Chennai: Pyara Ram, a 24-year-old Gujjar youth, was detained on Wednesday for issuing a threat to kill Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Ram is said to have decried Raje's handling of the present agitation of the Gujjar community for a Scheduled Tribe status, and claimed that he was arranging to liquidate the Rajasthan chief minister, according to police sources.

The suspect was picked up from a jewellery shop in Tiruvallur, on the northern outskirts of the city. He was detained following a tip-off from Jaipur and will be handed over to the Rajasthan police.

The week-long agitation of Gujjars in several parts of northern India has left over 40 dead and disrupted road and rail traffic in several places.

The Gujjars are pressing for a Scheduled Tribe status that will entitle the community to more government benefits in employment and education.

In Rajasthan, the Gujjars are classified as other backward classes (OBCs), but they want Scheduled Tribe status like the rival Meena community and a share of the quota pie.

Ironically, the OBCs get 27 per cent reservation and the STs 7.5 per cent, but the perception is that the community will get a larger share of the quota pie with ST status.

The community held similar protests all over Rajasthan from May 29 to June 4 last year. Normal life was paralysed and at least 26 people were killed in the violence that seemed headed towards a caste war between Meenas and Gujjars last year.

Source : IANS