Date:20/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/20/stories/2008052059851000.htm

National

Gujjars refuse to budge

Sunny Sebastian

JAIPUR: There is no wishing away the Gujjars’ demand for Scheduled Tribe status. For, the “carrot” dangled in the form of a special package of Rs.282 crore announced by the Ramdas Agarwal committee two days ago has evoked mixed reactions.

The first anniversary of the Gujjar agitation is scheduled to be observed on May 29 at a spot between Jaipur and Bharatpur on National Highway-11 where much bloodshed was witnessed.

Kirori Singh Bainsla, convener of the Gujjar Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti, who everybody thought was a privy to the consultations that led to the announcement of the package on Saturday, too refused to accept the package.

Talking to journalists at Hindaun in Karauli district over the weekend, Col. Bainsla said the Gujjars would resort to a “rail roko” and road blockade on May 23 and 24.

However, rival groups question the genuineness of the “threat” from his group, which the critics term “sarkari” due to its attempts in the past one year to negotiate the issue with the Vasundhara Raje government here. “It is nautanki (drama),” said Prahlad Gunjal, former BJP rebel, who was thrown out of the party some time back for his open criticism of the government’s stand on the Gujjar demand.