Karwadi (Bharatpur): The Gujjar agitation for ST status on Sunday showed no signs of abating with its leader Kirori Singh Bainsla refusing to travel to Jaipur to hold talks with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje as four injured in police firing died taking the toll to 35.
As protesters vowed to continue their stir, Army deployed in four districts affected by agitation- Bharatpur, Dausa, Karauli and Sawaimadhopur- conducted flag marches and maintained a strict vigil.
Spearheading the agitation, Bainsla, who has been camping in Karwadi area in the Bayana block here, said he would not leave his supporters go to Jaipur to hold talks with Raje and demanded that parleys be held here.
"Who would be responsible if something happens to them (supporters) while I am gone? The talks, whatsoever, should happen in here," he said. Raje had yesterday invited Bainsla, leader of Gurjar Arakshan Sanyukt Sangarsh Samiti, for parleys in Jaipur.
The four, who died this morning, were injured when police opened fire on Saturday in Dausa district, a senior Rajasthan Home Ministry official said in the state capital. So far 19 people have been killed in the Dausa firing while 16 people have died in the police firing in Bharatpur district on Friday
Sitting with his community members in a field here, Bainsla said "I have no communication from the State Government after I received the letter for talks...There is no source of information except the media".
Bainsla, who has given the 'rail roko' call ahead of the anniversary of the Gujjar agitation between May 9 and June 4 last year in which 26 people were killed, reiterated his demand for inclusion of the community in the ST category.
Hundreds of his supporters, who vowed to continue their agitation, sat along the tracks of Delhi-Mumbai rail line passing through this area as 12 bodies of those killed in the police firing lay in a field flanking the line.
Gujjar protesters said they were working in shifts to keep their agitation alive and were giving information to the locals here about essentials like food and medicines through a public address system.
Personnel of Rajasthan police and paramilitary RAF maintaining a strict vigil at the Samogar railway station, about 1.5 kms from here. Locals said they had seen a helicopter making two sorties over the area.
A bus was damaged in Ajmer by the protesters who gave a call for a bandh. Police personnel patrolled the city as shops and business establishments remained closed today being a Sunday.
A truck was set on fire in Kothputli where also a bandh was observed. Protesters prevented plying of vehicles in towns of Bansur, Paota and Shahpura, adjoining Kothputli in Jaipur division.
Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria said that about 1500 personnel of the army along with contingents from paramilitary CRPF and RAF have been deployed in the four districts which have a sizeable Gujjar population.
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