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Just when one thought that the Supreme Court was putting the genie of reservation back in the bottle, a new battle ground has been discovered. The Gujjars contend that they have been unfairly deprived of the tribal status. They want it back and claim that the BJP Government in Rajasthan had made such promise before the last Assembly polls. What has followed is regrettable and unfortunate.
This was a repeat performance of what had happened last year when too life was thrown out of gear and the orders of the Supreme Court notwithstanding the highways were blocked. Violent demonstrations had then threatened a tribe war not seen by history in recent times. The Meenas of Rajasthan, the scheduled tribe, felt threatened as in the eventuality of Gujjar demand being conceded they would have had to share the reservation quota with them. Police firing and deaths did not solve anything and when the agitation was withdrawn few believed that the interim period would find a solution. Thus everyone slept over the issue till once again the Gujjars erupted bringing life to a standstill and confounding all those who believe that with education and sixty years of independent India more and more people would be falling in the category of the ‘creamy layer’. Even while the country was debating about the demand and its full meaning violence overtook everything. Forty Gujjars lost their lives in police firing and what the civil soul finds galling is the news that most of the dead had injuries above the waist and many in their head. Obviously the police had fired to kill. Inflaming the passions even further was the statement of a State Minister that the dead had suffered bullet injuries after being fired at by their own men. By saying this, the insensitive minister was trying to explain the bullet injuries in the backs of the protesters. The remark inflamed the already boiling Gujjar sentiment and the fire spread in those areas of other States where Gujjars had a presence. In Panipat they were again fired at and lives were lost. The result was an escalation of protests and agitations. "Stop killing innocent Gujjars," shouted a group of a few hundred protesters squatting in the middle of a key highway leading into Delhi from the eastern state of Uttar Pradesh. The eight-lane expressway, a major entry point into the capital and used by tens of thousands of commuters every day, emptied completely. A row of policemen, batons and shields on hand, watched from a distance as the protesters burnt an effigy of the chief minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje but then lay about it with sticks. Unfortunate and insensitive, would be the unanimous civil verdict. Haryana and Rajasthan apart, the real battlefield remained Rajasthan where forty had been killed. "Forty of our comrades were killed, taking bullets in the head. Even the British were not this brutal when we were fighting for our independence," said a leader of the protesters. The Gujjars are seething with anger for what they think is the apathy of the human rights groups. "When a terrorist is killed by the police, the courts and human rights groups are all over the place, ordering an investigation and saying their rights have been violated," says one of the protesters. "When us Gujjars go on protest to demand what is our right, the police open fire and no one says anything. What do you expect us to do?" he laments. For days, the police and security forces remained on high alert across the National Capital Region of Delhi. Understandably there is particular concern at the upscale suburb of Gurgaon south-west of Delhi, home to many IT companies and international businesses. Traffic is especially thin on National Highway 8, which leads into Gurgaon from Rajasthan and onwards to Delhi past the international airport. Across town in the south-east lies the Badarpur border, one of the busiest crossings into Delhi. It lies on the highway connecting Delhi to Agra, home to the Taj Mahal. It is also used by trucks bringing in supplies to Delhi. The Gujjars have hit at a place which hurts most in terms of economy as well as publicity. Clearly, Gujjars believe that they have a stranglehold over the decision makers but the truth is that at a time when the vocal middle class that make up for the human rights and civil liberties activists had felt that the country could now move in peace after the Supreme Court observations on quota, there are few who would support the Gujjar demand. They argue that the essence of progress is that education provides equal opportunities to all and that should be the end of the matter. Obviously, Gujjars think otherwise. They hark upon a commitment made by Vasundhra Raje to the Gujjar community regarding the scheduled tribe status. She and her party deny ever making such a commitment. They throw the manifesto that does not mention of the issue. Meanwhile the cynics attribute the whole tragedy to the unscrupulous politicians. A section hopes to mobilize public opinion against the BJP by using the police brutality as a card. Another section believes that the BJP has gained by it for other communities that need to protect their turf have now firmly mobilized themselves behind chief minister Vasundhra Raje. | |
Not
many are prepared to believe that the Gujjars are a scheduled tribe.
Certainly not after being part of the mainstream life for such a long
time. Many more cannot believe that any community would like to be known
as backward. But the Gujjars do and therefore they launched an
agitation, including blocking roads into the Indian capital as part of
their demands to be included in affirmative action quotas for education
and state jobs. 
