Gurjar stir pushes govt into a huddle

Centre alerts states, reviews security 

NEW DELHI: Five days after Gurjars began their agitation in Rajasthan demanding scheduled tribe status, the Centre on Tuesday went into fire-fighting mode and reviewed internal security even as the violence threatened to spill over to the neighbouring states.
The PM reportedly met home minister Shivraj Patil to discuss the issue, particularly the security arrangements, in view of the May 29 bandh called in Delhi and its surrounding areas. It was followed by a Cabinet meeting in which implications of the stir and arrangements to tackle its spread were discussed.

The security arrangements were first reviewed at a meeting convened by Patil during the day and was attended among others by the Delhi police chief YS Dudwal.
Prior to this meeting, Patil had confabulated with national security advisor MK Narayanan and home secretary Madhukar Gupta to review the situation arising out of the Gurjar agitation.

Sources in the ministry said the North Block was concerned with the Rajasthan government’s inability to contain the situation and the agitation spreading to new areas. A major area of concern for the Centre is the extent to which it can stretch itself in providing central paramilitary forces to the state. “We have already sent 21 companies of CRPF, RAF and BSF. It will be difficult to spare more companies at this juncture,” a ministry source said.

The ministry has also issued an alert (read advisory) to the states with Gujjar populations — Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

After Raje, Bainsla has also sought to toss the ball in the Centre’s court. He has not only asked the Centre to intervene in the matter but also let it be known that the community will settle for nothing less than ST status. He has rejected Raje’s suggestion to the Centre to provide special reservation (4 to 6 per cent) to Gujjars.

Bainsla described Raje’s letter as a “farce”. “Our basic demand is to get ST status which is notified under Section 342 of the Constitution. We will not accept anything short of ST status,” he said.

10 trains cancelled
Rail traffic passing through Rajasthan continued to be badly affected for the fourth consecutive day of the Gujjar protest on Tuesday. The Northern Railways cancelled 10 trains, which included the August Kranti Express; Nimach Link Express, Nizamuddin-Udaipur Intercity; Nizamuddin-Indore Intercity; Janta Express; Nizamuddin-Kota Jan Shatabdi Express; Gujrat Sampark Kranti; Bandra-Nizamuddin, Maharashtra Samprak Kranti; Muzaffarpur-Bandra Avadh Express; and Ahmedabad-Asansol Parasanath Express.

Several other trains were either scheduled or diverted to different routes. These include: New Delhi-Mumbai- Rajdhani Express, Amritsar-Bandra Paschim Express, Jammu Tawi-Hapa Super Fast, Jammu Tawi-Mumbai Swaraj Express, Jamnagar-Jammu Tawi Superfast Express, Madgaon-Nizamuddin Goa Sampark Kranti and Nizamuddin-Trivandrum Rajdhani Express.