This report in the CNN-IBN puts the death toll in Police Gujjar clashes at 22, which is over and above the many deaths in previous flare-ups.
Gujjar leader K S Bainsla, along with hundreds of his supporters, was squatting on the rail track near Dhumaria station, close to Bayana town. Bainsla heads the Gujjar Sangharsh Aarakshan Samiti, which had called for the ‘rail roko andolan’ – rail blockade.
The violence has forced the BJP to shift its National Executive meeting from Jaipur to Delhi. The three-day Executive, scheduled to begin from May 31 in Jaipur, will now be would be on June 1, 2 in Delhi.
Of all the mass movements in Post Independence India, the Incendiary Politics of Affirmative Entitlement being spearheaded by P.K. Bainsla in Rajasthan should rank as the most suicidal. Not so much for the number of deaths but for the lemmings complex being exhibited by the Gujjar Leadership which is poised to lead the community down the path of mass suicide.
It is unfathomable how the role played by the likes of K.S. Bainsla can be described as leadership. For Leaders are meant to be in touch not just with reality of the present times but are also supposed to have a historical perspective on the significance of the present times.
At a time when a forward looking India is turning the corner in neighboring states like Gujarat, it just defies reason and logic that the Gujjars would allow themselves to be swayed by the negative and defeatist rhetoric of non-leaders like K.S. Bainsla towards a path of self-destruction.
The incendiary politics of affirmative entitlement enjoy popular support much thanks to the continued legitimacy the insitituion of Caste enjoys. That an anachronism called the?Gujjar Mahapanchayat continues to enjoy social legitimacy in this day and age is a sad commentary on the delinquent leadership in the Hindu community across India. While we have produced innumerable godmen who have spawned themselves into succesful brands with viable business models we have not seen any leadership in taking on the Institution of Caste head on and delegitimizing it.
Offstumped Bottomline: It is high time the present day Caste System and its attendant politics of affirmative entitlement were declared?as having no religious sanction and un-Hindu.?This takes Leadership from Religious Bodies across the Nation to stand up and denonunce the suicidal leadership of the likes of K.S. Bainsla. It also is a moment of truth for enlightened Gujjars like Sachin Pilot – will he defy conventional wisdom like his father once did or will he prove to be another gerontocrat, his age notwithstanding.
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I find the whole Gujjar issue entirely amusing. It only shows the depth the country will fall to, is falling to in the search for caste politics.
There will be more agitations to get SC status. There will be more agitations to get OBC status. This is just the beginning.
On a seperate issue, just because somebody does not agree with the BJP government of the day, it does not make him suicidal.
K. S. Bainsla has served in the ARMY, and to think like this is simply un accpetable.
This is another attempt to polarize the Hindu Community.
If Bainsla has any shred of respect for his fellow brethren in the Army, he will have to apologize for his acts and return Bharatpur to normalcy.
The guy is tainting the name of the Army.
Yossarin,
Who is going to declare that castes have no religious sanctions when the custodians of religion completely believe in that it is otherwise. Let’s face it caste is a reality.
The need of the hour is to have the politics of looking beyond the differences and focusing on commonality.
A leader is a person who shows a path of virtue to his followers.Not like K S Bainsala leading the people to suicidal track. Lets go into the deep of this issue.How many Gujjars will be benefitted by this..I believe atleast not those 22 who killed.more to come
What is the INC’s stance on the Gujjar demand? Just wondering onlee.
As for this “I’m backward!”, “I’m scheduled!”, “I’m poor tribal onlee!” competitive tamasha, someone somewhere has to bite the bullet and say “No!”. Else its a slippery slope from here.
One way out could be to announce all castes as SC/ST from now on. Any candidate can choose to report or not his/her caste status. Ek teer se sab nishan. The genuine merit candidates will go for the merit quota. All the rest can fight over the quota seats regardless of caste.
That’s a great idea sud. Let’s all become SC/ST’s. At least we will all have equality.
[...] agitation demanding entitlements that go with a scheduled tribe (ST) status, including its leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, are responsible for the deaths and injuries that resulted. Surely in a country where Chauri Chaura [...]
