Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today appealed for peace in a bid to end the caste violence in Rajasthan and neighbouring states, even as Leader of the Opposition L K Advani put forth a proposal for an across-the-board consensus on caste-based reservations for a lasting solution to the issue.Referring to the violence in Rajasthan, the PM said: “I appeal to all the people of Rajasthan and also to those in neighbouring states to maintain peace and calm.” He said he was pained at the suffering of families who lost family members in the violence.Singh’s appeal came as the Centre and the principal opposition party met for the first time against the backdrop of the Rajasthan developments and decided to work together on restoring law & order in Rajasthan and other states.At a meeting also attended by Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Advani is learnt to have told the PM that caste-based reservations were being used by political parties to meet political exigencies. This indicated, he siad, open wooing of the castes with the promise of reservations. The complicated situation in Rajasthan was a fallout of such appeals by political parties.The Prime Minister made no comment on the suggestion, focussing instead on the immediate issue of stopping the violence. He said it was important to persuade Gurjjar protestors to cremate the victims of police firing.The BJP central leadership meanwhile continued to monitor the Rajasthan developments from Delhi, with another meeting involving former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, party chief Rajnath Singh, Advani and Jaswant Singh. It has now sent Gopinath Munde and Ananth Kumar, both party general secretaries — Munde is also the party general secretary in charge of Rajasthan — to monitor the situation on the ground. There is increasing disquiet in the party that Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje allowed the situation to fester despite being warned of the rising anger among Gurjjars on their demand for Scheduled Tribe status. The view, even in the top leadership, is that she should have got herself involved in the negotiations from the very beginning and interacted with the community leaders concerned.
