Faced with opposition from the community which is no longer keen to see him as its sole leader, Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla is trying to take steps to defend himself and regain the confidence of the Gurjjar Aarakshan Samiti. At the Gurjjar Mahapanchayat on Sunday — organised by leaders of the community from Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan — people voiced their resentment against Bainsla’s “soft stand on the issue of reservation”.

Even as Bainsla unveiled the ‘community flag’, leaders from Rajasthan said, “he is sold out to the Vasundhara Raje Government”. Close to one lakh people had gathered at Nagla Gyani village here and a unanimous decision was reached to oppose the move to accept 6 per cent reservation offered by the Raje Government.

The anti-Bainsla faction shouted slogans against him and called him a “traitor”. The crowd was silenced only after Bainsla announced a chakka jam in Jaipur on January 21. As people tried to climb on to the stage and hurled abuses at him, Bainsla said, “Raje Government has betrayed us and we will take our revenge.”

Leaders said delaying the fight for the ST status and politicising the issue will harm the image of the Samiti. Raj Kumar Bhati, leader of the Janmorcha Party from Uttar Pradesh, said, “The fight for reservations has to be taken ahead, with or without Bainsla.” “We were expecting the announcement of a political party on Sunday,” Jaiveer Kasana, a Gurjjar leader from Uttar Pradesh said.

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