JAIPUR: Anger among RajasthanÂ’s predominantly agrarian Gujjars over being denied a place in the Scheduled Tribe list erupted in mass violence in several areas of the state on Tuesday. Six columns of the Army were rushed in but only after at least 14 people, including a policeman, were killed when police fired into crowds at Dausa and Bundi areas to stop mobs from blocking the arterial Jaipur-Agra highway.State home minister Gulab Chand Kataria said two policemen were missing in Dausa and over 80 people were injured in violence during a planned protest by the OBC group which has for long been demanding inclusion in the ST list, like the Gujjars in J&K and Uttarakhand. Apprehensive about being left behind by more upwardly mobile OBC groups like the Meenas and the Jats, the Gujjars started the movement for getting the ST tag and concommitant quota benefits.
As violence flared up along roads leading to Jaipur, CM Vasundhara Raje, who was in New Delhi for the National Development Council meeting, met Union home minister Shivraj Patil. The Centre immediately rushed 2,000 paramilitary troops and more were readied for deployment. Reinforcements were also coming in from Maharashtra, MP and UP.
Trouble was expected, but the administration had clearly failed to gauge the fury among the Gujjars, who had been hoping that their demand would be considered favourably after a state cabinet sub-committee had been formed in September to decide on the issue. That was when the Gurjar Mahasabha had called for putting off the agitation. But nine months later, sensing that nothing was being done, an umbrella group called the Gurjar Sangharsh Samiti called for a blockade of highways leading to Jaipur.
Although mobs of Gujjars, armed with sticks and stones clashed with cops at half-a-dozen places, burning buses and trucks, the most serious trouble was around Peelplikheda-Patoli area in Dausa district, and in Bundi district. While five bodies were recovered from Bundi, six were found in Dausa.