Reservation? Me too!

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

The Gurjjar agitation that kept Rajasthan on the brink last week and resulted in the death of 25 people, and its resolution were liberally covered in the regional press.

A day after the Vasundhara Raje government brokered a peace deal with Gurjjar leader, Colonel (retd) Kirori Singh Bhainsala, Dainik Bhaskar took it as the lead story. Headlined "Deal with government, agitation revoked," the piece detailed the finer points of the compromise formula. A three-member commission would examine the Gurjjar demand of ST status, the paper said, adding that the commission, which would be headed by a retired High Court judge, will submit its report in three months. The report was accompanied by a picture of Raje and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar bidding the Gurjjar leader goodbye after the talks. Next to this was a picture of firemen splashing water on the carcass of a DTC bus burnt by Gurjjar protestors on the Delhi-Gurgaon highway.

In its June 6 edition, Rajasthan Patrika took as lead the Supreme Court's issuing notices to the police chiefs of Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and UP for inaction during what the Court termed a "national shame". Saying that the court had taken suo motu notice of the incidents on Delhi's border with Haryana and UP, the report was supplemented by the picture of a burning UP Roadways bus.

In an edit in Punjab Kesari, columnist Neerja Choudhary explored the political underpinnings of the Meenas' reprisal to the agitation. "If Gurjjars are accorded the ST status, they would be able to fight elections at reserved seats. This possibly is one reason why the Meenas are so vehemently protesting the Gurjjar demand," she said.

Not every day but for nearly a week, one story or another on the Gurjjar agitation appeared on the front pages of all prominent Marathi newspapers. Maharashtra Times even carried a story charting the Gurjjars' history: the areas where the community is pre-dominant, its social customs, how some of those who converted to Islam and Sikhism maintain their identity, and so on. The paper spoke to the Maharashtra Gurjjar leader, P K Anna Patil, for this story.

Loksatta and Sakal carried edits on the issue. While the former blamed the Vasundhara Raje government for its ineptness in gauging the extent of the crisis, Sakal dwelled into the past and blamed V P Singh and Arjun Singh for introducing caste as an agenda in the political landscape.

Apart from this, the arrest of Pune-based businessman, Avinash Bhosale, by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and subsequent developments in the case dominated the Marathi press. Bhosale's rags-to-riches story, luxurious life style, love for expensive cars and connections across the political dicide, provided much fodder for the press.

The Gurjjar agitation received extensive coverage in the Kannada press on the first two days. All the leading dailies carried the news on their front pages with photographs splashed on the inside pages. However, the coverage on the issue dipped from the third day onwards.

Market leader Vijaya Karnataka blamed Vasundhara Raje for the incident. In its editorial, the newspaper said: "This is a lesson for politicians not to play with the sentiments of particular community. The BJP had clearly mentioned in its election manifesto that the party would extend reservation to Gurjjars if elected to power. It is then natural for Gurjjars to seek reservation since the same was not implemented."

Local issues also made it to the front pages of Kannada newspapers. The focus was more on the by-poll to the Ullal assembly, which the Congress retained. The election campaigning was covered widely by all newspapers. The Karnataka high court upheld the state government's decision to derecognise schools which violated the language policy. This issue was also debated extensively in the newspapers.

The Gurjjar agitation was covered extensively by leading Tamil daily Dinamalar during the last week. The edition dated June 5 carried two big photos and a report on the front page. The daily carried other reports on the issue alongwith pictures of people blocking traffic, agitators setting fire to buses and so on, on page 2 during most of last week.

Apart from this, Dinamalar also carried reports on the launch of the third front by eight regional parties, Jayalalithaa's reactions to Karunanidhi's remarks about her, and the SSLC exam results.