Quota stir intensifies as jaipur agra highway remains blocked for 6th day

Quota stir intensifies as jaipur agra highway remains blocked for 6th day

The Jaipur-Agra National Highway remained blocked in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday, as protesters demanding 12% separate reservation for a group of Other Backward Class (OBC) communities refused to vacate the road. The Congress government in the State has agreed to look into their demands.

As many as five OBC communities have mobilised with the demand for a separate quota in government jobs and education. Hundreds of people agitating for reservation have been camping in tents after blocking a one kilometre stretch of the National Highway-21 near Arauda village with stones since April 21.

The protesters, belonging to the Saini, Kushwaha, Mali, Maurya and Shakya communities, have demanded 12% quota within the OBC category, proportionate to their population, which is estimated to be 1.50 crore. They claim the current reservation available to them is inadequate as most families are from Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and their children are unable to secure gainful employment.

Serious turn

The agitation took a serious turn following the death of a 48-year-old man belonging to Saini community, whose body was found hanging from a tree near the protest site on Tuesday. The family members have refused to accept the body and demanded compensation and a government job.

While traffic on the highway has been diverted via different routes, the district administration has suspended mobile Internet services in the region to check the spread of rumours and prevent the situation from deteriorating. The protesters had blocked the highway at the same place with the similar demand in June 2022 as well.

A delegation of protesters, led by Phule Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti’s convener Murari Lal Saini, met Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at his official residence here late on Tuesday. The delegation was asked to hold discussions with the State OBC Commission’s member-secretary, with whom a meeting has been scheduled for May 1.

Mr. Saini said no decision on calling off the agitation or vacating the highway had been taken. Other demands of the protesters include formation of a ‘Luv Kush Welfare Board’, and hostel facilities for children from OBC communities.

Mr. Gehlot, who belongs to the Mali community, has called upon the protesters to end their agitation, while pointing out that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written a letter to the Prime Minister seeking the inclusion of caste in the next Census. “