Stop brutal force against Gujjars: Buta Singh to Vasundhara

New Delhi, May 31 (UNI) Former Union Home Minister Buta Singh, who has recently taken over as head of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), today asked the Vasundhara Raje government of Rajasthan and others to stop using ''brutal force'' against Gujjars.

The killings in Rajasthan and the violence in other states were unfortunate and a matter of great concern, needing a more cautious approach from the state governments concerned, Mr Singh told UNI.

The toll in the pro-reservation agitation by the Gujjar community in Rajasthan mounted to 20 today even as the Army was called out in Kota and Alwar amid reports of the stir spreading to contigous states.

The veteran politician, who has headed 15 Union ministries in his 50 years of political career, assumed charge of the NCSC on May 25, his first official assignment after he had to resign as Bihar Governor in the wake of the Supreme Court observations regarding his recommendation for President's rule in Bihar.

He said instead of supressing the agitation brutally, the state government should try to understand their grievances.

''These are sporadic, unfortunate social upheavals having their root in social injustice based on caste and the ill treatment meted out to weaker sections. Such unrests were not politically motivated, though it is another matter that those with vested political interests try to capitalise on them,'' he said.

He advised the Rajasthan government to study the causes of grievances of those agitating and try to find out a solution.

The weaker sections have been supressed for centuries and in more recent years fruits of developments have not reached them, so they are living under various insecurities and anxities, which should be understood to find out the remedy, he added.

UNI