The Gujjars are back

The Gujjars of Rajasthan are back in action. Their long march to lay a siege of Jaipur has begun. Another few days and the Rajasthan capital could well be cut off from all sides as the Gujjars are moving in from east, west and south in large numbers. This time, their demand is to “implement” what their earlier agitations had led to—5 percent reservation in educational institutes and government services.

Funny how nothing moves in the power corridor until an agitation is launched.

But you can’t blame the Gujjars. They tried to sort out the matter through dialogue. It didn’t work. It hadn’t worked in 2007 or 2008 either, when they were demanding to be classified as a Scheduled Tribe and be given reservation in educational institutes and government jobs. They also gave an advance warning about their agitation, just as they had done on earlier occasions. You can’t blame Col Kirori Singh Bainsla, their leader, for not being orderly or efficient.

The state government too has followed its tradition. It hasn’t implemented the reservation granted last year. In fact, the genesis of the Gujjar problem lies in failed promises.

Vasundhara Raje had promised during 2003 elections that if voted to power she will classify the Gujjars as the Scheduled Tribe and grant reservation. She did nothing for four years. The Gujjars launched their agitation in 2007 which led to a bloodbath. She made promises again only to deceive and provoke another agitation a year later. When she finally passed a law, she could only take the Gujjars out of the OBC category to classify them as “Special Backward Class” and reserved 5 percent seats for them in educational institutes and government services. But before the governor could give his consent, she was out.

The Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot took it further and notified the law in 2009. A year later, it has not implemented it because the court intervened.

The Rajasthan High Court stayed the implementation saying that the total reservation crossed 50 percent, a cut-off mark the Supreme Court has set and can’t be violated. The government could have done much after the stay came in January this year but it didn’t.

What will happen now? The government has two options—either plead its case against the apex court’s cut-off mark, saying that this should be waved off in the extraordinary conditions prevailing in the state or take the Gujjars back as the OBC. The first option would make it a long-drawn affair.

The Gujjars want the government to decide one way or the other. They are now so desperate they wouldn’t mind becoming OBC again. In fact, they have indicated that they would be happy being so if their quota remained fixed, within the 27 percent marked for the OBCs. They stand to gain immediately. The government needs to fill up a vacancy of 120,000 teachers in the state. After all, some reservation is better than none.

Funny how communities think reservation is the only way to progress.