Bracing for Gehlot-Pilot bumps, Rahul Yatra may run into Gujjar faultlines in Rajasthan

The 2007-2008 Gujjar agitation highlighted the community’s strength and electoral salience and made Kirori Singh Bainsla, who sported his trademark red turban and spoke fluent English, popular across the state.

In the wake of their long and sustained quota agitations, the Gujjar community, which accounts for 7-8 per cent population of Rajasthan, were given five per cent reservation under the Most Backward Caste (MBC) category during the tenure of the incumbent Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government.

However, following the death of Bainsla earlier this year, a power tussle has erupted among Gujjar leaders to stake their claims over the leadership of the community. With the Rajasthan leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra set to get underway from the first week of December, their game of one-upmanship has flared up.

On November 14, Gujjar leader Vijay Bainsla, son of late Col Bainsla, threatened to oppose Rahul’s Yatra if the Gehlot-led government does not resolve issues related to recruitment of Gujjar youth and withdraws cases pending against Gujjars since their quota stir.

“If the government doesn’t listen to us, we will not let Rahul Gandhi enter Rajasthan for Bharat Jodo Yatra,” Vijay, president of the Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti, said. Since Bainsla’s demise, Vijay, who also wears a red turban like his father, has been vocal on the community issues and has toured 75 Gujjar and other MBC community-dominated Assembly constituencies.

However, another group of Gujjar leaders, led by his father’s old associates, immediately countered Vijay, questioning his authority.

“What he has said is in his personal capacity. The Gujjar community chooses its leaders by convening a Mahapanchayat, and no such event has taken place till now. Vijay Bainsla has self-styled himself as the spokesperson of the community,” Advocate Shailendra Singh Dhabhai, a former Bainsla aide who is currently with the Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (Mool), recently told reporters in Jaipur.

Dhabhai, who was the spokesperson of the undivided Bainsla-led Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti, made it clear that the community will not try to disrupt the Yatra.

“We have decided that since the previous agreements were between Gujjars and state government, we have no issue with Rahul Gandhi and will not oppose Bharat Jodo Yatra. We will oppose and protest against CM Gehlot, as his government had promised us to resolve the issues that remain pending,” he said.

Both Vijay and Dhabhai are with the BJP but are known rivals in their community politics.

After Vijay’s remarks against Rahul’s Yatra, some Gujjar activists shared his photographs with a close Gehlot aide Dharmendra Rathore, accusing him of covertly targeting senior Congress leader and Gehlot’s arch rival, Sachin Pilot, who also belongs to the Gujjar community.

Rathore is one of the three Gehlot loyalist leaders who had been served show-cause notices by the Congress high command for organising a parallel meeting of the Congress MLAs in Jaipur in September.

Some of Vijay’s detractors charged that his moves could be aimed at projecting Pilot in a poor light during Rahul’s Yatra through the state.

While Pilot has always avoided being projected as just a Gujjar leader, presenting himself as a leader of all communities, he is known to enjoy remarkable popularity in his community, particularly among the youth.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, when the Congress, then led by Pilot as the state party president, came to power, none of the Gujjar candidates fielded by the BJP could win their election across the state.

Last Monday, Vijay was confronted by many Gujjars in Dausa. In videos circulated on social media, they could be seen surrounding Vijay while chanting “Sachin Pilot Zindabad” slogans.

Following this episode, Vijay, who has stuck to his decision to oppose the Yatra, said, “We demand Sachin Pilot ji be made the CM of Rajasthan. If he is made the CM, we will welcome you (Rahul Gandhi), otherwise we will oppose you. The entire community had voted (for the Congress) to see him (Pilot) as the CM.”

But other Gujjar leaders such as Himmat Singh Gurjar, an ex-Bainsla associate who is now with the Congress, said that Vijay’s support for Pilot is due to “pressure from the community”. “Why didn’t he demand earlier that Pilot be made the CM? He is now saying that Pilot should be made the CM as a damage control measure only after he was heckled and manhandled by angry community members in Dausa. We have fought for 15 years during our youth for the Gujjar community. What has he done? Just being Col Bainsla’s son doesn’t make him our leader. He is trying to launch his political career by inciting the community to oppose the Yatra and is in league with the BJP,” he charged.

Admitting that there are different Gujjar voices, Vijay said for him the issues concerning the community “matter the most” and that he will continue to demand that the government fulfil the promises it made for the community.