Meena (community)
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Contents |
ST status
Background
May 31, 2007: The Economic Times
NEW DELHI: A simple comma changing the entire profile of a community! It may sound unbelievable, but this is what happened in the report of the National SC/ST Commission, set up in 1954, which saw the Meenas, a rich land-owning community mainly inhabiting the western districts of Rajasthan, being conferred the ST status.
The commission wanted to recommend ST status to ‘Bhil Meenas’, a community dotting the south-eastern parts of Rajasthan and adjoining areas in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. However, the printed version of the report, by mistake advocated granting ST status to “Bhil, Meenas”. Thus Meenas were also inducted into the ST list.
And now, having cornered a lion’s share of the government jobs reserved for the tribals, they are, not surprisingly, up in arms against the proposal to facilitate the migration of Gurjars from the list of OBCs to STs in the state.
The ‘Meena ki high court’
As in 2019
Ashish Mehta, May 4, 2019: The Times of India
Who’ll get Meena votes in Dausa? ‘High court’ will pass orders soon
Nangal Pyariwas (Dausa):
With polls in the Dausa Lok Sabha constituency in Rajasthan a few days away, there is suspense in the air: who will the Meenas vote for? The answer may lie in the decision of ‘Meena ki high court’ that the Meenas, a voter population of about 4.5 lakh around Dausa, will abide by.
While a gathering of the Meenas has been calling the shots for the past three decades in this ST seat, it was only recently that the community started calling their meeting place ‘Meena ki high court’, or the ‘high court of the Meenas’. The gathering meets routinely and decides on cases ranging from land disputes to illicit relationships. In 2018, a gate was built at the entrance of the building and a photo of Meena leader Kirori Lal, a BJP Rajya Sabha member, was hung.
While that could indicate that the ‘court’ would back the BJP, Lal is an upset man. The BJP did not field his wife Golma Devi from Dausa and instead chose a career politician Jas Kaur Meena, once a junior minister in the Vajpayee cabinet. The Congress has fielded Savita Meena, wife of incumbent MLA Murari Lal Meena. For the Congress, it is a prestige seat, a stronghold of the Pilot family from 1984 to 2009, when Dausa was made a reserved constituency. But Gujjars, another dominant community, are unhappy with the party for “not making community member Sachin Pilot the CM”.
The Meenas believe their ‘high court’ will not split the votes between the two women – Savita and Jas Kaur. Says Dausa local Satish Meena, “Even in 2007 when Gujjar and Meena communities were at loggerheads, it was the court that asked Kirori Lal Meena to resign as food and civil supplies minister in the Vasundhara Raje government. Its writ runs large.”
On the ground though, opinion is divided. “Modi brought back our man (wing commander Abhinandan Varthaman) alive from Pakistan,” says Bajrang Singh, a local trader. But even before he explains further, another man interrupts and says, “BJP has failed on every front. Savita (Congress) is a sitting MLA’s wife. If elected, we will get a double dose of development.”
