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‘Gujjars should not be deprived of OBC benefits’

Ashok Gehlot

JAIPUR: Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot has asked the Rajasthan Government to ensure reservation for the Gujjar community in the Other Backward Classes category till they formally get the benefits of the quota in the newly announced special category. At the end of a prolonged and bloody agitation for Scheduled Tribe status, the BJP-led Government in June had agreed to place the Gujjars in a special category with five per cent reservation quota.

“Gujjars should not be deprived of the OBC benefits till the process on the new category is legally complete,” Mr. Gehlot said on Thursday reacting to the observation of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Singh Rathore that the Gujjars would be out of the OBC once their new categorisation comes into force with the passage of a Bill to this effect in the forthcoming session of the State Assembly.

However, the former Chief Minister sought to allay any “false notions” the Government had on the Gujjar support to the BJP in the Assembly elections, scheduled for November-December. “With as many as 62 Gujjars falling victims to police bullets in the past one year, the community is not going to be an ally of the outgoing Government,” Mr. Gehlot asserted.

“In fact, Gujjars are out to teach the Government a lesson,” he said.

Mr. Gehlot termed the recent Cabinet expansion “an exercise in caste appeasement”. The induction of Rajput leader Devi Singh Bhati as Minister and the appointment of Vishvendra Singh, a scion of the former royal family of Bharatpur, as the Chief Minister’s political adviser were provoked by the Jat Mahasabha leader Rajaram Meel’s meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi to pledge support to the Congress in the next elections, he argued.

“It is interesting to note the U-turn taken by Ms. Raje in mending fences with these two leaders hitherto treated like untouchables by her,” said Mr. Gehlot.

“It is a matter of shame that Vishvendra Singh, never taken seriously by Ms. Raje in the past, now enjoys the status of a political adviser to her. She has made history of sorts by this appointment,” he said.

Mr. Gehlot in a statement also expressed concern over the daylight bank robberies in the State and the killing of Dalits in Dholpur district.

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