Jaipur: Not many politicians in Rajasthan have a career in electoral politics that could remotely match that of Kirodi Lal Meena – one of the BJP’s tallest tribal leaders in the desert state.
Meena has the distinction of being a six-time MLA and a three-term MP from different constituencies of three districts in eastern Rajasthan – Dausa, Sawai Madhopur and Karauli – winning on a BJP ticket, as an independent and even as a candidate of the National People’s Party (NPP), which he once led in Rajasthan and helped it win four assembly seats in the largely bipolar state, where there is little space for a third force.
The 72-year-old Meena, who was minister for agriculture, horticulture and rural development in the Bhajanlal Sharma-led BJP government in Rajasthan, confirmed on Thursday (July 4) that he had resigned from the state cabinet.
“I have been working in ten to 12 districts, from where I was also once an independent MP, and I have strong influence. But I couldn’t make my party win even in those regions and this has soured my mind. I had announced before that if I was not able to help the party win the Lok Sabha seats, especially those of Sawai Madhopur, Karauli and Dausa, I would resign from the ministerial post,” Meena, who is an MLA from the Sawai Madhopur constituency, had told reporters on Thursday.
In the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had performed poorly in eastern Rajasthan, losing the Bharatpur, Dausa, Karauli-Dholpur and Tonk-Sawai Madhopur seats.
He said he had resigned on May 5 and had met chief minister Sharma, who asked him not to resign.
“I am neither angry with the honourable chief minister nor the organisation. I don’t have any desire for any post. I resigned because I had already made the announcement and am just keeping my word,” said Meena.
Later on Friday (July 5), Meena met BJP president J.P. Nadda after the latter called him to Delhi. Meena told reporters he was asked to meet Nadda again after ten days.
While Meena maintained in the public that he held no grudges against his party leaders, for those who have followed the trajectory of the septuagenarian’s politics, the move doesn’t come as a surprise.
One of the most active leaders of the saffron party in the state who is known as a ‘street fighter’ for his knack of spearheading protests and dharnas, Meena was among the last leaders of the Rajasthan BJP with a spunk of his own to attract voters and a large support base that transcended regions.
Prior to his resignation, Meena was an oddity in the Rajasthan cabinet, where barring a handful, most members are first-time ministers, with none of them nearly as influential as him.
A leader as big as Meena stepping back doesn’t come as a surprise, as several other bigwigs of the Rajasthan BJP have met a similar fate in recent times, when the saffron party in the era of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah has systematically replaced leaders having a mass following with relatively unknown faces in several states.
Voice of opposition during Congress regime even without official post
In Rajasthan, which has a tribal population of 13.48%, Meena has been an asset to the BJP with his massive following among the community. The Meena community is the most dominant castes among scheduled tribes in Rajasthan and holds sway over multiple assembly and Lok Sabha seats.
One of the reasons why Meena is important for the BJP is that he is a staunch believer in the Hindutva ideology of the RSS and has always opposed the alternate view that tribals don’t come under the Hindu fold.
At a time when the Bharat Adivasi Party has emerged as a formidable force in southern Rajasthan, with the party’s leaders reiterating multiple times that Adivasis are not Hindu, Meena has been propagating exactly the opposite idea.
Also read | Bharat Adivasi Party: Battling BJP’s Hindutva, One Election at a Time
Known as ‘Baba’ among his followers, during the last five years of Congress rule in the state, Meena had emerged as the most vocal opposition leader, despite the fact that he didn’t hold any post in the BJP organisation and was a Rajya Sabha MP at the time.
His continuous protests and dharnas against issues such as question paper leaks and compensation for the families of soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack contributed in building a narrative against Congress.
However, after the BJP came to power, Meena ended up drifting away from the limelight. Even though he was made a cabinet minister, the fact that he was given the rural development portfolio while the panchayati raj department was entrusted with another minister, Madan Dilawar, had raised eyebrows.
Generally, the panchayati raj and rural development portfolios are held by one minister due to the related nature of the two departments.
Even though he is known for his outspoken nature, Meena refrained from speaking his mind in the press and would often be seen putting a finger on his lips and smiling in response to media questions.
Raje to Meena, shrinking space for mass leaders in Modi-Shah era
Two-time Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Meena are not known to see eye-to-eye. After serving as a minister in the first term of the Raje government between 2003 and 2008, Meena had left the BJP due to his growing differences with the then-chief minister.
Later, he contested and won elections, including the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Dausa as an independent candidate. He also brought the little-known NPP founded by P.A. Sangma to Rajasthan, and owing to the groundswell of support for him, managed to make it win four seats in the state assembly.
Later in 2018, he was brought back to the BJP prior to the state elections, which the saffron party had lost to the Congress.
More than five years later, despite wielding immense influence over the state’s politics, both Meena and Raje are no longer in the forefront of the Rajasthan BJP in the Modi-Shah era.
The BJP central leadership didn’t consider Raje for the post of the chief minister and instead gave the post to first-time MLA Bhajanlal Sharma.
Many senior leaders who had previously served as ministers in past Raje governments were also replaced with fresh faces.
With Meena’s exit from the cabinet, the transition of the BJP in Rajasthan towards becoming a unit devoid of any mass leaders who could possibly present a contrarian opinion compared to that of the central leadership, is complete.
