The scars of the Gurjjar reservation violence will heal slowly but Rajasthan is now a state that is deeply divided along caste lines. It did not begin with the Meenas and Gurjjars. In fact, it started almost one and half years ago when the Jats and Rajputs clashed for the first time in Deedwana in Nagaur district in June 2006.

This was followed by at least seven instances when people of various castes staged protests or agitations over one issue or the other but ended up clashing violently with a rival caste. Political observers and sociologists say it is the state government’s strategy of propping up a rival caste to counter the protests or agitations of one group that has led to the state’s bruised social fabric.

In Deedwana, Jats and Rajputs confronted each other after the murder of two prominent Jat leaders in June 2006. When the police failed to arrest the accused — the Jat community claimed they were Rajputs — the Jat Mahasabha warned the state government that it would lay siege in Deedwana. Instead of taking any concrete measures, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje sent emissaries, PWD minister Rajendra Singh Rathore and Water Resources Minister Sanwarlal Jat, to talk to the respective communities. They also held meetings with the Rajput Sabha and Jat Mahasabha where the Rajput community warned the ministers against taking any hasty steps while the Jat leaders warned that they would march to Jaipur with lathis if the accused are not caught. With the killers still at large, there is a fragile peace between the two communities.

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