New Delhi: Ever since Union minister Parshottam Rupala made a statement on Rajputs, the bonhomie between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rajput community seems to have taken a southward turn.
In his statement, Rupala underlined that despite facing severe persecution, the Rukhi Samaj (a Dalit community) remained steadfast in their convictions, neither converting nor forming alliances with the British colonisers, unlike some kings and royals who compromised by forming family ties, sharing meals, and even arranging marital alliances.
Moreover, three recent incidents in South and East Rajasthan, occurring between September and October, have ignited widespread outrage across the state, catching the Narendra Modi government off guard due to unexpected backlash and disillusionment among Rajputs.
The first sign came from the quiet town of Pali in September, 2023.
Around 15,000 Rajputs rallied to protest against the district administration’s alleged illegal demolition of a farm wall belonging to a farmer from the Rajput community.
A video screengrab of the Rajput’s protest.
A tussle between a native Rajput and another native from the Seervi community resulted in this big flare up. The Rajput community alleged that under the instruction of former minister P.P. Chaudhary, the district administration acted against the Rajput farmer in Padampura, Pali and sent a bulldozer to raze his farm boundary. This was done despite a High court directive against the use of bulldozers for penal actions.
This incident united Rajputs across the state. They burnt effigies of Chaudhary and put pressure on the district administration.
“This is gross injustice against our people, use of bulldozers against us is a big blow to the Rajput prestige and hence 15,000 people [reacted] to our call. Rajputs will not suffer indignation any longer. We have moved to the courts to grant us justice,” said Yogendra Singh Padampura, who is from the affected family.
At the time of the Lok Sabha elections too massive protests erupted in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and soon the fire spread to Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Rajputs/Thakurs were in open rebellion resulting in electoral losses for the BJP.
The strained relationship with Adityanath, a prominent Thakur leader in Uttar Pradesh, combined with the re-categorisation of Rajput heroes as belonging to other castes, exacerbated the issue. The alleged discriminatory treatment of Rajput leaders by the Brahmin-Baniya lobby within the BJP proved to be the final straw.
Rupala apologised after realising his mistake and one thought that the community’s hostility towards Modi had subsided but that was not the case. The sparks have started to kindle fires on the western front.
When the new BJP government was sworn in Rajasthan, it appeared that it started evolving a scheme to further sideline Rajputs in the state, perhaps to teach them a hard lesson. It started with the killing of the Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi in broad daylight at his home.
Politically speaking, the relegation of senior Rajput leaders within the BJP like former leader of opposition Rajendra Singh Rathore and the alleged stoking of tensions between the Jat and Rajputs for political mileage —exacerbated the issue.
Notably, Rajput leader Ravindra Bhatti, for instance, was absorbed by the BJP and then denied a ticket. He eventually fought independently and secured about six lakh votes. Many Rajputs in the Vasundhara Raje government were also shown the door. Interestingly, Raje’s mother was a key figure in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement.
The Modi government also tried to break the old Rajput guard of the BJP in Rajasthan and replace them with political novices like deputy chief minister Diya Kumari.
Modi hoped to weaken the Raje camp and other Rajputs power structures by para-dropping new leaders, but that seems to have backfired in the light of recent events.
Destruction of cenotaph
This brings us to the second major incident which rocked Rajasthan. It was the illegal destruction of the 600-year-old cenotaph of Rao Surajmal Hada, the former ruler of Bundi. This structure was a memorial of a former king, and a pilgrimage site for local communities, who considered him a deity.
The memorial stood on a patch of land which belonged to the deity in the revenue records, yet without giving any notice or inquiry the Kota Development Authority (KDA) under instruction from “Delhi” demolished the structure in 22 hours.
The KDA was quoted as saying “the cenotaph was demolished as it fell on the way of the proposed Kota greenfield airport and on [the] land that was being cleared of constructions for handover to the Airports Authority of India (AAI)”. Clearly, trying to put the blame on the central agency.
Rumours have it that apart from civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla was allegedly involved in the project, and he failed to consult the leaders or even the local BJP MLA from Laadpur Kalpana Devi, who is the descendant of Rao Surajmal, and also titular queen of the Kota principality.
Devi’s silence before and after the demolition reeked of apathy towards her own ancestors, but also towards the rich heritage of the region, according to the leaders of the Rajput communities.
The other reason for her silence possibly is that like the deputy chief minister Kumari, she has no real power to influence decisions coming from Delhi.
Even prominent Hindutva organisations like the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), etc kept mum as this cenotaph was being demolished.
Meanwhile, ground level organisations like Karni Sena built a movement to raise their voices against the injustice, and gave a call for Kar-seva on October 8 for rebuilding the memorial at the same spot.
Notably, the district administration was adamant on allocating another land parcel for the memorial, but it is due to the intervention of Karni Sena and some members of the Bundi royal family that the relocation was stopped and Bhoomi poojan was conducted on October 4 for remaking the structure.
“We want the memorial to be built on the same spot, and in the future when the airport is made, we want it to be named after Rao Surajmal, who was a brave warrior and defender of faith,” said Vanshvardhan Singh, titular head of Bundi.
The demolition has united Rajputs across various regions against the BJP government. In fact, the BJP’s own sitting MP from Rajsamand, Mahima Kumari Mewar wrote a scathing letter to the aviation minister.
“Our families have fought and bled for this land. And we will continue to raise the issues of the people. This demolition has hurt public sentiments, corrective action must be taken quickly, because the prestige of our culture is at stake,” she said.
It is also important to note that Rajputs from Rajasthan have been strong supporters of the non-Congress alliance since the Jana Sangh days. And naturally filled up BJP ranks as ardent and loyal supporters.
The Rajput community – using all the means necessary – built the BJP in Rajasthan from scratch. But with Modi taking control of the party, the Rajputs have been castigated and remained largely ignored.
Although the community comprises only 6% of the state’s population, it exercises significant influence in multiple pockets, even over other communities. Leaders who are spearheading protests against apparent alienation of the community believe that Modi has been very myopic to play with Rajput sentiments for short term gains. An example they cite is the re-categorisation of Poonja, a Rajput general in Rana Pratap’s army as a Bhil. Poonja was used to polarise the Bhils, and transformed the medieval hero as an anti-mughal/ muslim symbol to gain political advantage. But this has backfired.
There were also clashes created between Gujjars and Rajputs in Raje’s Jhalawar region over the identity of Raja Bhoj, which was directly caused when the Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government declared Raja Bhoj as a Gujjar.
Udaipur visit
Now the third controversy occurred when President Droupadi Murmu visited the City Palace in Udaipur, and decided not to acknowledge the main titular head of Mewar, Mahendra Singh Mewar. It seemed the president was favouring one faction over another, in spite of a legal dispute between the two brothers.
“His Excellency (HE) the President choosing to visit this estate, where much has changed during the pendency of court orders, does undermine the dignity of this high office and sends a wrong message to the administration and public. Those in charge of HE’s itinerary have found it fit for HE the President to visit our ancestral home, be photographed viewing assets of historical importance – all this without a word to the head of the family,” said Vishvaraj Singh Mewar, who is son of Mahendra Singh and also incumbent MLA from Nathdwara.
When asked about the larger impact on the community, Singh summed up the problem well, “The general feeling is that the attitude of mainstream political parties towards our community sways between exploitation and neglect. The recourse is an expression of unity & solidarity but not to the exclusion of other communities as keeping society together is something we have done for centuries and is the need of the hour.”
