Tag: rajputs

Rajasthan polls: Manvendra Singh’s entry gives Congress the edge over BJP among Rajputs

The MLA has considerable influence in Marwar, which sends 30 legislators to the Assembly.

 

Banking on anti-incumbency sentiment against the Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Rajasthan to help it put up a winning performance in the December 7 state election, the Congress received a shot in the arm with former BJP leader Manvendra Singhjoining its ranks on October 17. Congress leaders and political pundits say the Rajput leader’s entry gives the Congress a clear edge over the BJP in the Marwar region, which sends 30 legislators to the state’s 200-strong Assembly.

Manvendra Singh, the MLA from Sheo, is the son of former Union minister and senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh. He quit the BJP in September, saying that his decision to join the party had been a mistake. With his departure, the BJP no longer has a Rajput leader with a high evel of popularity in the state. Rajputs account for around 7% of the state’s population.

In previous elections, influential Rajput leaders such as Jaswant Singh and the late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had boosted the BJP’s electoral prospects in Marwar, which comprises the districts of Jodhpur, Barmer, Nagaur, Sirohi, Pali, and Jalore. On average, 15 to 17 Rajput legislators have been voted in to the 200-member state assembly during each election, most of them coming from the BJP. Of the 27 Rajputs elected to the House in 2013, for instance, 24 were from the BJP.

However, that support began to crumble after the BJP denied Jaswant Singh a Lok Sabha ticket in the 2014 general elections and decided instead to field Colonel Sonaram Choudhary, a former Congress leader and a Jat. Jaswant Singh chose to contest as an independent candidate. He lost the election by a margin of 80,000 votes. The Rajputs were miffed with the BJP’s treatment of Jaswant Singh. After Jaswant Singh slipped into a coma in August 2014, Manvendra Singh started mobilising votersagainst the BJP.

Why Rajputs are angry with Raje, BJP

Evidence of Manvendra Singh’s popularity was apparent on September 22, when his Swabhiman Rally in Barmer drew lakhs of supporters. In fact, resentment among Rajputs with the ruling BJP is so intense that members of the community threw stones at Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s bus during her Gaurav Yatra in August, forcing her to complete the Marwar leg of her campaign tour in a helicopter.

Other factors have also contributed to Rajput anger against Raje and the BJP. In July 2017, they violently protested against the killing of Rajput gangster Anandpal Singh by the state police. Singh was facing murder charges. His family claimed he had wanted to surrender and that the encounter was fake. Eventually, the Central government gave in to the community’s demand and ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry. The fact that no Rajput BJP legislator came out in support of Anandpal Singh’s family angered the community.

 

 

 

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.

Rajasthan elections: Soured ties with Rajputs key hurdle in Vasundhara Raje’s poll fight

Polling to the 200 Assembly seats is to take place on December 7. Rajputs account for about 12 per cent of the state’s population and wield influence in at least two dozen Assembly seats.

 

As Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje battles what is being perceived as an intense anti-incumbency factor to retain power, soured ties between her and an influential Rajput community seem to be an unresolved obstacle for the ruling BJP.

Relationship between Rajputs, a traditional support base of the BJP since Jana Sangh days, and the Raje-led government has been on a downslide since 2016 and the recent move of Manvendra Singh, MLA and son of former Union Minister and Rajput leader Jaswant Singh, to join the Congress has worsened it, BJP leaders admitted.

Party leaders pointed out a series of events, including the Rajmahal land row, the Padmaavat controversy, the encounter of gangster Anandpal Singh and Raje’s opposition to the BJP central leadership’s choice of Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as state unit chief have left a deep dent on the party’s acceptability within the community. “The damage is irreparable, at least before the polls,” said a BJP leader from Rajasthan.

Polling to the 200 Assembly seats is to take place on December 7. Rajputs account for about 12 per cent of the state’s population and wield influence in at least two dozen Assembly seats. “They have been traditional supporters of the BJP. The contribution of Rajput leader and former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who was a three-term CM, was crucial for the BJP’s electoral successes,” the leader said.

The current government has three cabinet ministers and a junior minister from the Rajput community.

The community’s distancing from the government started when Padmini Devi of the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur took out a public protest against sealing of the main entrance of Rajmahal Palace during an anti-encroachment drive. Padmini Devi is the mother of BJP MLA Diya Kumari, who had joined the party ahead of the last Assembly polls. Many in the Rajput community did not appreciate the way government officials locked the entrance to the palace and did not forgive Raje for the “humiliation” the family faced.

The simmering anger turned into rage when Anandpal Singh, a gangster from the Ravana Rajput community, was killed in an encounter. Despite the fact that Ravana Rajputs are considered by Rajputs as belonging to an inferior caste, the killing triggered protests, with Rajput bodies demanding a CBI probe. When the government agreed to a CBI probe, it sent about 115 cases against him to the agency. The already-soured ties between the community and the government slipped further down.

Then came the protests over film Padmaavat. The community aggressively opposed the film and was upset that the government allowed it to be shot. The ban on the film at the time of release did not satisfy them.
The Rajputs were also angry at Raje’s opposition to Gajendra Shekhawat as state party chief. The BJP central leadership had chosen Shekhawat primarily to placate the Rajputs, but Raje was adamant and Rajya Sabha MP Madanlal Saini, an OBC leader, got the post.

The latest development in this regard was Manvendra Singh joining the Congress. Political observers say Jaswant Singh is still respected and regarded as a top leader of the community and Manvendra’s move would appeal to the Rajputs upset with the “ill-treatment” of Jaswant Singh.

The Singh family’s ties with Raje and BJP worsened after the party denied ticket to Jaswant from Barmer in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Manvendra was suspended from the party for campaigning for his father in that election in which Jaswant contested against BJP’s official candidate. However, Manvendra continued to represent Sheo as an MLA.

 

 

 

Disclaimer: RSS has been taken from their official website.