Gujjar’s demand for Social Justice

The Statement issued in Chennai on 30th Mary 2008, by Dr. K.Veeramani, President, Dravidar Kazhagam, on the Social Justice struggle waged by the Community of Gujjars.

The Gujjars belong to a downtrodden community denied educational and employment opportunities for several centuries. The people in north India are beginning to imbibe the spirit of Social Justice, and the Gujjars have awakened to its need. They demand to be proclaimed as Scheduled Tribes and reservations be made on that basis. To achieve their goal, they began their agitation in Rajasthan where they live in considerable strength. It has now spread to Delhi, the national capital, and its echoes are heard even in distant Kashmir.
The BJP government in Rajasthan sees the Gujjar issue merely as one of law and order. So they resort to suppressive measures using brute force. But these steps will not bring real peace; on the contrary they will only aggravate the situation.
The necessity of agitations arises when the legitimate demands of Social Justice are denied. They are inevitable; they cannot be suppressed by using the oppressive laws.
When we look at the Gujjars, particularly the womenfolk, we will be easily convinced that they belong to the Scheduled Tribes. Their life style confirms this. So their demands are just.
What does the Constitution say:
Article 341 identifies the Scheduled Castes, and provides protection and grants them their rights. The President, i.e. the Union cabinet, is empowered to operate this Article. Similarly Article 342 is specially meant for the STs.
According to Article 342, the President after consulting the State Government, by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities which shall be deemed to be STs in relation to that State.
The Supreme Court judgement in Srish Kumar -V- State of Tripura (AIR 1990) specifies that the President’s order is made after a detailed inquiry into three important aspects of the community, namely, economic status, the level of education and the necessity of protection.
So the demand of the Gujjars is nothing but a constitutional right.
Already 86 Gujjars have lost their lives, and they have announced, “we are prepared to sacrifice even 86,000 people to win our just rights.” This spirited stand of the Gujjar community should not be set aside by the central or any state government.
This is a serious problem that requires to be settled politically. Neither treating it as a law and order issue, nor using the army to silence the affected people will bring about any solution; such an approach will aggravate the malady.
The young member of Parliament, Mr. Sachin Pilot, son of the fighter for Social Justice late Rajesh Pilot, has said that the BJP Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundara Raje, has assured the granting of the status of STs to the Gujjars not only during the previous elections to the Assembly but also in the last year; she has said that all efforts would be taken to fulfil the assurance. But no steps have been taken in that direction; and so it has led to the outbreak of the agitation. Sachin Pilot has pointed out that instead of sympathising and consoling the sufferers, the Chief Minister, has justified the use of force against the agitators. This indicates the hard-hearted attitude of the State BJP Government.
The Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla has indicated his readiness for settling the issue through deliberations. Shouldn’t the Rajasthan Government avail this opportunity for a peaceful settlement? It is shameful that the BJP government has not realised the fact that the attempts to resolve any issue by authoritarian threats and force will only boomerang.
Dravidar Kazhagam supports the just struggle of the Gujjars.
We request them to give up violence and wage the struggle in a peaceful way.
It is also essential that the public is not put to inconvenience and the public property is not damaged.
We are anxious that violence should not cause any injury to their legitimate demand.