Gujjar leaders meet Rajasthan Governor over job-quota demand

Jaipur, July 29 (ANI): A delegation comprising State ministers and Gujjar leaders, representing the farmer community of Rajasthan, on Wednesday met the State Governor S.K. Singh to request his assent on the Reservation Bill relating to job quotas.

"Today, we met the honourable Governor of Rajasthan and requested him to give his assent to the bill, which provides for five percent reservation to Gujjar and other backward communities...we request him to approve the bill as soon as possible," Jitendra Singh, State Energy Minister of told media after the meet.

Last year, the then Bharatiya Janata Party-led Rajasthan government had passed a Bill in State Assembly providing for five per cent reservation for Gujjars and three other backward communities. The Bill had been sent to the Governor and waits his assent.

On Sunday (July 26), Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla asked community members to congregate for a 'Mahapanchayat' to stage a 24-hour sit-in to build pressure on the Rajasthan Government to get the pending ST reservation bill cleared.

Captain Hari Prasad, a Gujjar leader who was part of the delegation said that their leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, who has been spearheading the agitation for the past three years, would take the decision on the future course of the agitation.

"The final decision will be taken by our leader Bainsla...we will meet him and inform about the meet and Bainsla will take the final decision," said Captain Hari Prasad, a Gujjar leader.

Large-scale violence and protests by Gujjars last year claimed some 40 lives.

The Gujjars fall into the Other Backward Classes grouping and seek to be reclassified under the Scheduled Tribes and Castes grouping. (ANI)