loonga (We can’t negotiate with those holding arms… They cannot challenge the government… If I have to take commando action, I will do so with a heavy heart),” Kataria said.

The administration also stopped Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, who were on their way to Bharatpur to participate in the Gujjar agitation, near Unchanangla on the Jaipur-Agra highway.