Seeing the Jail Bharo Andolan turn into a damp squib, the Gurjar leaders suspended it on Wednesday. The suspension came as a response to the state government’s appeal to find a peaceful solution to the reservation problem.

The Gurjar core committee leader Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla in a press release issued from Ajmer Central jail on Wednesday afternoon, asked his community to suspend the Jail Bharo Andolan that was launched on October 2 throughout the state. The Gurjar leader also said the proposed Jail Bharo Andolan of Gurjar women from October 11 will be suspended too.

Colonel Bainsla said the core committee decided to suspend the Jail Bharo Andolan following the state government’s appeal to create a conducive atmosphere for talks and in the larger interest of the public. Thanking his people who courted arrest at different places in Rajasthan, he requested them to return to their homes. He said the talks with the state government would yield favourable results.

Over 58,000 Gurjars had courted arrests throughout the state since October 2 but it fell flat when a large number of protestors moved out of the make-shift jails due to uncomfortable living conditions.  The community also protested at a number of places in the state, blocking roads and disrupting rail traffic to raise voice against the ill treatment meted out to the leaders in jails. The rail and road jams were cleared after Colonel Bainsla personally made an appeal.

After resuming talks with Gurjar leaders, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje appealed to the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of chief ministers from various states on the reservation issue.