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Mayawati for ST status to Gujjars

U.P. Chief Minister Mayawati

JAIPUR: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday said her party would support extension of the Scheduled Tribe status to Gujjars for reservation in jobs and education without disturbing the share of Meenas and other tribes in the category.

A specific percentage should be fixed for quota to Gujjars, she added.

Addressing a massive rally of BSP at Vidyadhar Nagar stadium here, Ms. Mayawati lashed out at the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan for creating divisions between Gujjars and Meenas on the reservation issue and asked it to put up Gujjars’ demand properly before the Centre.

Calling upon the Centre to make its stand clear on the issue, Ms. Mayawati said the ST quota should be raised to ensure that no caste presently incorporated in the category was overlooked or adversely affected. She said the State Government had failed to find a solution despite Gujjars’ agitation for more than a year.

With an obvious eye on the Assembly elections scheduled in the State later this year, Ms. Mayawati accused both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress of trying to “abolish the reservation arrangement”.

She favoured quota for all SC, ST, OBCs and the poor among forward castes in the private sector as well, saying she had laid the foundation for the system in Uttar Pradesh.

The U.P. Chief Minister, who arrived at the venue of the rally by helicopter from Sanganer airport here, said the BSP would adopt the “social engineering model” in Rajasthan by taking along the people of all higher castes to promote brotherhood that would lead to social harmony and make political parties accountable to the people.

“A government that does not believe in harmony among various sections of society should be thrown out of power,” said Ms. Mayawai, making a dig at the ruling BJP.

She also called upon the Centre to provide employment to those living below poverty line throughout the year under the much talked about National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme set to be extended to all districts in the country from the new financial year.

BSP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra was also present at the well-attended rally. People from Shekhawati, Dundhar and Mewat regions came in large numbers to the stadium to listen to Ms. Mayawati, who was the centre of attraction in the entire public meeting.

Strict security arrangements were made in the city for the event. Police stopped a group of Brahmin Mahasabha protesters, who were opposing Ms. Mayawati’s visit to the State capital, from marching towards the rally site and took 15 demonstrators into custody.

With the BSP’s largely successful rally throwing up a new challenge to the two principal political parties in the State, it remains to be seen if any important leader would be willing to cross over to join Ms. Mayawati’s social engineering project here.

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