Kirori Singh Bainsla

Kirori Singh Bainsla is a retired colonel of the Indian Army and the current leader of an Indian caste protest movement that has been working to get Scheduled Tribe status for the Gujjar community in Rajasthan, India. Protest marches organized by the movement have at times led to violent clashes with the civil authorities, and been accompanied by extensive property damage. In 2007, Bainsla led a protest in which 27 people were killed in clashes with police,cite news|url=http://www.aol.in/news/story/2008060403339012000009/index.html|title=The making of Col. (Retd) Kirori Singh Bainsla|date=June 04, 2008|work=Indo Asian News Service|publisher=www.aol.in|accessdate=2008-06-13] and as of May 2008, a total of 43 people had died in such clashes, most of them protesters.cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053101997.html|title=Indian Protesters Let Dead Decay|last=Lakhmi|first=Rama|date=2008-05-31|publisher=www.washingtonpost.com|language=English|accessdate=2008-06-09] Bainsla has blamed police for the violence.

Bainsla is leader of Gujjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti which has led the wave of protests across Rajasthancite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Raje_govt_Gujjar_leaders_agree_to_hold_talks/rssarticleshow/3111534.cms|title=Raje govt, Gujjar leaders agree to hold talks|date=8 Jun 2008|publisher=timesofindia.indiatimes.com|language=English|accessdate=2008-06-09] including one major protest that blockaded Delhi for a day.cite web|url=http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/May292008/national2008052970594.asp?section=updatenews|title=Gujjar protesters blockade Delhi|date=20080529|publisher=www.deccanherald.com|language=English|accessdate=2008-06-09] The Rajasthan High Court issued a notice of contempt against Bainsla for allegedly violating a previous order to keep the protests within lawful bounds.cite web|url=http://www.theindiapost.com/?p=2021|title= Raj HC issues contempt notice to Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla|date=May 27th, 2008 |publisher=www.theindiapost.com|language=English|accessdate=2008-06-09] . After 25 days of protest and 5 days of negotiations Bainsla's meetings with envoys of Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje proved fruitful to award the Gujjar community status of "special reserved category".cite news|url=http://www.ibnlive.com/news/final-round-gurjar-leader-bainsla-to-meet-raje-today/67275-3.html?xml|title=Final round: Gurjar leader Bainsla to meet Raje today|date=Tue, Jun 17, 2008 |work=www.ibnlive.com|publisher=www.ibnlive.com|accessdate=2008-06-17]

Personal life

Kirori Singh Bainsla joined the Army as a sepoy just like his father who served in army of British India. He was married at the age of 14. His wife helped him during the initial years to get ST status for Gujjars. She died in 1996. Bainsla began his career as a teacher in a government school but, like many Gujjars, joined the army at the lowest rank of sepoy. He fought in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and was taken a prisoner of war in the latter. His seniors in the Army named him the Rock of Gibraltar, and he soon rose to the rank of Colonel. It has been speculated that his military background might have enabled him to organize the Gujjar protest with such precision and large scale. Bainsla has a daughter who works with the Income Tax department in Goa, two sons in the Army and one son in a private mobile firm. But despite his children being well-settled in cities, he says he lives in Hindaun, a tehsil in Karauli district of Rajasthan.cite web|url=http://www.tehelka.com/story_main31.asp?filename=Ne160607Subaltern_general_CS.asp|title=SUBALTERN GENERAL|date=Jun 16 , 2007|publisher=www.tehelka.com|language=English|accessdate=2008-06-09]
One of his famous quote is

"Only a bullet or a letter (granting the demands) can remove me from here".
He wears the trademark red turban, white clothes and has a lathi in hand.cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Wont_budge_an_inch_Gujjar_leader_Bainsla/articleshow/3069543.cms|title=Won't budge an inch: Bainsla|date=25 May 2008|publisher=timesofindia.indiatimes.com|language=English|accessdate=2008-06-09] He is known to be a heavy smoker. One of the reason he says he is engaged in this cause is because his children are well settled, and so now he can think of his "greater family."

Demand for scheduled tribe status

Quote box
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quote ="Most of our people are illiterate and living in abject poverty. We want better opportunities. For 12 years, I moved from pillar to post crying hoarse with the demands, but the government never listened. So we had to resort to direct action. As a backward class, we have to compete with 123 caste groups for 27 percent of government jobs. Our turn never comes. But as a tribe, we would fight only 15 other groups for about 7 percent of jobs. So it is more beneficial to be called a tribe, even if it is lower in status."| source =Kirori Singh in an interview with the Washington Post explained why he demaned scheduled tribe status."

In Rajasthan, Gujjar are officially part of many communities that come under Other backward castes(OBC) category. However, Gujjars have failed to make much progress as they compete with many other well educated communities in the OBC category. Bainsla wants to rectify this apparent disadvantage by registering Gujjars as ST (Scheduled Tribe) - a technically lower status, but one that entitles a community to more government assistance. During the initial days he was marked as "mad man" by his own community for raising such a demand.

In 2007, he withdrew the demand for ST status for Gujjars after talks with the Rajasthan Government. However, some sections of the community felt betrayed and accused him of being an agent of the government. In 2008, he renewed the call for ST status, and a new wave of Gujjar protests have since captured the attention of the whole country and put Rajasthan on standstill.cite news|url=http://in.news.yahoo.com/hindustantimes/20080530/r_t_ht_nl_features/tnl-a-politically-wiser-bainsala-6b6720b.html|title=A politically wiser Bainsala|date=2008-05-30|publisher=in.news.yahoo.com|accessdate=2008-06-13] Some media outlets have accused other Gujjar leaders of hypocrisy for their alleged lavish lifestyles, but Bainsla has largely avoided these accusations.cite news|url=http://in.news.yahoo.com/indianexpress/20080613/r_t_ie_nl_politics/tnl-lavish-in-protest-0058794.html|title=Lavish in protest|date=2008-06-13|work=indianexpress|publisher=in.news.yahoo.com|accessdate=2008-06-13]

References