Gujjar leader warns Raje of dire consequences

Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsala has threatened the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan with 'dire consequences' if it could not come out with a plan to include his community in the Scheduled Caste list, for which it had led a violent agitation.

Bainsala, who led the state-wide agitation which acquired a caste-war colour, however said he had 'trust' in Chief Minister Vasundhare Raje despite police registering cases against agitators, which he termed was a 'face-saving' measure of the government.

He said the Meena community's opposition to Gujjars getting the Scheduled Tribe status was 'undemocratic and unconstitutional' as the recommendation for including his community was made in 1965 by a committee without any pressure from the community.

"I personally feel that the Meenas opposition is undemocratic and unconstitutional. If the Rajasthan government pays attention or tilts towards the Meenas, consequences are going to be dire," Bainsala told Karan Thapar in CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate programme.

Asked whether it was a warning, he said, "Of course. Then we will go ahead with our movement vigorously."

"I have trust in Raje and I will see to it that she does justice with us...I will tell her to do justice to us or you will have to face a movement which will shake your administration," he said.

Bainsala said it was a 'slip of tongue' when he had said before meeting Raje in Jaipur that he had called off the strike.

"I would like to tell you point blank from my heart, that it was a slip of tongue...," he said, adding, "I have the moral courage to accept my mistake."

When pointed out that a soldier, selected to the defence forces where quota regime does not exist, demanding for reservation seems interesting, he said, "Anybody in my place could have done the same thing seeing the morbid, sordid conditions of members of my community."

"We do not have a collector, a Superintendent of Police or any other senior level officials in the administration," he added.