Hail Gujjar and Hail Rajasthan Govt.

I am very much frustrated with the continued agitation that Gujjars are holding for their reservation. It is hopeless that they are troubling peaceful public to show their agitation and that government is just taking its time to resolve the issue. This is not the first time we have seen the agitation and I am sure Gujjars have inspired enough small communities to fight for their reservations or whatever demands. Message is clear: You can trouble common public because no body cares for them!
I am going to put my views from different facets and will like to put up a hawk eye view of the problem.


From the eye of Gujjar's:
Who are the Gujjars? Details
According to Vincient A Smith’s ‘The Early History of India,’ Gujjars are “allied in blood” to the Huns who poured into the Indian subcontinent after attacking the Kishan Kingdom of Kabul. Another theory claims that Gujjars are related to the Rajputs who converted to Islam after losing in the wars with Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and yet another that Gujjars are descended from Isaac himself. Hindu Gujjars usually belong to the kshatriya varna, although some communities are classified as Brahmin. Gujjars can also be Muslim, Sikh, Christian and presumably Buddhist.


Why are they agitated? Details
Probably a mix of politics, too high aspirations about themselves and typical mentality of enjoying a free ride of reservations when other communities (jat) are enjoying the same. Here are some excerpts:

• In 1999, the government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) included the Jat community on its OBC list. The Jats are a relatively prosperous community in Rajasthan who form nearly 15% of the state's population. Some allege that the real reason why the BJP made such a move was because it wanted to win their support in state elections in Rajasthan. The community had traditionally backed the Congress party.
• "Once Jats were identified as OBCs , the Gujjars who were already placed in the OBC category felt threatened. They felt the better-off Jats would corner the benefits of reservation," said Professor Sheth.
• The demand by the Gujjars is also fuelled by the success of the Meenas, a large community in the state who were granted ST status in 1954. "The Meenas were basically a borderline case who used their political influence to be classified as STs.
• The Gujjars are now trying to put pressure on political parties to allow them to reap similar benefits.

I am not suggesting whether the demands by Gujjar are correct or not, but they have caused havoc to the life of common mass by blocking the main communication channel for days. I am sure nobody would have heard them if they had gone for hunger strike or some more peaceful agitation. So for them this is the right way to get heard off!

Rajasthan Govt.:

They are slow, inefficient, etc. etc... yes they are, no doubt about it. Let us move ahead and talk about this particular case:

What are the doing? Gujjar troubled us back in 2007 and yet again they are doing the same in 2010 only with more passion :P Rajasthan govt has failed to tackle the issue and they are just concerned about vote banks. So for them the best policy is to sit quietly, do not fight with anyone, do not interrupt and let the court handle it.

Least they are concerned about public vows and they will neither give them the reservation (that will have further problems) nor will they use force to remove Gujjars from the railway tracks and highways. They will keep sending their mediators to talk and they are actually least troubled.

I am not sure what it takes to wake them up and get things running again. Probably it will be a mass protest by commuters against govt?

I do not even see opposition party grinding current govt. to resolve the issue. And even if they are grinding, does it matter?

Bug in Democracy?

What do I call it, a bug in democracy? Where public vows get unheard of, they are bound to take expensive flights or they have no option but not to commute? Govt is silent for its own vote banks and is least concerned. Communities such as Gujjars take that as opportunity for themselves and exploit it to get themselves heard!