Bainsla calls Gujjar mahapanchayat on August 17 to press for 5% SBC quota

JAIPUR: Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla has called the community's mahapanchayat near Bayana on August 17 to press for a "positive and timely action" from the Vasundhara Raje government on getting the 5% quota for special backward classes (SBC) cleared by the court.
The community leader has talked of resorting to the old agitation path if the state government fails to show any initiative by August 15 towards fulfilling the quota promise.The Rajasthan Gurjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti held its meeting under Bainsla in the city on Wednesday to chalk out a strategy to forcefully raise the SBC quota demand once again.
"The BJP is now in power at the centre as well as in the state; and that too on its own strength. It should have no difficulty in getting the SBC quota Act included in Constitution's Schedule-IX to overcome the legal hurdle against it," Bainsla told TOI after the meeting.
He emphasised, "Before the assembly and the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP declared in its manifestos that the SBC quota issue would be resolved in its entirety. Eight months have passed since the party came to power, but nothing has moved on the subject."
Bainsla claimed that the Gujjars did not wish to resort to agitation, as there were "better ways" to get the demand fulfilled. "At the same time, if there is no move by August 15 to sort out the matter pending before the judiciary, we may be forced to go for an agitation. The community's common man is anguished with the demand lingering on for almost a decade now," said Bainsla.
Samiti spokesperson Himmat Singh Gurjar said, "We are grateful to BJP MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunpuria who raised our demand in the Lok Sabha yesterday. This was the first time the community's voice was raised in the parliament."
The spokesperson, however, clarified that the BJP governments would have to put their words into action to grant the SBC quota. "We will hold a mahapanchayat at Tule-ka-Nangla near Bayana on August 17. If there is an agitation after that, it would be forced by the government. The government should, therefore, initiate action by August 15 to get the SBC quota secured by Schedule-IX," Gurjar said.
The 5% SBC quota is presently stayed by the Rajasthan high court since it would take overall reservation in government jobs and educational institutes in the state to above 50%, which has been denied by the Supreme Court. Putting the quota provision in Constitution's Schedule-IX would take it beyond the jurisdiction of the courts and, hence, the demand