Yossarin,
Offstumped Bottomline: It is high time the present day Caste System and its attendant politics of affirmative entitlement were declared as having no religious sanction and un-Hindu. This takes Leadership from Religious Bodies across the Nation to stand up and denonunce the suicidal leadership of the likes of K.S. Bainsla.
there should be a meeting of all hindu relegious bodies from all castes, languages, states and a MOU about the destruction or atleast the declaration of the irrelevance of the caste system. god willing…
Yossarin, with your expert knowledge of demographics and Psephology, any comments on
1. what is the percentage of gujjars in rajasthan population ?
2. how will this disaster affect BJP’s election prospects in the coming elections ?
Guys….
After soaking in the victory handed over by our Karnataka Brethren, This issue about Bhainsla must be exposed.
I am convinced that Kirori Singh Bhainsla is nothing but a Congress/U.P.A STOOGE…
Reasons:
1. The protests and the violence comes a fortnight after the deadly Jaipur Blasts, Congress has openly said that BJP is getting mileage from the blasts by using the SOFT ON TERROR RHETORIC.
2. There is no party in India, who divided us so systematically as the Congress, It is a tradition in the Congress to divide and rule.
3. I’m sure that K.S.Bhainsla will stand for the up coming elections in Rajasthan either as a Congress backed independent or on a Congress ticket.
4. The Congress is unsually silent on the whole issue, agreed that Ex CM Gehlot is not the kind of the other U.P.A ministers, however, the Congress is just silent on the issue.
With elections looming in Rajasthan and other parts of India later this year, this is Congress startegy to hurt BJP prospects. As this is the only way they know how to win elections.
I am sure that the people will look thru this game and give another round of thorough thrashing by means of casting their votes to the Congress.
GUYS….AS SITARAM YECHURI SAYS ” COMMUNAL FORCES HAVE WON”. In that case it is a straight fight between us communalists and them TRAITORS!!!!
Pls. Comment
Jiggs,
Let me speak to my friend in jaipur, who follows regional politics pretty closely and get his feedback. But for the gujjar population, it is not much 2-3% in rajasthan and the meena population is 6-7%, which is why she is shutting up the gujjars, because the meenas dont want them to get the st status.
as the supreme court said earlier, this reservation has become a vested interest and propelling backwardness.
Congress will keep quiet because if it speaks for gujjars, it will lose the votes from the other communities already in the sc/st list. so for now silence is golden for the congress.
Caste, Conspiracy and petty politicking aside, I’m hoping to see Vasundhara Raje
(i) show a spine of steel in dealing with group blackmail, (ii) and get rewarded for her courage at the hustings by returning to power
(iii) set a template for other states to follow – that principle and not populism pays at the polls
(iv) expose the weak netas in states that have gone populist with public monies and still lost the polls.
For 2009, an NDA understanding, perhaps even alliance with the BSP will seal the deal.
A new round of states-reorganization is an imperative now. UP, AP, WB and MH need to be split into smaller states not just for administrative efficiency but also because large states are unwittingly ineffective against the Maoist menace.
Heck, if not for the formation of Chattisgarh, am sure Dantewada wouldn’t hev been attended to, no Salwa Judum would even have been conceived by far-away Bhopal etc.
Similarly, the targeted assasination of a state cabinet mantri in Jharkhand could perhaps have been papered over by Patna but cannot by Ranchi.
Chalo, more later.
/Have a nice day, all.
@Sud/Murali…
Man….Vasundhara Raje must be given the Bharat Ratna, she has forced K.S.Bhainsla to relent.
“With no sign of an end to the four-day-old agitation as both sides stuck to their stands, the heat was turned on thousands of Gujjars led by their leader Kirori Singh Bainsla who are squatting on at Kherawadi village in Bharatpur district with the army cutting off supplies of essential supplies to the area and jamming telecommunication.”
Man this is what is expected of CM’s against any form of in discipline.
Vansundhara Raje has guts, in the election year she is taking tough action against these Congress stooges….
