Sept 18 date set for agitation as Meena-Mina row erupts again

Attacking the Raje government for flaming the Meena-Mina controversy and on its reluctance to change Meena certificates to Mina, former Union minister Namo Narain Meena held a press conference on Thursday appealing to the government to resolve the matter without the interference of the judiciary

Attacking the Raje government for flaming the Meena-Mina controversy and on its reluctance to change Meena certificates to Mina, former Union minister Namo Narain Meena held a press conference on Thursday appealing to the government to resolve the matter without the interference of the judiciary.

Former Union minister Namo Narain Meena interacts with media persons in Jaipur on Thursday. (Prabhakar Sharma/HT photo)

“Both Meena and Mina belong to the same community and the confusion has (been created) due to lingual diversity of Rajasthan. Our constitution gave the status of Scheduled Tribe to the Mina (community) in 1956 and due to the absence of Hindi language in the paperwork, Meena surname couldn’t be added,” Namo Narain Meena explained.

“For 6o years, the tribal people have been enjoying the benefits of reservation, so why is the government deliberately creating confusion now. I appeal to Vasundhara Raje to present a proposal in the parliament to recognize Meena and Mina as the same community,” he said.

The Meena-Mina controversy erupted after state tribal area development minister Nandlal Meena said on Wednesday that some ST communities in eastern Rajasthan (Bharatpur division) were unjustifiably eating away the share of backward communities from southern Rajasthan (Udaipur division). The issue first surfaced two years ago when a reply from the Central government under the Right to Information Act clarified that the ‘Minas’ were entitled to an ST certificate and not the ‘Meenas’.

Despite state minister of social justice and empowerment Arun Chaturvedi’s statement on Wednesday that both Meena and Mina surnames are entitled to reservation benefits, Namo Narain Meena and other leaders from the community are all set to agitate on September 18.

“Some vested interests are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill as it is common understanding in Rajasthan that Meena and Mina belong to the same caste. We are all equal and therefore we demand equality from the state government. We have decided to agitate on September 18 with our full strength in a peaceful manner ,” said Raghuvir Singh Meena, ex-MP from Udaipur.