Zeenews BureauBayana, May 26: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje seems to have finally buckled under pressure from the agitating Gujjar community, as she has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking four to six percent special reservation for Gujjars.
The decision to seek special reservation for Gujjars was taken at an emergency cabinet meeting called to formulate the strategy for talks with the protesting community.
Reports suggested Raje described the Gujjar agitation as a national issue at the meeting and called for the PM’s intervention. She further said that a meeting of Chief Ministers of affected states should be called to discuss the issue.
Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla has, meanwhile, welcomed the CM’s move to write to the PM.
The development came as police in Bayana registered two cases against Bainsla for his involvement in the ongoing agitation, which has resulted in over 40 deaths.
Meanwhile, as part of efforts to cool down the Gujjar agitation, a representative body of the state government is slated to meet Bainsla later in the day. In a fresh salvo, Bainsla has asked the CM to meet him at the agitation site.
He asked Raje to come to the agitation site and hold talks with the community members on the demand for ST status.
Raje had flown to Bayana yesterday and stayed put for about 40 minutes in an attempt to hold talks with Bainsla.
There was no question of "relenting" this time, Bainsla said, adding "if we do, then history will call us cowards". "Only Chief Minister Raje should come and talk to the community members present here. After all, we are her own people," he told reporters.
He, however, strongly disapproved of representatives of the government holding talks with the Gujjar community.
Agitation spreadsMeanwhile, the Gujjar agitation has spread to Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad area where the protestors reportedly blocked railway station at Loni.
The lawyers at the Ghaziabad court also announced that they would not allow any hearings to take place today.
Blockade was been reported near the Akshardham Temple complex in Delhi.
Much to the woes of the residents, the local telecommunication network in Rajasthan is also said to have been jammed by the Army to prevent communication between protesters.
Army units tighten gripAlso, Army units on Monday tightened their grip on Karwadi, Pilupura and certain neighbouring areas hit by the Gujjar agitation, and cut off food and other essential items' supply lines, reports reaching here said.
Four columns of Army comprising about 500 personnel moved in and surrounded the violence-hit areas where hundreds of supporters of Gujjar leader Bainsla were holding bodies of 10 people killed in police firing.
Mobile telephone services in the area have been affected with Army allegedly activating jammers. Bainsla, who is spearheading the agitation for ST status, has been camping in Karwadi and has refused to travel to Jaipur for talks with Vasundhara Raje.
However, state Principal Home Secretary V S Singh told the media in Jaipur that no orders had been given to the Army to carry out any operation.
Army was deployed in the affected areas in this region after 16 people were killed in police firing and clashes last Friday.