'A Fight To The Finish'

'It reminds us of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre,' says the retired army officer leading the agitation by the Gujjars, insisting that his community is geared for a fight-to-the-finish over the issue of inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe list.

Outlook Saptahik

Updated on: 31 May 2007 12:00 am

The ongoing agitation demanding reservations under the Schedule Tribe category forthe Gujjars is not being led by a politician but by a retired army officer.Talking to Outlook Sapthahik on phone when he was leading ablockade at the Jaipur-Agra national highway along with some 30- 40 thousandagitators, Col (retd) Kirori Singh Bhainsla, the convener of the GujjarSangharsh Samiti, said his community is geared for afight-to-the-finish over the issue. Excerpts from the interview:

For how long do you plan to sit on this blockade?

Till the governmentaccepts our demands, the Gujjar community will continue to sit on blockade likethis. The government should compensate the victims of police firing. At leastone dependent per family should be offered a government job. The stategovernment must send a formal recommendation to the centre that Gujjarsshould be included in the Schedule Tribe (ST) category. Only then is it possibleto considerwithdrawing this agitation.

But the state government says that it is the centre's responsibility toprovide reservations and it is in the process of making a formal request...

They must make the recommendation first. If they want, the stategovernment can make provisions to include Gujjars in the Schedule Tribe categoryat the state level itself. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have donethis before.

Gujjars are already a beneficiary of reservations meant for the OBCs. Sohow fair is your demand to include them in the Schedule Tribe category? Will itnot harm the interests of other tribes like the Meenas?

The Gujjars of Rajasthan are extremely backward in both social and economicterms. The Meenas have 225 IAS and IPS officers from their community while thereis only one Gujjar IAS officer in the entire state. Nobody's interest would beharmed if we are recognised as a Scheduled Tribe.

It is being said that you are trying to gain political mileage from theissue and that you are close to the Bahujan Samaj Party...

I am neither affiliated to any political party nor do I have any wish to enteractive politics. I am only serving my community.

Home minister Gulab Chand Kataria has stated that it was the Gujjars whofirst attacked the policemen and brutally mutilated the limbs of few of them.

The home minister is lying. The fact is that police fired at peopleand didn't even spare women and children. It reminds us of the Jallianwala Baghmassacre.

This interview appears in Outlook Saptahik dated June 11, 2007.