While the leader of the Gurjjar agitation, Kirori Singh Bainsla, today agreed to talk to the Rajasthan government, the Centre turned down Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s suggestion that the Union government should bring in a Constitutional amendment to make provisions for reservation to Gurjjars by treating them as a special category of de-notified tribes.

Addressing a Mahapanchayat of the Gurjjar Samaj from Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and even Dubai, Bainsla said: “Talks will be held only in Bayana at a date suitable, agreed upon with the Rajasthan government.”

In a letter sent to Raje today, Union Tribal Affairs minister P.R. Kyndiah said that as per the legal advice available with the government, the Constitution—as interpreted by the Supreme Court—enables the States to make provisions for reservation to nomadic and denotified tribes other than the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs, if the situation demands.

“Since Constitutional provisions already exist which empower the States to make special provisions for categories other than SCs, STs and OBCs, no amendment to the Constitution for this purpose is necessary or feasible, as any such move will, inter alia, upset the delicate Constitutional balance well settled by a catena of Supreme Court decisions on the subject of reservations,” the Centre said.

“Now, it entirely depends on the Rajasthan government to fall upon the Constitutional devices which the Supreme Court has clearly observed in its decisions,” Kyndiah told The Indian Express.

To argue its case, the Centre is referring to a Maharashtra Act that provides reservation in public services and posts for persons belonging Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes and Special Backward Category in addition to SCs, STs and OBCs.

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