What’s happening in these three states where the Rajput community thrives in large numbers?
Gujarat BJP president CR Patil and the state’s home minister Harsh Sanghvi, among other senior leaders, have had multiple meetings with Kshatriya community leaders, but to no avail.
The party has not taken one single step for the Kshatriya community.
The party has repeated Sanjeev Balyan (a Jat) from Muzaffarnagar, who is known for his casteist actions and has been fiercely opposed by the Rajput community.
No action and only talks, we will not accept this,” said Bhupendra Tomar, another Rajput community leader.
From Parshottam Rupala to Mihir Bhoj to dwindling Kshatriya tickets to myriad other reasons, the anger in the largely warrior community doesn’t seem to die down in states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The last few weeks witnessed regular protests from the community against the BJP in these states.
The BJP quickly shifted into damage control mode, deploying its top guns to pacify the community. Rupala apologised, repeating it on Saturday, a day after the second phase of voting concluded. “It was my mistake,” Rupala said at Jasdan in Gujarat, adding as a reminder: “I have made a public apology.”
Rajputs, a core vote bank of the BJP, are reported to have kept away from the polling booths this time. What’s happening in these three states where the Rajput community thrives in large numbers?
The Rajasthan story
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The 12 Rajasthan seats that went to polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections saw a lower voter turnout as compared to 2019. While turnout fell across the 102 constituencies that voted on April 19, some now suggest that the Rajput/Kshatriya anger against the BJP was a factor.
The Rupala controversy, however, is allegedly being used by former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and sand mining baron Meghraj Singh to further their agendas. The Enforcement Directorate recently raided Singh and seized his assets. Singh, who funded Rajput groups in the last Vidhan Sabha polls, is allegedly colluding with Raje this time to dent the BJP’s Rajput vote bank, by amplifying the Rupala controversy through the Rajput Karni Sena.
The group’s president, Mahipal Singh Makrana, has organised press conferences in various constituencies. Interestingly, the Karni Sena has organised press meets in the seats where either former chief minister Ashok Gehlot wants a Congress candidate to win or Raje reportedly wants a BJP candidate to lose.
The BJP favouring Jats has also affected the party's relationship with Rajputs. Rajasthan Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar’s comment that the BJP is losing the Nagaur Lok Sabha seat because Rajputs haven’t voted for the party has gone viral. Rajputs account for an estimated eight to nine per cent of the state’s population--though the community claims it’s 10 per cent--and impact most Lok Sabha seats.
Even Ashok Gehlot has tried to use this Rajput anger to his advantage by approaching the various groups and discussing the Rupala controversy. If the BJP loses seats in Rajasthan, it will be attributed to the group’s non-participation.
What’s happening in Gujarat
With less than a fortnight to go for polling day, the Kshatriya community’s protests continue across the state. The key concern is that the protests have now taken a life of its own, having trickled down to the village level.
Thousands of protesters are mobilising crowds in their vicinity and barging in on BJP’s public rallies and road shows. From Kutch to Valsad, incidents of protesters disrupting meetings by shouting anti-BJP and anti-Rupala slogans have been reported daily. Earlier this week, the Naari Asmita Dharmarath-- a cavalcade of cars passing through 200 villages with banners, posters and public address systems-- was organised from Rajkot to highlight the BJP’s inaction against Rupala.
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Women sitting on a relay fast in Jamnagar claimed that since the last day of withdrawing nomination has passed and that Rupala continues to be the BJP’s candidate, they have expanded their opposition from Rupala to the BJP, adding that they will vote for the Congress and influence others in their village to vote against BJP.
Mitigation strategies
In Rajasthan, the BJP has fielded leaders like Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Chandrabhan Singh Aakya, Randhir Singh Bhindar, and Rajendra Rathore in an attempt to counter this exodus of voters. Even Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath went to places like Chittorgarh and Dausa to placate the community.
Gujarat BJP president CR Patil and the state’s home minister Harsh Sanghvi, among other senior leaders, have had multiple meetings with Kshatriya community leaders, but to no avail. After the last meeting with Patil in Navsari, where 108 community members gathered, they reiterated their problem is with Rajkot candidate Parshottam Rupala, and not with BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While one representative issued a statement in support of the BJP and Patil, the Navsari candidate, this is a minority opinion. Other candidates continue to worry about how the community’s votes and the one it influences will impact their seats.
