With the Gujjar community threatening to revive the agitation for quota, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday invited their leader Kirori Singh Bainsla for talks, saying his government had, in principle, agreed to five per cent reservation for the community and other castes. His offer came a day after the Gujjar leader gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the government to clarify its stand on the reservation bill passed under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government.
The Gujjar Mahapadav (sit-in), which started on Sunday for reservation demand at Penchla modh in Rajasthan's Karuali district entered fifth day on Thursday.
The Gujjar agitation showed no signs of abating with its leader Kirori Singh Bainsla turning down Rajasthan government's proposal for additional quota for the community even as security forces kept a close vigil on the protestors holding bodies of some of those killed in police firing.
The nearly month-long agitation by members of the Gujjar community demanding Scheduled Tribe status -- was called off by their leader Kirori Singh Bainsla on Thursday. The decision comes in the wake of the agreement finalised between the Rajasthan government and leaders of the Gujjar community on Wednesday.The 27-day Gujjar agitation, which witnessed large-scale violence, claimed 43 lives in police firing in Rajasthan and Haryana.
Claiming forward movement in their parleys, the Gujjar leadership and the Rajasthan government on Tuesday held further talks to end the 26-day-old agitation for ST status.
Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, spearheading the community's agitation for ST status, has conveyed his readiness to resume the talks on Wednesday, officials in the office of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said late Tuesday evening. Rajasthan government promptly welcomed the development.
Peeved over the alleged failure of the Vasundhara Raje government in getting them Scheduled Tribe status, an influential Gujjar organisation on Monday said that it would boycott the ruling BJP in the coming Rajasthan assembly elections. "The BJP government has not only ditched us but also broken its promises made to Gujjars, for recommending the Centre to accord ST status," said president of Rajasthan Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti Kirorisingh Bainsla.
The third round of talks between Gujjar leaders and the Rajasthan government began in Jaipur on Saturday in an effort to end the 22-day-old imbroglio. The talks remained inconclusive on Friday, but both sides had agreed to continue parleys.
Bainsla told media persons at Karwadi that Gujjars had 'been assured that arrested protesters, including women, and injured would be freed, water and electricity supply restored and telecommunication jammers removed' from Karwadi-Pilupura, which is the epicentre of the agitation since May 23.
The Rajasthan government has deputed Irrigation Minister Sanwarmal Jat and Mines Minister Laxmi Narayan Dave to hold preliminary talks with the agitating Gujjars at Bayana on Monday. The government has decided to send both ministers, conceding Bainsla's demand to hold the talks in Bayana and not in Jaipur as wanted by the government, they said. The state government and Gujjars broke the stalemate over where to meet on Sunday and agreed to hold preliminary talks in Bayana.
Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, who has been booked for murder and instigating violence, also called for review of the entire reservation policy at the national level.
This is their first meeting since the conflict began.
The 26-day-old agitation by Gujjars demanding Scheduled Tribe status is set to be called off on Wednesday as the community on Tuesday night reached an agreement with Rajasthan government in the final rounds of talks in Jaipur. The agreement will be signed on Wednesday by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, spearheading the stir, in Jaipur on Wednesday.
The letter was brought to Bainsla by a Gujjar team, which was flown from Jaipur by a state government helicopter. The team, which includes Delhi Nationalist Congress Party legislator Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Haryana legislator Sukhbir Singh Jaunpuria, returned to the state capital on Saturday evening carrying the views of the community leadership.
Uncertainty prevails over the fate of Gujjar-government talks as a sessions court on Thursday hears the bail plea of 25 women protestors, whose release has been demanded by the community. Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla had on Wednesday said that he will not send a delegation to Jaipur for the second round of talks till the women, arrested for the non-bailable offence of damaging railway property, are released.
Efforts by the Rajasthan government to end the 18-day-old Gujjar stir ran into rough weather on Tuesday, with the community leadership making fresh demands for the release of arrested women activists and withdrawal of murder charges against 20 protestors, as pre-condition for further talks.Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, who had termed the first round of parleys on Monday as a good beginning, has made the two demands a pre-condition for the talks.
'If the army does take any action against us, we will not retaliate. It shall be one-sided. Again nobody knows this better than the Army. So, they will think twice before doing anything. Having said that, I would also add that we are determined to see this fight off. We are not budging'
Gurjars in Rajasthan demanding Schedule Tribe status called off their on-going agitation on Wednesday following negotiations with the state government emissaries at the Ajmer Central jail. The fresh demands made by the Gurjars include early completion of the recommendations of the Justice Jasraj Chopra Committee, withdrawal of criminal cases against community members and jobs to the dependents of the 26 people killed in police firing and caste clashes early this year.
Banking on the tribal population in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the P A Sangma-led Nationalist People's Party on Friday said it would contest in the assembly elections of the two states to be held later this year.
In the humiliating defeat of the Congress party in Rajasthan except for Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, most of his ministers have lost the election.
Nearly 2,000 people have gathered on the tracks blocking trains, causing inconvenience to passengers.
Pressing for 5 per cent reservation, Gujjars on Sunday intensified their agitation by blocking highways in parts of Rajasthan and threatening to expand it across the state as they alleged that the state government had failed to offer any concrete proposal to meet their demand.
Gujjars remained adamant for calling the committee of ministers at Bayana in Bharatpur for holding talks to resolve the issue
The Gujjar agitation for five percent reservation in government jobs entered its eighth day on Thursday, with hundreds of protesters still blocking railway tracks in Pilupura.
'Jignesh Mevani has many strengths: Youth, articulation, fearlessness, proficiency with social media, political and ideological flexibility.' 'Also focus, as in targeting the BJP as the one and only enemy for now and using that justification to align with the rest,' says Shekhar Gupta.
