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BJP Govt finally
tames Gujjars, pact sealed
But will the entire Gujjar community accept the understanding?
WSN Bureau
 JAIPUR:
When
Gujjar leader Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla alighted in Jaipur from
the "Indiabulls" helicopter on Monday, one thing was clear: the
Gujjar bull had been tamed. The photograph made it to front pages of
newspapers on Tuesday. Wednesday morning papers in
India carried
the news which by now was being widely expected: A deal has been
clinched. After 26-day-old latest agitation, many deaths this year
and last year, the Gujjars demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status
will now call off the struggle. Just as this edition of the WSN was
going to print, CM Vasundhara Raje and Bainsla, spearheading the
stir, were set to ink the agreement.
After talks over
nine hours between Bainsla-led delegation and Rajasthan's senior BJP
leader Ram Das Agarwal, Colonel Bainsala emerged to call it "a
historic success.". Typical of Indian politics, often murky and
conducted in a wheeling- dealing mode, there was no official word
from either side as how the breakthrough was reached. It is expected
that the state government would recommend 4 per cent reservation for
Gujjars under the de-notified nomadic tribe category.
Regarding the
Gujjars' demand for ST status, the two sides may refer to a 1999
letter from the union government suggesting the community could be
adjusted to the ST category. However, the state government could
take a cue from the report of the Chopra Committee set up by it to
consider the ST status demand by Gujjars, who now enjoy OBC status,
and ask the Centre to relax the rules for bringing the community
into ST category.
Colonel Bainsla,
for his part, said, "I thank the Gujjar community for coming along
with me to resolve the long-pending demand. I am grateful to the
Chief Minister and the media". Many see it as a great come down for
the Gujjar leader who at one time even refused to move from the
railway tracks till he got a letter saying the Rajasthan Government
hereby recommends ST status to the Gujjar community.
18
June,
2008
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