Quota Kills

The issues of reservations and quotas have always beenconsidered volatile and sensitive. Protests for and against reservations haveoften turned violent. But to hear that at least 13 people, including a policeman, were killed and at least 100 injured in clashes and police firing inDausa, Karauli and Bundi districts of Rajasthan during protests by the Gujjar communitydemanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, certainly seems to have caught thepolicy-makers in Delhi and Jaipur unawares.

And it is not just that the authorities were caught napping or thatintimations of brewing trouble had not been available earlier. In September lastyear, protesters had damaged railway tracks and property near Hindon railway station, disrupting services on the keyMumbai-Delhi section. One of the protesting groups, the Gujjar Mahasabha, hadthen postponed its agitation till July 31 because a Rajasthan government cabinet sub-committeehad been announced to examine the quota issue and to consider the inclusion of the Gujjars in theST category. The committee was to submit its report by November 24, 2006.Apparently, this committee has so far had four meetings, the most recent ofwhich was on May 27, 2007, and the government had fixed July 31, 2007 as thefinal date by which it hoped to have completed all formalities after reviewinginformation from all the 32 districts of the state.

There are approximately 5.3 crore Gujjars -- traditionally farmers in the plains and shepherds in thehills -- in India, spread over western UP, Delhi, some parts of Haryana, MadyaPradesh, Rajasthan, Gujjarat, J&K . They are classified as STs in Himachal and J&K, on the basis of their pastoral occupations, but in the other states, including Rajasthan, their constitutional status isOBC in both the central and the state lists. They are thedominant community in nine of Rajasthan's 32 districts. That the Jats forced their way into the OBCcategory in Rajasthan in 1999 has also become a factor since the OBC quota issuehit the headlines again last year. Agitators claim that the Jats and Meenas, belonging to the same region and having more or less the same background, have forged ahead andhave secured top positions in government jobs.

Dausa is a Gujjar dominated area and has been the traditional strong-hold oflate Congress leader and community member Rajesh Pilot, his wife Rama Pilot andnow his son Sachin Pilot during various Lok Sabha elections. Clearly, thereis a party-political line as well, as some claim that their rights are being ignored after the death of RajeshPilot, and that the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has reneged on her 2003 Assembly poll promise to grant ST status to them. The CM,who denies the charge, is already under pressure from the Meena communityleaders who have threatened to launch an agitation if Gujjars were included asScheduled Tribes. Bhanwar Lal Meena, the president of Raastriya Meena Mahasabha has said that"if the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in the state dares to include Gujjars into ST community, Raje would not be able to come to power in thestate". He also rubbishes the allegations that the police officers of Meena communityare responsible for firing in Dausa andBundi.

The political blame-game has already begun in full earnest with the AICC General Secretary Ashok Gehlotsaying that the agitation could have been avoided if the Gujjar Sangarsh Samiti(GSS) office-bearershad been called for talks by the BJP government in the state. But clearly, nobody seems to have thought through the possibilities of the cascading effect such a reclassification could unleash. Not so surprisingly, although the Rajasthan government had recommended the ST status for Vanjaras and Gaddia Lohars way back in 1981, it has not been effected yet.

The Gujjar Sangarsh Samiti (unlike the Gujjar Mahasabha -which has a predominance of BJP supporters and had been working with the BJPgovernment) had meanwhile already announced that it would blockade all thenational highways passing through Rajasthan with effect from May 29. The prohibitory orders in six districts and tightenedsecurity by the police was obviously not enough to stem the violence.

The official version has it that the trouble apparently started early in the morning when about 30,000 Gujjars blocked the national highway near Dausa.The police resorted to lathi-charge and used tear-gas when they refused todisperse. The resulting clash led to firing by the police, leading to panic and outrageamong the assembled crowd which turned violent and damaged some police vehicles.The situation similarly spiralled out of control in Bundi when police opened fire onthe crowd of protestors outside Devnarayan temple and other areas, where at least 50 policemenare reported injured.

Traffic jams were reported from several places in Dausa and Bundi districts. Protestors also sat on railway tracks in Dausa, Alwar, Bharatpur and Bandikui sections,disrupting the schedule of a dozen trains was affected. The situation went soout of hand that the army to be called out in two places. Army personnel were moved from Jaipur, Agra and Bharatpur to highways between Jaipur and Agra via Dausa and Bharatpur and between Kota and Jaipur.Six columns of the army comprising 600 personnel were rushed in the afternoon from Jaipur to hold flag march on the national highway near Dausa.Army was also sent from Kota to Bundi. The total figure of army deployment was not immediately available.The army was also alerted in Alwar and Bharatpur areas to assist the civilian administration after protestors dug up roads and damaged national highways.

According to Rajasthan home minister G C Kataria, seven persons were killedin Bundi district while six bodies were found from Peelplikheda-Patoli area,about 165 km from Jaipur, along Jaipur-Agra national highway in Gangapur city, Bayana and Mahua in Dausa,and in the neighbouring Karauli district. A policeman, identified as Deena Ram, was killed in a clash with the agitators in Bundi district,while Bundi Collector S S Bissa sustained injuries in the violence. According toKataria, two policemen had gone missing in Dausa district but the agitators claimed they had been killed and their bodies were in their custody. The missing police personnel were identified as Mohammed Yunus and Dungar Singh.

At least 100 people, including 50 police personnel, sustained injuries in the clashes and were admitted to hospitals inJaipur, Kota, Bundi, Dausa and Karauli and Agra in UP. Of the injured, four persons with bullet wounds, were admitted to the Sawai Man Singh hospital inJaipur which is where four policemen injured in clashes were also shifted in a critical condition.Kataria parried queries with regard to causes of death saying that they would be known only after postmortem.