Fresh round of talks between the agitating Gujjars and Rajasthan government began in Jaipur on Sunday night at the state secretariat to resolve the 14-day-old stir by the community demanding 5 per cent reservation in government jobs.
"This fight is against the hatred that the BJP and RSS are spreading throughout the country. They have tried to create conflicts between Hindus and Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, and Hindus and Christians just to hold onto power. But they are failing and their strategy is not working," he said.
Gujjars, demanding five per cent quota in jobs in Rajasthan, called off their 17-day agitation after the state government assured them that it will complete within six months the quantifiable data collection for the purpose.
Gujjar agitators continued the blockade of many rail and road routes in Rajasthan and jammed the Jaipur-Ajmer highway on Monday as their agitation over the issue of reservations in jobs entered the eighth day. "Nearly 200 agitators have blocked the highway near Nasirabad road at Mangaliawas (in Ajmer district). Traffic has been affected but is being diverted to other routes," police sources said. "Talks with local Gujjar leaders are going on to resolve the situation," he said
Talks resumed in Jaipur on Wednesday between Rajasthan government and agitating Gujjars who have been blocking rail tracks and roads in three districts for a week now to press for five per cent quota in government jobs.
Northern Railways on Friday cancelled 27 trains passing through Rajasthan and diverted several others in the wake of the ongoing agitation by the Gujjar community in the state, causing acute hardship to commuters.
A large number of Gujjar protestors including women disrupted train movement by squatting on the tracks at a bridge over Banganga river in Bandiqui area in Dausa district, where 14 people were killed in police firing and clashes on May 24, officials in the adjoining district of Bharatpur said. Rail commuters were stranded in Jaipur, Dausa, Kota, Jhalawar and other stations with trains either been cancelled or diverted in the wake of the Gujjar stir for ST status.
The SP said the protesters also pelted stones, injuring four jawans, adding that police had to lob tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.
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.
Reviving their demand for five per cent reservation in jobs, Gujjars in Rajasthan on Thursday launched an agitation, blocking railway tracks, even as the state government expressed readiness to have talks with them.
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.
This is their first meeting since the conflict began.
The tribal communities, asserting their rights under the Forest Rights Act, are now planning to gather in Delhi to demand "justice" for their livelihoods and traditions that are closely linked to the forests.
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.
Two rounds of talks lasting nearly two hours between a Gujjar delegation and Rajasthan government emissaries -- Energy Minister Jitendra Singh and Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal -- failed to break the impasse and Gujjar leaders staged a walkout.
Amid tight security, hundreds of Gujjars led by Kirorisingh Bainsla began their march from Gudla village, 400 km from Jaipur, to step up pressure on Rajasthan government to fulfil their demand for five per cent quota in state jobs.
On Monday, the agitators blocked NH-11 and continued their blockade from previous days at other places. Since the agitation began on Friday, it has affected the movement of more than 250 trains.
Modi began his nearly 45-minute speech by welcoming the people who attended the rally in the Kashmiri language. "This time, the (assembly) election will decide the future of Jammu and Kashmir, which has remained the target of foreign powers since Independence," he told the gathering.
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.
Gujjars remained adamant for calling the committee of ministers at Bayana in Bharatpur for holding talks to resolve the issue
After the bill was passed unanimously, the House made a consensus resolution that the Central government should include the very bill in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution so that it could not be challenged anywhere in the court.
The Rajasthan government has ordered the state's Director General of Police, A S Gill, to proceed on a long leave and handed over the charge to K S Bains, currently holding the post of special DG (Anti-Corruption Bureau), Home Department sources said on Saturday.The replacement has been affected in view of the ongoing Gujjar agitation, in which the police force under Gill could not control the situation, according to the home department.
Train and bus services between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh remained suspended or disrupted even as Gujjars of Madhya Pradesh staged a dharna at many places on Monday in support of the agitation by their community in Rajasthan to press for Scheduled Tribe status.
Notorious dacoit chieftain Jagan Gujjar and Ram Vilas Gujjar on Tuesday night threatened to blow up Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's palace in Dholpur if the demand of the agitating Gujjar community was not conceded within 72 hours.The dacoits have been reportedly present at Pilukapura, where the Gujjars are sitting at dharna since May 23, seeking Scheduled Tribe status for the community.Raje said that she would not deviate from her duty as Chief Minister.
Close aides of Bainsla, Roop Singh and Harprasad Gujjar, said the march call still stands and a final decision will be taken depending on Bainsla's health.
The fourth round of talks between the two sides are underway at the state secretariat building in Jaipur.
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.
One caste wants to maintain status quo in the list of Scheduled Tribes; the other wants to enter the quota.
Bainsla is expected to try and salvage the agreement, which has come under much fire from the Gujjars.
Agitating Gujjars made fresh attempts to block more rail routes in Rajasthan as their statewide stir entered the seventh day on Sunday, though security forces managed to control the situation, official sources said.
Movement of trains between Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan's Bharatpur was disrupted on Tuesday by Gujjars who have been asking for five per cent reservation in government jobs.
The Rajasthan government has invited for talks Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, who is demanding a five per cent quota in state jobs for his community.
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.
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.
Nearly 2,000 people have gathered on the tracks blocking trains, causing inconvenience to passengers.
On the Opposition's poll promise of statehood restoration, Shah said, "I want to ask Farooq Abdullah and Rahul Gandhi, who is going to restore the statehood. You cannot give it back. Why are you misleading the public?"
A local court in Sawai Madhopur has convicted five Gujjar activists and awarded them four years imprisonment for indulging in arson and damaging public property during the Gujjar agitation for ST status last year. Additional District and Sessions Judge (Fast Track) Seema Jain convicted and awarded sentences to Hukum Chand Nath (Malarna), Shankar Lal, Surma Gurjar (both Masudanpura) and Ghamandi Gurjar and Ram Sahai Gurjar for damaging property.
The PIL has alleged that large scale violence last month over the Gujjar's demand for inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe category was a fallout of the 'infighting' within the state Bharatiya Janata Party.
Virtually the entire police force of over 50,000, along with about 2000 central para-military personnel, were on the streets to maintain law and order.
'Everyone is unhappy with the lieutenant governor's administration, which is ignorant, high-handed, and inaccessible.'
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