Gujjar stalemate continues in Rajasthan

Caste leaders studying legislation details

Gujjar community members at a protest site in Sawai Madhopur.

Stalemate over the ongoing Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan demanding reservation in government jobs and education continued on Thursday after the State government issued a notification to enforce the Bill passed by the Assembly, which cleared 5% quota for Gujjars and four other nomadic communities.

Governor Kalyan Singh had signed the Bill late on Wednesday night. Gujjars occupying the Delhi-Mumbai railway tracks in Sawai Madhopur district said they were studying all aspects of the Bill and would take a decision on calling off the agitation only after being satisfied with the “legislation's strength”.

Prevent litigation later

As the Gujjars' protests entered the seventh day, senior IAS officer Neeraj K. Pawan carried copies of the Bill, a resolution passed by the State Assembly recommending the legislation's inclusion in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution and the government-issued notification to the agitators.

Kirori Singh Bainsla, who is leading the agitation, said the stir would be called off only after the community is satisfied the statute will withstand judicial scrutiny. “We are simple people. We don't want to get involved in litigation at a later stage. We have faced it earlier when the previous Acts were challenged in the courts,” Col (Retd.) Bainsla said.

The Rajasthan Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutes and of Appointments and Posts in Services) Amendment Bill, 2019, has amended an Act of 2017 and made a provision of 5% reservation to Gujjars and others, terming them “extremely backward classes”. The quota has exceeded the 50% upper limit mandated by the Supreme Court.