Did you know that Gurjjars get their children’s nappies engaged or that they sometimes marry children in the womb? Or that they worship the neem tree, don’t sell milk on special days dedicated to their deity Devnarayan and live up to the phrase “Dantli main myan nahin, gurjjar main gyan nahin” (A sickle has no cover and a Gurjjar has no knowledge).

These quaint rituals and common phrases have become part of crucial documentation by the community to prove their tribal status.

The otherwise reticent Gurjjar is now talking endlessly. Across Rajasthan, they are discussing their degree of backwardness, chiding each other for “behaving like a Gurjjar” and telling the world about their “absurd” habits.

For the last three months, Gurjjars have presented affidavits and made representation to the three-member committee headed by retired Justice Jasraj Chopra. In all of them, they have explained at length how backward they are.

The committee was set up after the May-June violence in the state. The state government has asked the committee to examine the norms laid down for Gujjars in their current status in the OBC category and consider their representation for inclusion in the ST list.

“Earlier the craze was to move forward,” says Justice Chopra. “Now it is the opposite. Everybody wants to become backward and prove that they are primitive.”

Affidavits filed before the committee have sections dedicated to social backwardness in which local phrases are highlighted to prove they are traditionally dullards. The community is underlining polyandry, illogical belief in superstition and the custom of child marriage.

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