Blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Rajasthan government for the Gujjar flare-up, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan has said that he would take up the community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status to the doorsteps of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Assuring his 'unstinted' support to the Gujjar cause, he accused the Vasundhare Raje government of going back on its promise, made during the 2003 Assembly elections, to enlist the community in the Scheduled Tribe list.
"We are supporting the Gujjars. The LJP will also demand ST status for them," Paswan, the Union Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers, said.
Putting the blame on the state government for the renewed Gujjar agitation, which has turned violent like last year, Paswan said the Raje dispensation was responsible for the current scenario.
"The Raje government had made a pre-poll promise to the community that they will be listed in the ST category. The promise has not been kept yet. The government should stick to its promise," he said.
"Instead of sticking to its promise, the government is using violent means to tackle the protest. How can the entire community be termed criminal? Such ways will not help solve things, this will in fact provoke them," he alleged.
Paswan said his party would sent a delegation to violence-hit localities in Rajasthan to get a first-hand experience of what is going on there.
His comments came in the backdrop of the ongoing agitation in Rajasthan, where his party is looking forward to expand its base in the upcoming Assembly elections.
