Jaipur: Demanding 5% reservation in educational institutes and state services, members of the Gujjar community led by Kirori Singh Bainsla have blocked railway tracks and highways in parts of Rajasthan since February 8. Hundreds of trains in the Mumbai-Delhi rail route and thousands of passengers have been affected.
Both the Congress and the Bhartiya Janta Party in the state have been caught in the ongoing drama. During the first session of the 15th state assembly on Monday, Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs Joginder Singh Awana and Wajib Ali asked the Congress to clear its stand on the Gujjar reservation.
Later, holding the BJP responsible for the death of 72 innocent Gujjars during the earlier protests, Jat leader and MLA from Khinvsar Hanuman Beniwal and the BSP MLAs stormed the well. Beniwal also stated that Jats will support the Gujjars in their fight for reservation.
Also read: Gujjar Quota Protest Turns Violent on Day 3; Trains Disrupted, Highways Blocked
Implications for the polls
While the agitation may be politically motivated, analysts believe it won’t affect more than two seats in Rajasthan during the upcoming general elections.
“If it is going to affect polls, it would be both for the Congress and the BJP. At Tonk-Sawai Madhopur and Karauli seat, if the BSP could give a ticket to a potential candidates, it might emerge as the winner. The Gujjars cannot sway votes in more than a seat in Rajasthan. Bainsla himself lost the election in 2009,” Rajendra Bora, a senior journalist and political analyst told The Wire.
However, the Congress can’t afford to ignore the community ahead of the polls. “This time, it wouldn’t be easy to convince the Gujjar community by merely forming the law as they are aware that the high court wouldn’t sustain it for long,” a senior Congress MLA said on the condition of anonymity.
Gujjars have become even more assertive after the Union government bypassed the 50% limit on reservation. “If the Union government can provide reservation beyond 50% then why can’t the Gujjars in Rajasthan attain 5% reservation which was recommended by various commissions time and again?” Shailendra Singh, a Gujjar leader told The Wire.
Also read: Explainer: The 1993 SC Judgment Capping Quotas at 50%, Disallowing Them for the Poor
Meanwhile, Congress minister Ashok Chandana told reporters that a big decision can be taken tomorrow to end the agitation.
Past Gujjar agitations had compelled the state government to enact an Act in 2008 and 2015 to provide special reservation to the Gujjars, who earlier got reservation under the OBC category, by carving out a special category called as special backward class. However, the high court quashed the Acts citing the 50% ceiling on reservation.
FIle photo. Credit: PTI
In 2006, when the Gujjars agitated for their inclusion in the category of Scheduled Tribes, the state government initially constituted Justice Jasraj Chopra Committee but when they could not be included in the category of Scheduled Tribes, they were provided special reservation without quantifiable data.
The state government brought the Rajasthan Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, Special Backward Classes and Economically Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions in the State and of Appointments and Posts in Services under the State) Act, 2008.
Under the act, total 68% reservation was provided for admission in the educational institutions and services. The reservation in favour of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes was maintained to the extent of 16%, 12% and 21% respectively. Five percent reservation was provided for special backward class whereas, 14% for economically backward classes.
Also read: In India, Not All Citizens Who Block Railway Lines are Equal
On August 25, 2009, the state government issued another notification to include four other castes in the 2008 act – Banjara/Baladiya/Labana, Gadia-Luhar/Gadolia, Gujjar/Gurjar and Raika/Raibari. However, the high court passed an interim order on October 12, 2009, to restrain reservation above 50%.
The division bench in 2010 found that the high powered committee headed by Justice Chopra did not provide adequate data. After this, the Government entered into an agreement with the IDS for collection of quantifiable and comparative data of 82 different castes falling in the category of other backward classes to assess their social, educational and economic backwardness apart from their representation in the government services.
After it submitted its report in 2012, the state government in June nominated members and chairperson for the Rajasthan Special Backward Classes (SBC) Commission. The SBC Commission submitted its report in November that recommended 5% special reservation to five castes, including the four castes that were already added in 2009. The government of Rajasthan issued an order in November, 2012 to provide 5% special reservation to five castes recommended by the SBC Commission.
Apart from failing to present quantifiable data to support reservation, the commission couldn’t address the extra ordinary reasons required to provide a separate and special category of reservation beyond the ceiling of 50%.
The petitioners argued that “The Commission considered census of 1931 for ascertaining the proportionate population percentage of each caste in the State of Rajasthan, whereas, census of 1931 could not have been taken into consideration to draw quantifiable data. The recent data of each caste should have been taken into consideration with their backwardness in terms of the education and representation in services. Thus, the report of SBC Commission should be rejected.”
Therefore, the division bench on March 4, 2013 permitted the government to provide only 1% reservation in favour of special backward class.
The State Legislature, thereupon, issued a notification on October 16, 2015 to bring Rajasthan Special Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions in the State and of Appointments and Posts in Services under the State) Act, 2015 in which five castes – Banjara/Baladiya/Labana, Gadia-Luhar/Gadolia, Gujjar/Gurjar, Gadaria and Raika/Raibari – earlier falling in the category of other backward classes (OBC) and getting benefit of reservation, have been brought in the category of special backward classes to provide 5% reservation exceeding the ceiling of 50%.
The act was quashed and the five castes were moved back into the OBC list. In 2017, the Vasundhara Raje government tabled a bill in the assembly to provide the five castes 5% reservation which was again struck down by the high court.
