On day 6, Gujjars stay firm, rail tracks remain blocked

Entering the sixth day of their agitation to press for five per cent reservation in government jobs, Gujjars on Tuesday remained adamant for calling the committee of ministers at Bayana in Bharatpur for holding talks to resolve the issue even as the rail tracks continued to remain blocked.

“Earlier, it was being considered that we should go to Jaipur, but later the decision was changed and it was decided not to accept the government’s proposal to go to Jaipur,” Himmat Singh, spokesperson of the Gujjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti said.

He said that a letter has been handed over to the district administration with denial to go to Jaipur. The deadlock over the venue of the meeting is on since Saturday when the first round of talks between the Gujjars and a committee of ministers ended in a failure at Bayana.

“The Gujjar leaders gave us a letter in which they stated that they are not ready to go to Jaipur. The government gave them a fresh proposal yesterday and we are again asking them to go to Jaipur,” District Collector Ravi Jain said, adding, “We are persuading them to go to Jaipur.”

The first meeting between Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla and his delegation with the committee of ministers -- Health Minister Rajendra Rathore, Social Justice Minister Arun Chaturvedi and Food and Civil Supply Minister Hem Singh Bhadana -- ended in a deadlock on Saturday with the Gujjars accusing the government of not offering them anything new.

Since then, the stalemate on the venue of the next meeting is continuing. The railway tracks on the Delhi-Mumbai route in Pilukapura have been blocked since Thursday while Agra-Jaipur highway in Dausa and a state highway at Sawaimadhopur are also blocked, where hundreds of Gujjars are squatting to press the demand for five per cent reservation in government jobs.

The national highway was cleared on Monday for few hours as the locals chased the agitators, who were outsiders, away but they returned with more people last evening and blocked the highway again.

“Traffic has been diverted to alternate routes and police as well as paramilitary forces have been deployed in the area. There was some tension last night but the situation is under control and peaceful now,” IG Jaipur DC Jain said.

Image: Gujjar community people sleep on the Delhi-Mumbai railway track near Bayana village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan to demand reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. Photograph: PTI