Gurjjar leader Col Kirori Singh Bainsla, who spearheaded the community?s recent agitations for a separate quota, resigned from all BJP posts on Monday night. Bainsla announced his resignation at a mahapanchayat in Alwar just two months after he was included as a special appointee to the BJP national executive. He said that he would launch a state-wide agitation on Wednesday if the government showed no concrete steps on the issue of reservations for the Gurjjars in Rajasthan.
Incidentally, Bainsla?s decision to quit the BJP and threaten another stir came hours after the Rajasthan High Court-appointed Israni Committee recommended to the Rajasthan government to grant the Gurjjars a quota and special backward class status. Bainsla?s close aide Roop Singh said, ?We (the Gurjjar community) have been drowned in committees and we want some positive steps now.?
On the eve of the 2009 parliamentary polls, Bainsla secured a BJP ticket from the Sawai Madhopur-Tonk constituency, but lost by just over 300 votes to the Congress?s Namo Narain Meena. Then, Bainsla had said that politics was perhaps the best way for him to represent his community. But on Monday, he said, ?This is not for me but for my community. Now everything else takes a back seat. We give the government time till Wednesday.?
According to Roop Singh, the Gurjjar agitation so far has been peaceful, but that might not last for too long. ?We have been peacefully agitating for a month now and still there is no positive sign from the government. If by Wednesday afternoon nothing happens, then we will have to up the ante,? Singh said. He added that a mahapadav was being organised in Bharatpur to discuss their next move.