http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne081108Desert_Warriors.asp
>From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 44, Dated Nov 08, 2008 CURRENT AFFAIRS Desert Warriors Caste-based militias are gearing up to fight for a piece of the pie, reports ANIL VARGHESE from Rajasthan. Photographs by TRILOCHAN S KALRA STUNG BY political neglect, caste favouritism and poll promises — easily made and easily broken — Rajasthan's society is in a state of unrest. To fight for perceived rights and to right injustices done to them, caste 'armies' have sprung up, unsettling those in power. Patoli in the summer of 2007 and Dausa this year, witnessed massive Gujjar agitations for reservation. Incensed by perceived humiliation and political neglect, an army of Gujjars with their Devnarayan Sena at the forefront, turned up to make itself heard. This Sena is not alone. Marching through the streets of Karoli and Sawai Madhopur districts — microcosms of the state — are the Karni Sena of the Rajputs and the Parashuram Sena of the Brahmins. The Parashuram Sena, fighting in the same breath against terrorism and for reservations for Brahmins, is the latest avatar of the Support base Shyam Lal Meena is the face of the new generation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Mahendra Upadhaya, who claims to have been the first to plant the RSS flag on the Babri Masjid, heads the 1,100-strong Sawai Madhopur unit of the Sena, which is demanding reservations for Brahmins and other caste Hindus. Reservations have uplifted about 20 percent of Meenas, a community which has benefited greatly from ST status. SS Kemri, Karoli district chief of the All India Gujjar Mahasabha says, "The Meenas have taken over the bureaucracy and the government. We do not even have one IAS/IRS officer." More than mere pride is at stake — they live out this disparity in everyday life. Meenas enjoy special legal protection thanks to their ST status and as Tej Ram Gujjar of Gadmora claims, "they are out to frame Gujjars by provoking them and then slapping false charges of atrocities against STs against them." Naresh Sharma, SHO of Gangapur City kotwali, concedes that a number of FIRs filed in his station are of this nature. Added to this is the favouritism shown by the district administration. Paanchna Dam in Gudala, Karoli district, is an example. The BATTLE OF THE BENEFICIARIES Younger Meenas resent that the older generation is not giving them patronage WHILE GUJJARS, Brahmins and Rajputs complain about official neglect, Meenas say their own leaders, now an elite core nurtured with government patronage, are neglecting them. "We fight the outsiders who wish to steal our rights but we also have an ongoing battle within our community," says Ram Bhajan Meena, the State President of the Akhil Bharatiya Meena Sangh, referring to the earliest Meena beneficiaries of reservations. These few who moved up the social ladder thanks to reservations, continue to reap the benefits. Eighty percent of Meenas have never availed of reservations and struggle to make ends meet. An example of their lopsided development is the Bamanwas region of Sawai Madhopur district, some 30 kilometres from Gangapur. It is said here that every other house has an IAS officer. Moreover, Union Minister of State for Environment Namo Narain Meena is the current MP. Ironically, however, the local town shows no signs of environmental consciousness. Shyam Lal Meena, 38, a young Congressman, points to the mountains of garbage, as an example. Two leaders, Kunji Lal Meena and Bharat Lal Mina, both former MLAs, have occupied, between them, all local political posts. Whenever they have not been MLAs, they have been sarpanches of one of the two gram panchayats in the tehsil — Pattikhurd and Pattikala, which are adjacent to one another in reality but happen to be seven kilometres apart in the government records. These records would have to be amended for Bamanwas to have a municipality — a prerequisite for garbage disposal. reservoir, built in the 1980s, sits on Gujjar land, yet no water from it reaches them, explains Ram Dev Singh Gujjar, a circle officer from Gangapur who visited the area when local Gujjars besieged the dam last November. This is not all. Though originally built to irrigate the drought-prone Gujjar-dominated Nandoti, Meenas in the state government intervened to divert the water to a few Meena villages in the area and distant Bamanwas, a Meena bastion in neighbouring Sawai Madhopur. Five hundred Gujjar homes in Gadmora remain in darkness while a thousand others in the same village have electricity. Raisna, another Meena stronghold with just 200 homes, gets the Primary Health Centre originally meant for 2,000-home Gadmora, which has a significant Gujjar presence. Gujjar anger is palpable. "Rajasthan could become another Kashmir if the Meenas get more reservation in 2010. Six Gujjars are born every hour in Kemri alone. We will be a force to reckon with," warns a grave Jaya Khadana, another member of the Devnarayan Sena. Gujjars were promised ST status by the BJP last election — a promise that was broken. Consequently, Kemri is confident that many of the 68 lakh Gujjar voters may not vote for the BJP in the upcoming election. Presiding over the Savarna Jaati Sangharsh Samiti (Forward Caste Action Front), but treading a more moderate line is Laxman Singh, ex-Chairman of the Gangapur Municipality, and also head of the Rajput Samaj. Singh is a devotee of saint Tan Singh of Balmer who went on to become an MLA and an MP. He believes that the Rajput demand for OBC status is not only Taking vows Members of the Karni Sena swear by a traditional sword unconstitutional but unviable. He feels that Rajputs should work for the good of the society, not just themselves — words of wisdom, perhaps, befitting his greying hair and moustache. However, the Karni Sena, fuelled by young blood, is in no mood to agree. Founded in 2006 to preserve the historical and cultural sanctity of Rajputs by Lokendra Singh Kalwi, once a BJP candidate in state elections, the Sena wants OBC status for Rajputs, nothing less. Kalwi ended a six-month stint with the BJP to set up the Samajik Nyaya Manch (Social Justice Front), its birth in 1999 triggered by the granting of OBC status to Jats, rulers of Dhaulpur and Bharatpur, on the rationale that they were farmers and soldiers. 'Not all Rajputs were rulers, some were farmers and others soldiers,' contends Kalwi. 'So why is the government turning a deaf ear to the cries of the Rajputs?' he wants to know. Gujjars, Brahmins and Rajputs are finding some unity within their communities and their slogans resound. Devnarayan Bhagwan ki Jai, Bajrang Bali Ki Jai, Jai Jai Shree Ram, Mata Karni ki Jai they echo, each Sena saluting its clan deity. The Meenas, obviously, have a different stance and are now on alert to protect their interests. State President of the Akhil Bharatiya Meena Sangh Ram Bhajan does not admit to an official Sena but concedes that the Meena community and village leaders manage to gather enough people and arms to fight those who encroach onto their territory, be it land or the privileges granted by the state. This fledgling army is the Meena response to the threat of the three Senas, which, with election round the corner, are determined to be heard. • WRITER'S EMAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 44, Dated Nov 08, 2008 ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! 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