The Hindu Business Line : Caught in a cleft stick

Medical researchers have found that there is nothing that happens in the human body that can be called sudden or unpredictable. Any event that is apparently sudden — a heart or brain attack, let us say — is preceded by signs of warnings. It is only when they go either unheeded or unnoticed that the body, so to speak, strikes.

The best way to avoid being taken by surprise is to keep listening to the body, they say.

The same thing applies to body politic. Nothing happens without there being some prior indication of brewing trouble. Wishing that it would go away or brushing it under the carpet does not work.

Masterly inactivity does not solve problems, it only makes them hit back with much greater force on many fronts. Failure to listen by keeping one's ears to the ground is what has been the undoing of many in leadership positions.

The Gujjar agitation for inclusion in the category of Scheduled Tribes (STs) and the consequent violence and loss of 26 lives will have to be viewed in this perspective. They do not fit the description of an eruption. Actually, the BJP campaigners, especially Ms Vasundhara Raje, during the last election had knowingly sowed the wind and are now reaping the whirlwind. They had liberally sprinkled their election speeches with promises that, once elected and in power, they would fulfil the long pending demand of the Gujjars.

It was normal for the Gujjars to expect that the Chief Minister and the Government of Rajasthan would set in motion the steps necessary to make good their commitment.

Instead, Ms Raje took no notice when the simmering resentment among the Gujjars at her inaction surfaced eight months ago. In fact, she had to be forced by her own party leaders to talk to the Gujjars even after violence began spreading to various parts of the State and threatened to spill over to neighbouring States.

Meanwhile, the Meenas, who already enjoy the status of a Scheduled Tribe, are up in arms against being bundled up with the Gujjars, lest their own share of opportunities should shrink. The Rajasthan Government is in a classical quandary: It is damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't. It cannot be blamed if it is desperately in search of solutions.

Breathing space

Obviously, it cannot please both groups. The course adopted should be such as to provide a breathing space for them to take in the implications and repercussions of any implacable stand on their part. From this point of view, it is best that the Central Government itself takes a hand, without being a bystander, as it has so far chosen to be.

The simple reason is that the onus for deciding on the ST status rests squarely on the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, which has laid down elaborate and clear-cut procedures to ensure that such demands are not made on fickle grounds, nor dealt with casually or on political compulsions.

Those making the demand will have to prove they are economically backward, geographically isolated and have a distinctive culture and primitive traits, such as being shy of contact with the community at large.

Further, for the Ministry to be seized of the proposal, it has first got to be passed by the State Assembly, following which it will be forwarded for examination by the Registrar General of Census Operations, National Scheduled Tribes Commission and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

There is a good chance of the Centre being able to impose restraint until the process is gone through, and if the contending groups still break the law, public opinion will be with the Government in any firm action it takes against them.

B. S. RAGHAVAN