Gujjar Tribespeople Cause Chaos in New Dehli
29th May 2008
Thousands of members of the Gujjar tribe brought New Delhi to a standstill today after blocking major roads, squatting on train tracks and burning car tires in order to protest for better treatment. They have also threatened to halt essential milk and vegetables from getting into the city.
The Gujjars, who are traditionally nomadic farmers, are demanding to be socially downgraded in order to gain government jobs and university places. The Gujjars have been demanding this right for several years because, although they are already considered a disadvantaged group, they want to be reclassified further down the Hindu hierarchy.
Avinash Bandana, who is a Gujjar farmers' leader, explained the tribe’s need for reclassification. He said: “the community needed the appropriate status. We cannot be placed too high.” At the moment, the Gujjars feel that they are classified too highly, which means that they cannot compete with their peers, principally the Jat and Yadav communities. The Gujjars would rather be classified as a ‘tribal group’, which would put them among the poorest and worst educated people in the country.
However, not everybody in the country is happy for the Gujjar tribespeople to be reclassified. Indeed, many people believe that succumbing to the Gujjars' demands would simply lead to a race to the bottom of the welfare system. This could eventually lead to different groups fighting for more and more government handouts.
In order to stop the violence, paramilitary forces and police have been drafted in. However, most protesters were well behaved, because they were keen to avoid the week of bloodshed that recently occurred in northern India and left 39 people dead. Despite this, the security teams fired tear gas at the crowd at one point in order to stop them throwing stones and surging forward.