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Gurjar stir for quota continues in Rajasthan, police book 223 agitators
The latest agitation by Gurjars in Rajasthan is now 10 days old and agitators have refused to scale down their demands.
The Gurjar agitation for reservation continued for the 10th day on Tuesday with protesters blocking Mumbai-Delhi railway tracks at Peelupura in Bharatpur even as police registered cases against 223 agitators for blocking train movements, officials said.
Talks between Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla and Rajasthan’s sports and youth affairs minister Ashok Chandna remained inconclusive on Monday.
“Our agitation continues after the Rajasthan government failed to fulfil our demands. Minister Ashok Chandna didn’t give us anything in writing about our demands,” said Gurjar leader Vijay Bainsla.
The Gurjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti is demanding that the Rajasthan government get the Gurjar reservation included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, fill the backlog of vacancies and give the benefit of five per cent reservation to the Most Backward Classes (MBCs) in the pending recruitment process.
Vijay Bainsla also warned that the anger of the youth could take the agitation towards violence.
“If our demands are not accepted, the government will force us to celebrate Diwali on the railway tracks. I can’t say anything about the intensity of the agitation because the youth of the community are angry and they can do anything,” Vijay Bainsla said.
“The minister brought cheques for the widows of those who were killed in the last agitation. The talks were held in a positive atmosphere. But Chandna did not commit us anything in writing,” he said.
The samiti is demanding ₹5 lakh compensation each to families of three people who died during the last Gurjar agitation.
Police registered cases against 223 agitators including Gurjar leaders Vijay Bainsla and Bhura Bhagat for gathering 2,000-3,000 protesters on railway tracks and blocking road traffic. The cases were registered at Bayana police station under sections of the Disaster Management Act 2005, Rajasthan Epidemics Act 2000, Rajasthan State Highways Act and the Railway Act, officials said.
Bharatpur district collector Nathmal Didel said, “All efforts were made by the government to convince Gurjar leaders to call off the stir and leave the railway tracks, but they remained adamant on agitation.”
The agitation has disrupted the movement of 80-85 trains on the Mumbai-Delhi line since November 1.
Deewan Shergarh, a member of the committee formed by 80 Gurjar villages in Bayana block, said, “Government has done everything to convince Kirori Singh Bainsla, but he wants to take the community on the wrong track. Government has fulfilled all 14 demands during talks with a 41-member Gurjar delegation in Jaipur before the start of the agitation.”
After a meeting with the Gurjar delegation in Jaipur, a three-member ministerial subcommittee said it had conceded three demands – writing to the Centre again for the Ninth Schedule, ₹ 5 lakh compensation to families of three people who died during Gurjar agitation and regularising the pay of 1,252 government employees who got jobs under the MBC category
