Gujjars in Rajasthan are once again keen to stir up the reservation cauldron.
The Gujjar community led by former Army colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla on Sunday decided to give the government 24 hours to look into their reservation demand.
The Gujjars have been demanding ST quotas for a long time.They had been lying low after they were promised 5 per cent reservations under a special category last year.
But the bill for their reservations has been pending with the Rajasthan Governor for nearly one year.
Earlier on Sunday, demanding Scheduled Tribe status, the Gujjars began their mahapanchayat (grand sit-in) at Rajasthan's Karuali district amid tight security cover.
About 4,000 community members led by Kirori Singh Bainsla gathered at the Penchla-mod ground, about 10 km from Hindon city, ADG (law and order) Navdeep Singh said.
There was no report of any untoward incident, he said, adding that prohibitory orders under section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) were in force since Saturday in Karuali and adjoining districts of Sawaimadhopur, Dausa, Dholpur, Bharatpur and parts of Jaipur rural.
Bainsla is angry that despite the former Raje government passing a bill in the state assembly to give five per cent quotas to Gujjars, the Gehlot government has done nothing to push the Governor to pass the bill.
"Our demand is absolutely genuine. If we are not given justice now, we will have to revive our agitation. We may then be compelled to take many steps that we are not really keen to initiate," said Colonel Bainsla.
After Bainsla announced the Gujjar Mahapanchayat, the Gehlot government invited him for talks. But just before he was to meet Ashok Gehlot, on Friday Col Bainsla suddenly left Jaipur. (With PTI inputs)
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