New Delhi: The controversy around Union minister Parshottam Rupala’s remarks on the Rajput community’s relationship with the British refuses to die down with the latest meeting between community leaders and the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday (April 3) ending without a resolution.
Rupala, who has been named as the BJP candidate from Gujarat’s Rajkot, had praised the Dalit community for not bowing down to the British when even “kings and royals” had started breaking bread with the British and married into their families.
The BJP leader had made the remark while campaigning in Rajkot on March 22. Since then representatives of various Rajput outfits have demanded the withdrawal of his candidature from Rajkot.
Protests emerged across Saurashtra, where more than 100 large and small princely states existed at the time of independence. Members of the Rajput community, who are the decedents of these princely families, met with BJP representatives in Ahmedabad on April 3 to amicably resolve the situation.
However, the community has stuck to its demand of Rupala’s removal.
“They are firm in their demand for removal of Parshottam Rupala as a candidate,” former BJP Minister and Rajput leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama told the Hindu after the meeting on Wednesday.
“We will not budge from our position,” a leader from Saurashtra told the paper.
Meanwhile Rupala has apologised twice for his remarks and Gujarat BJP chief C.R. Paatil also apologised on Tuesday, urging the Kshatriya community to forgive Mr. Rupala, the Hindu reported.
Former Gujarat BJP president and prominent Rajput leader Rajendrasinh Rana also broke his silence over Rupala’s remark on Tuesday and said how could he ever think of uttering such words about Rajputs, who have fought and sacrificed against Mughals and others in the past.
Gujarat BJP has so far ruled out replacing Rupala as a candidate even though it has replaced two candidates in Sabarkantha and Vadodara due to internal protests by the cadres, the Hindu report said.
