Raje invites Gurjar leaders for talks

Bainsla says will consider proposal after consulting community leaders

KARWADI (RAJASTHAN): In a fresh bid to end the fortnight-long Gurjar agitation, the Rajasthan government on Thursday invited for talks the community leader Kirori Singh Bainsla who said he would send his representatives after consulting prominent Gurjar leaders.

A letter of invitation for talks was handed over to Bainsla at the agitation site at Pilupura-Karwadi area by the state’s principal secretary (irrigation) SN Thanvi who has been asked by the Vasundhara Raje government to deal with the stir.

Responding to the overture, Bainsla said “We have accepted the letter. I have invited prominent leaders of the Gurjar community from all over the country as well as intellectuals and social workers to come here and discuss the issue and decide something.” He said a decision would also be taken whether Gurjar representatives would travel to Jaipur for the talks or hold the exercise at Karwadi. Bainsla added he would send his representatives.

Bainsla said the government should not obstruct community leaders from reaching here for deliberations. “We request the government and the administration not to stop our leaders from reaching here,” Bainsla told reporters near the railway tracks which are under siege for the past 14 days.

Meanwhile agitating Gurjars in New Delhi threatened to boycott the BJP in the upcoming Rajasthan assembly and Lok Sabha elections if their demands were not met. At a Mahapanchayat organised here under the aegis of Akhil Bharatiya Gurjar Sangharsh Samiti, the protesters also chalked out a series of protests, including a nationwide bandh and march to Rajasthan. The date for the nationwide bandh will be announced in the next five days.

However, the Centre is likely to ask the Raje government to send a proposal incorporating all required criteria and comment if it wanted ST status to Gurjars, official sources in Delhi said. The criteria are primitive traits, distinctive culture, shyness of contact with the community at large, geographical isolation and backwardness (social and economic).