@Guys…
Here’s the Justice Chopra committee report, categorically rejecting the Gujjar demands:
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/18rajriot.htm
Jiggs,
But there are mixed responses for what Raje has done even within BJP. Now if i were to a draw a parallel, this is exactly what Jayalalitha did in 2005 in chennai on a slightly similar issue and even though she did not target everyone, the normal life was disrupted and that cost her and her party dear. Mind you she has a lot of flaws, but she was an able administrator and had guts. I am not sure what the situation in Rajasthan is, but she better be careful, this can hurt BJP dearly.
Murali….
The dissent about her within the BJP is all hog wash…This 8 PM NO CM rhetoric is quite common in Raj. I have heard it as I visit Jaipur frequently.
Tell me, a public servant must not have any privacy?
What she does after office hours must not be speculated at all. You see Rajasthan is still very orthodox in its views, major section of the soceity scowls over her PERSONAL life.
And dont forget every state unit has two claimants to the top post, in Rajasthan its OM Mathur….These things happen…
All I am interested is the development, progress and discipline she has installed in Rajasthan.
Re. Gujjar issue, last year she immediatley informed the centre and formed the Chopra committee and the findings of the committee were not to Gujjar’s likings.
I am telling you man, the timing of the entire flare up points finger’s at the Congress….Cmon elections are due this year…and yet Raje risking her own political credibility gave a free hand to the Police.
Nothing’s gonna happen to BJP in Rajasthan, you said it one some other thread on INI.
Vasundhara Raje is a good adminitrator and that will count.
See Jaipur and other part’s of Rajasthan today, mate they are prosperous.
I travel extensively and I can feel the Gujarat kind of positive vibes in Rajasthan.
good to hear that jiggs, well the urban crowd is with here and delimitation will take place in rajasthan also and that will give jaipur lot more seats, all this will work to bjp’s advantage.
OT but still, interesting, I thought…
While Bhains-la and cohort play casteist games, time for us (am assuming we’re all of the same generational cohort here) to ponder other staggering longterm trends. This is the view frm yamrika:
USA Today: Debt-squeezed Gen X Saves Little
The article says it all.
* For years, experts have warned that too many of the USA’s 79 million baby boomers aren’t financially ready for their coming retirements. Yet, if the boomers have had it hard, it’s nothing compared with those next in line: Generation X
* Generation X now 27 to 43 years old — have even less assurance than the boomers of receiving company pensions and projected Social Security benefits.
* In 1979, when the oldest Gen Xers were teenagers, the sole retirement plan for 62% of workers was a traditional pension, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). By 2005, when most of the Gen Xers had joined the workforce, that number had flipped: 63% of employees found themselves covered only by voluntary 401(k) plans. So much for the corporate safety net.
* Yet, burdened by high housing costs, stifling college debt, stagnating wages and outsize health insurance and gas prices, Gen Xers are saving too little for retirement, just as workplace benefits have shrunk.
* More than one in three workers ages 35 to 44 aren’t setting aside any money for retirement. Among those ages 25 to 34, 45% aren’t saving.
* Nine out of 10 consumers in their 30s are in debt.
* Gen Xers also are the first generation to graduate from college with significant student loan debt. About 20% of adults in their 30s are still paying college loans, according to the Federal Reserve study; the median balance exceeds $13,000
* Gen Xers also face this harsh reality: The standard of living that most of them have so far managed to achieve falls short of their own parents’ standard at the same age. The median income for men now in their 30s, when adjusted for inflation, is 12% lower than what their dads earned three decades earlier. (just a depressing fact and I believe this will ACCELERATE as the globe becomes even more flat, and we move closer to global wage arbitrage)
* From 1974, when many Gen Xers were children, until 2004, when most were in the workforce, family income rose only 9%. And most of that gain came from 1964 to 1994
* Gen Xers also had the unfortunate timing of becoming adults in a period when the share of income that Americans spend on what most people see as essential needs, such as a home, health insurance and cars, has soared.
* Schwab found that Gen Xers often don’t understand investment basics. Many, for instance, don’t realize that an investor can contribute to both a 401(k) plan and an IRA. This might help explain why 82% of Gen Xers have no IRA, according to a Schwab survey.
