Click to play videoNew Delhi: Kirori Singh Bainsla,a retired colonel of the Indian Army has been leading his Gurjar troops on the ground from Pipal Khera village, which is the command and control centre of the community's agitation.
His demand - a Scheduled Tribe status for the Gurjars. It's an agitation that Bainsla and his Gurjar Sangharsh Samiti has been running for the last eight years, away from the current glare of the national media.
"Our main demand is that we be included in the Scheduled Tribe list," says he.
Moving from village to village in the area with a band of trusted lieutenants, Bainsla has been trying to convince fellow Gurjars of the need to agitate for Scheduled Tribe status.
"It's unfortunate that the government starts thinking only when people start," says Bainsla's associate Roop Singh.
All his associates say that Bainsla plans his strategies with military precision, which is no surprise, since he comes from a family of Army men, including his father and uncles.
A post graduate in English, Bainsla joined the Army at the lowest rank - a Sepoy - after teaching in a government school for some time. He saw action in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars and was even taken prisoner in the 1965 war.
Bainsla's rise to the rank of colonel is attested by the name he was given by his superior officers - the Rock of Gibraltar. He was called thus as a testament to his discipline and rigidity, traits that have now yielded some tentative results in the face off between the Gurjars and the Rajasthan government.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
