NEW DELHI, 25 May 2008 — Authorities in Rajasthan yesterday called in the army to quell caste violence but the move failed to bring peace to the desert state with police killing four more protesters, bringing the death toll in two days of protests to 20.
The Rajasthan government deployed the army in Bayana, a town 170 km from the state capital Jaipur, and nearby villages to control protests by the state’s Gujjar community. Clashes between police and Gujjars led to 16 deaths on Friday. Continuing their protests, the Gujjars refused to cremate their dead yesterday until their demand for being granted Scheduled Tribe (ST) status was met.
“We will take up the agitation indefinitely unless the state government complies with our demand,” Gujjar Arakashan Sangarsh Samiti convener Kirori Singh Bhainsla said. The Gujjars will not settle for anything less than the state’s letter of recommendation to the center for ST status. “Gujjars should be given ST status. The letter written by the Indian government to the Rajasthan government needs to be elaborated and recommendation letters need to be sent. We are resolved on the issue. No one will move from here until our demands are met. We have been duped all along. We have also been subjected to bullets,” Bhainsla said.
Yesterday, police in Sikandra town fired at protesters who had torched a police station and two buses and shot and wounded a policeman, said Amanjit Singh Gill, Rajasthan state director general of police. Protesters also burned down a police station in the nearby village of Chandra Guddaji, Gill said.
Thousands of people were meanwhile stranded because protesters were blocking major highways linking Jaipur to Agra — site of the world famous Taj Mahal monument — and to the national capital New Delhi.
Fifteen protesters died Friday when police fired live ammunition and tear gas to halt riots in six Rajasthan villages, said Rohit Kumar Singh, the state information commissioner. Protesters beat a police officer to death in Bharatpur district, Singh said. At least 26 people died in Gujjar riots in the same area last year.
Authorities stopped nearly 400 tourist buses and diverted trains to Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital, Singh said. Protesters uprooted over a kilometer of rail track on Friday, leading to the cancellation of nearly a dozen trains, Singh said.
Gujjars took to the streets after a government panel set up to look into their demands recommended a $70 million aid package for their community, but ruled out caste reclassification.
— With input from agencies