* Some specialists suggest that Gen Xers, faced with escalating financial obligations and shakier job situations, have developed a wary, skeptical stance toward the corporate world.
Scary indeed. This is the US situation. What abt India? Aren’t wages there rising? Isn’t it a little sunnier there as we go out to make medium to long term projections?
Interesting thought. Worth a thinkover, IMHO.
/Yossarian, pls 2 look kindly upon my OT (off-topic) streak…. This site has of late become my primary destination for news and views, rusings and musings…
BTW,
Sarkar can always create a new category to accomodate the dated aspirations of communities like the Gujjars presently.
Heck, we can even re-name it the “re-scheduled tribes“. This RST status can then be made available on demand to any and every community that asks for it. Let us not forget that an individual is also a community of one.
Thereby after everyone and his uncle who is not already quota-ized, will have claimed RST status, the gujjar’s itch may finally be becalmed…..
/Sarc off onlee.
Sud – keep them coming. Apologize for not being active in responding to comments. Rest assured I read all of them thanks to my blackberry no matter where I am. Just too overcommitted right now on professional and personal fronts.
Tks, Y.
Btw,
Where is that stigma attatched to SCs/STs which rationalises the quota in first palce. Castes are falling over each other to get enlisted as SCs/STs/OBCs/MBCs etc. etc. Are they watching all this at JNU/Stephens/Centre for this Research and that Studies.
The Dumbest US Generation
Breast-beating wail about the effervescent cluelessness of Gen late-X and gen Y in America.
Review of a book “The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30)” by Prof. Mark Bauerlein.
I’d go a tad easy on the shrillness but there’s something troubling about a mass-forgetting of history that seems to be happening in public school america. Its not just the NCERT textbooks that are blotting out history, it seems, folks….
Read it all, ensoi.
[...] of you wondering what an obscure American philosopher has to do with the Gujjar demands, hold your horses the answer will become obvious [...]
Sikh, Muslim, Dalit leaders call on Bainsla
Kartar Singh Kochar, general secretary of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, visited Bainsla and spoke out against the “cruelties” inflicted on the Gurjjars by the Rajasthan Government and expressed support for their cause. “We believe in the cause for which the Gurjjars are fighting, and are here to express support for them in Delhi,” he said.
Qasim Illyas Rasool, spokesperson of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, spoke of the need to build a base of such sections of society which are confronted with similar issues and problems.
Dalit Samaj general secretary Padam Singh also visited Bainsla along with the other leaders and reiterated the need to “fight together for a similar cause”.
Expressing his pleasure at receiving support from “unexpected quarters”, Bainsla said, “There is an urgent need for a (joint) group which is as independent and strong as any other community or party in the country.”
Something is brewing beneath the surface. And it likely ain’t pretty.
The ‘unexpected meetings’ seem a tad too well coordinated.
And the coherence in communications, message, common interests, stand – sounds scripted already, IMO.
Hope the sarkari spook apparatus in Dilli and Jaipur are keeping tabs.
@sud….
“Hope the sarkari spook apparatus in Dilli and Jaipur are keeping tabs”
Dilli has initiated this so it wont keep a tab, but Jaipur has to keep a tab on this.
HuJI threatens more blasts in Rajasthan
http://www.timesnow.tv/Newsdtls.aspx?NewsID=9807
“The threatening letter warns of dire consequences if the Rajasthan government and Police do not stop their crack down on Bangladeshi’s, which was initiated after the Jaipur serial blasts. The letter also demands the release of Bangladeshi’s detained in the state in connection with suspected terror links and threatens of more terror attacks if their demand is not met.”
k s bainsla singh is gurjar samaj and veery powerfull man
hi,all
First of all gujjar are not tribe or adibasi and Means are not too and jats are also not backward caste. The only tribe in rajasthans are vill and some others smaller groups.To give the ST status to means are also faults and are not faier to the villa and others, so it is better to put the means to the OBC n rise some percentage of OBC quota as well as put jats out of OBC is the most fearier option as i think,so every one be happy(may be jats are upsets , but they doesn’t deserve for OBC, whats happen if BRAMIN ask for OBC?) hoping for kind respons .
Ayam