Gujjar agitation: Home Ministry reviews situation

Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Friday reviewed the situation arising out of the Gujjar stir demanding Schedule Tribe status at a high-level meeting in New Delhi.

The meeting come in the wake of the Gujjar agitation taking a violent turn in Rajasthan and affecting areas in neighbouring Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Region.

The meeting was attended by National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar, Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and senior officials from the Law and Tribal Affairs Ministries.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending 4-6 per cent reservation for Gujjars in the category of denotified class of tribals/nomadic tribe.

The Gujjar reservation issue had figured during meetings of senior law ministry officials, who are expected to give an opinion on the matter raised by Raje in her letter to the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had referred the issue of reservation sought for Gujjars by Raje to the Law Ministry on Tuesday.