New Delhi: The ongoing Gurjar agitation for inclusion of the community in the Scheduled Tribe category has now snowballed into a controversy over the basis of caste-based reservation in the country.
Raging dispute between Gurjars and Meenas in Rajasthan and Malas and Madigas in Andhra Pradesh has given way to a national debate on caste-based reservations, civil servant-turned- politician and national coordinator of Lok Satta party Jayaprakash Narayan said on Saturday.
While supporting reservation policy, in view of "continued discrimination" on the basis of one's birth, Narayan, however, said there was a need to "refine" the policy.
"Any scientific system should give weightage to factors like caste, economic status, parents' educational status, rural or urban background, education in government or private school and medium of instruction," he was quoted by PTI.
Narayan had quit his IAS job about ten years ago to lead a movement for democratic reforms and floated an NGO called Lok Satta which was recently converted into a political party.
He alleged that most of the political parties were treating castes as "vote banks" and resorting to "cynical and manipulative games."
The demand by the Gurjar community in Rajasthan to be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes is likely to take a heavy toll on the Vasundhara Raje government. Five BJP MLA's - including the Panchayati Raj Minister Kalu Lal Gurjar - have offered to resign. The government has apparently sought two weeks' time to send recommendations to the Centre for inclusion of Gurjars in the Scheduled Tribe category.
But there are several voices in the state that believe that Raje has made all the wrong moves.
There is a strong sense among Gurjars of marginality and this goes back to 1857. They participated in the revolt but continued to be marginalised. The Meenas got ST status and they have benefited enormously from the post-colonial dispensation unlike the Gurjars.
With inputs from PTI
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