The seven-day chaos has been ended with a consent given by the state government to form a three-member committee that would review the Gujjars’ demand for the inclusion in ST list. The nation saw seven days violent protest in which 25 people reportedly lost their lives in different parts of the state. Now, the question is that who is the person behind the Gujjars’ protests?
The person is Kirori Singh Bainsla, a retired colonel of the Indian Army, who has been leading Gujjars agitation since eight years back. He was controlling the Gujjar troops from Pipal Khera village that my be called as commanding and control centre of Gujjars’ agitation across the state.
Bainsla is a postgraduate in English. He had joined Indian Army as Sepoy and had taken part in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars. His superior officers called him with a nickname, the Rock of Gibraltar. He retired from the post of colonel. He was a man of discipline in and rigidity in his army days.
According to the other Gujjar leaders, Bainsla plans the strategies according to his military experience. Bainsla belongs to family equipped with army officials. His father and uncles, like him, were army personnel.
Bainsla has one demand and that was… just grant Gujjars a Scheduled Tribe status. Bainsla and his Gurjar Sangharsh Samiti are responsible for this movement and he has been making the demand for the last eight years. According to him, their main demand to include Gujjars in the Scheduled Tribe list.
In last eight years, Bainsla has given the movement a new face and convinced Gujjars that the community actually needs the ST status for the welfare of the community members. He had gone to meet Gujjars in most of the village in the state with a band of trusted Gujjar leaders. One of the leaders, Roop Singh said that this is very unfortunate that the government starts thinking only when people start protesting.
