Jaipur, Oct 15 (IANS): The Gujjar leaders of Rajasthan have called a Mahapanchayat (massive gathering) in Bharatpur district on Saturday to discuss reservation issues and the alleged lackadaisical approach of the state in granting quotas to the community as promised.
They might take a final call on starting the Gujjar reservation movement, said leaders in Hindaun.
Earlier, the Mahapanchayat was supposed to be held at Malarna Dungar village of Sawai Madhopur district, however, the venue was changed to Adda village in Pilupura area of Bharatpur.
Speaking to the media, Gujjar leader Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla said the state government was not serious on the reservation issue.
Although the Gujjar society has on several occasions raised the reservation law in the 9th schedule, to fill backlog recruitments and to give 5 per cent reservation benefit to the most backward classes (MBC) in the recruitment process, the government has shown a lax attitude, Bainsala said.
"Several meetings have been held in the past requesting government to give compensation and jobs to the families of the people killed during the movement, and to withdraw lawsuits etc but the government has not fulfilled any demands and hence there is a huge rage among the Gujjar community," he added.
Bainsla's son Vijay Bainsla said that major decisions related to the upcoming movement will be taken in the Mahapanchayat. The Gujjar society had given an ultimatum to both the Centre and the state government on the reservation issue recently.
A month back, former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot wrote to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot alleging that the MBCs in Rajasthan were being denied the quota in government jobs.
Seeking Gehlot's 'prompt intervention', Pilot reminded the Chief Minister that Congress' manifesto in the 2018 elections included the promise of MBC reservations.
"According to the applications received by me, the reservations are not being given in Police Constable recruitment-2018, technical helper recruitment-2018, among several others," his letter read. He further revealed that many delegations from various regions in the state met him personally and expressed the grievances of the MBCs as well.
Sachin Pilot represents the Gujjar community in Rajasthan, which is well known for caste-based identity politics.