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Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 5, 2007
Government must make it last
The return of peace in Rajasthan after a week of frightful violence will be greeted by people in the State and across the country. Rajasthan's Gujjars, who led the agitation, blocked national highways and indulged in wanton arson, want to be reclassified as a Scheduled Tribe - at present, the community is classified as an OBC - because they believe this would fetch them better benefits under the quota regime. The demand essentially stems from their perception that the socially, economically and politically more powerful Jats have squeezed them out of the OBC quota. On the other hand, any attempt to reclassify the Gujjars as a Scheduled Tribe is bound to be fiercely opposed by the Meenas who are the main beneficiaries of reservation under this category. In fact, the Gujjars's agitation against "Government indifference" had begun to acquire shades of an incipient caste war with the Meenas marshalling their forces. Had Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje not succeeded in convincing the Gujjar leaders to call off their agitation on Monday, the consequences of the build-up could have been disastrous and impacted social peace and harmony beyond the borders of Rajasthan. Were that to happen, the only person who would find cheer in the awful waste of human life and property would be Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh whose diabolical caste politics is now threatening to come to fruition. Unhappily, the blowback cannot but singe, if not scorch, much of India, a fact to which he and his colleagues in the UPA Government appear to be blind. Thankfully, the flames have been doused in the nick of time and hopefully the more belligerent elements among the agitators will discover wisdom in not pushing their case too hard for the moment.
Meanwhile, the State Government should make every effort to ensure that it does not commit the blunder of brushing the problem under the carpet. Indeed, had the Government been alert to the situation, perhaps the ghastly loss of lives and the huge damage to property, apart from loss to business and trade, could have been avoided. Monday's deal is pegged to a committee, headed by a retired judge of Rajasthan High Court, studying the Gujjars's demand in detail and preparing a report within the next three months. That's not a lot of time and it would be in order to stress that between now and the submission of the report, the peace will be at best tenuous. The Rajasthan Government has passed through an ordeal while dealing with the violence; it must now demonstrate that it has the administrative determination and political acumen to deal with what is essentially a political issue. This is both a challenge and an opportunity for Ms Vasundhara Raje, whose Government has otherwise performed remarkably well and set new standards in people-oriented governance, as the UN honour bestowed on her would testify. A last point: The time has come for the people to ask themselves whether criminal destruction of public property, as has been witnessed this past week and more so on Monday, is the best way to grab Government's attention. The vandals on the rampage would do well to bear in mind that they have not earned any support or sympathy from the people of India, especially those whose taxes are invested in public infrastructure.
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