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In an exclusive interview with India Today's News Director Rahul Kanwal during a road show in Gandhinagar on April 18, Home Minister Amit Shah addressed the issue and said: “Rupala ji has apologised sincerely. We are having discussions with him. I am confident there will be an amicable solution before the elections. We will win all seats.”
That confidence doesn’t seem to be as strong on the ground. Sources said Shah met Kshatriya leaders even as BJP heavyweights, including Rajnath Singh and Yogi Adityanath, were sent to pacify the community in western UP.
Voice of dissent gets louder in western UP
In Western UP, despite fielding party heavyweight Kshatriya leaders like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Yogi Adityanath, Noida MLA Pankaj Singh and others, the BJP still faces dissent from Kshatriyas. Ahead of the April 26 polls, in a last-ditch effort to pacify the group, the party sent Rajnath Singh to the Bisahada village of Greater Noida. But only assurances and no action have rendered them ineffective.
Bisahada is the gateway of Satha Chaurasi (60 and 84 villages of Sisodia and Tomar Rajputs respectively) and the area is known as the army factory of north India with the largest number of youth being enrolled in the defence forces. Despite Singh's appeal to make Narendra Modi PM again, the villagers were unconvinced.
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Thakur Puran Singh, the founder of the Kisan Majdur Sangathan, who is spearheading the Kshatriya rebellion against the party in western Uttar Pradesh, said all BJP leaders are trying to convince the community to vote for a larger goal without actually doing anything on the ground.
"We have had enough talks. The party has not taken one single step for the Kshatriya community. Firstly, they did not remove their minister Parsottam Rupala who made derogatory remarks against Rajput women. Secondly, the party has brought down the community's representation to a historic low and also replaced General (retd) VK Singh (a Kshatriya) with AK Garg (a Baniya) in community-dominant Ghaziabad. They had refused relaxation in EWS quota where Rajputs are getting least representation and Agnipath scheme has led to uncertain future of Rajput youth who predominantly choose to go in the army," Singh said.
“We had a representation of 18-19 MPs from Uttar Pradesh, now the party has shrunk it to eight. With over 10 per cent representation across UP and especially in western UP, we are the single largest community after Muslims and Dalits. Despite this, we have been given just one ticket, while other communities with far lesser vote share have been given much more representation in parliamentary and assembly elections,” said Singh.
“Without doing anything on the ground, how can the party expect us to vote for them? We have been a traditional BJP voter, but not anymore. The great Kshatriya king Mihir Bhoj was attributed as Gujjar by BJP leaders, parliamentarians and legislators. Noida MP Mahesh Sharma took a biased stance when the Rajputs protested against history distortion. He is the one who made the Gujjar Gallery in Greater Noida attributing Samrat Mihir Bhoj and his generations to the Gujjar community and even went on to visit the gallery when the entire community was flared up. How can we vote for such a person? Does the party think we are their slaves?” said Kuldeep Singh Sisodia, a resident of the Khatan Dhirkheda village of Satha Chaurasi.
Major (retd.) Himanshu Som, another Kshatriya community leader from Meerut who is holding maha panchayats across western UP against BJP, said, “In a bid to appease other communities, especially Gujjars and Jats, the party is distorting our history. It’s an organised effort to finish Kshatriyas from the politics. Lesser representation in Lok Sabha elections is a part of it. Agnipath scheme snatches the most loved job of the Kshatriyas, becoming a soldier. Derogatory remarks against the community have been made not only by the party heavyweight, but also by its IT cell on social media. The list is long. Rajputs are not going to vote for the BJP,” said Som.
The feeling is widespread across the community. “Apart from Mahesh Sharma, Kairana MP Pradeep Choudhary (Gujjar), who has been given the ticket again by the party, is also very biased in the distortion of the history of Mihir Bhoj. He facilitated the inauguration of statues with the prefix Gujjar. The party has repeated Sanjeev Balyan (a Jat) from Muzaffarnagar, who is known for his casteist actions and has been fiercely opposed by the Rajput community. No action and only talks, we will not accept this,” said Bhupendra Tomar, another Rajput community leader.
Published By: Sudeep Lavania Published On: Apr 27, 2024
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