The Gurjar community people are all set to launch a massive awareness yatra named as International Gurjar Gaurav Yatra from Dwarhaat Gujjar temple in Almora from October 31. The community members would take the message of peace and brotherhood across many States of India. Besides, they would travel till Ghazni in Afghanistan while traversing through Pakistan. To be led by a senior ex-Army officer who served the Indian army for over three decades, the yatra would focus on fostering brotherhood among the people of the three countries who were once parts of undivided Bharat. The retired Colonel Dev Anand Gurjar claims that Gurjars alone can settle the long-pending issues which keep on festering the relation of the neighbouring countries of India and strive for international peace. “This is because the community has Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs aside from others as its members.
Ours is an inclusive community. Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs all pay obeisance to the deity in our temples. We do not discriminate on the basis of religion. We are one despite the differences in the religions we profess,” said a community member.
The community members further said that the history of the community should be re-written through correction of the wrong facts clinging to its origin and identity because of the apathy of the Government. They demanded a special status for them in Uttarakhand on the lines of what the community members enjoy in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
They further pitched for the constitution of Gurjar Vikas Ayog at the national level to take care of the collective interest of the community.
Shamsher Badhana Gujar, a Muslim, said while talking to The Pioneer on Monday that a visit to the Dev Narayan temple at Samra in Rajasthan would make things clear. “There one finds that both Hindus and Muslims perform religious rituals and offer prayers with no difference separating them,” he said.
Referring to the Kairana clash in Western Uttar Pradesh, he said that the brothers of the same community had fought there and the tension could have been resolved easily. “Unfortunately, the matter was politicised, something which should not have happened,” he said.
Dwelling on the confusion lingering over the spelling of the community, the national president and the convenor of Akhand Bharat Gujar Mahasabha, Colonel Dev Anand Gurjar said, “Gurjar, Gujjar and Gujar connote the same community. They have been kept under suppression for a long time as a result of which the history, heritage and legacy of the community have blurred and the community is being spelt differently,” he said.
He further said that while the community members living in the hills use Gurjar as the surname those in the plains use Gujjar as the same. “Irrespective of the differences in surname, they are the descendents of the same community–the semi-nomadic people who came from the Hindukush Parvat range,” he added.
He further said that the 12 crore-strong community members spread across the country feel that their role in the freedom struggle and even post- Independence has not been appropriately highlighted. “This is because they are being left on the fringe, tagged as ‘Nomads’. Very few know that the first informer who informed the Indian Army about Pakistani occupation of the Indian lands prior to the Kargil War was also a Bakarwal Gujjar.
They are considered eyes and ears of the Indian Army. During the Mutiny 1857 or the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the Gujjars’ contribution was immense. But they continue to be tagged as ‘criminal tribe’. Very few know that the tribe was decriminalised thanks to the efforts of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Our status was lost following the death of Sardar Patel,” he said.
Significantly, the awareness yatra is starting on October 31- the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel. The yatra would revive the patriotic sentiments in the community, particularly among the youngsters, said the organisers.