Mixed signals came from the state government, which sent a letter to Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla asking him to send a team for talks and at the same time filed criminal cases against him and some other top leaders of the community for allegedly making inflammatory speeches.
A day after the first round of talks, which appeared to have made some headway, Bainsla, heading the Gujjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, demanded the release of arrested women Gujjar activists and withdrawal of murder charge against 20 protesters.
Amid uncertainty, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar came into the picture as a mediator. He met Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde in Jaipur and then Bainsla at Karwadi-Pilupura, the nerve centre of the Gujjar agitation.
The meeting with Bainsla lasted for more than an hour after which Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said "there was a lot of mistrust between the state government and the Gujjars. Some mistakes had been made in the past but it's time to leave that behind and make a new beginning".
A senior Rajasthan government official accused Bainsla of going back on his written commitment given in Bayana yesterday.
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However, still hoping to engage the Gujjars, the state government asked Bainsla to send a delegation for further talks. The letter was sent after deliberations within the government based on the feedback by ministers LN Dave and SM Jat, both of whom had attended yesterday's talks with a 37-member Gujjar delegation at Bayana, an official said in Jaipur.
"We are making all efforts from our side to revive the dialogue process," an official said on phone from Bayana in Bharatpur district.