Jaipur:
It's day eight of Gujjar agitation over their demand for five per cent reservation. They continue to be in Pilupura, blocking the Mumbai-Delhi and Jaipur-Delhi rail routes. The Jaipur-Agra highway is also blocked.
Even as the Gujjar agitation continues to disrupt rail and road traffic in Rajasthan, the state government made its first concrete move towards engaging the agitating Gujjars in a dialogue.
Jitender Singh, a minister in the Gehlot government, reached the Ground Zero of the reservation agitation in Pilupura to negotiate with the Gujjars who had made a prestige issue that the Gehlot government would have to come to the railway tracks which they have been occupying for over a week effectively jamming the Delhi-Mumbai rail route.
"The government is ready to give 5 per cent reservation. The High Court has given its stamp that the state government can give the reservation," Singh told the agitating Gujjars.
But the Gehlot government's offer that quota would be possible only after the government followed the High Court's order of collecting data on the backwardness of the Gujjars did not go down too well with the community.
"I have given a time frame to the government. I want a permanent solution to this because if you leave the things halfway, we'll be again compel to come here which I don't want to repeat. I want a permanent solution to this problem. I am tired of this affair, it's a sordid affair." Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla said.
The Gujjars have been demanding that the government implement 5 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutions. But while the two sided talked, the deadlock remains.
The Gujjars have been insisting that they will not go to the negotiating table but will talk at the site of their agitation, in Pilupura. And when the Gehlot government finally sent a minister to address the community, they sent him back. So it looks like the deadlock will continue.