As the year draws to a close, the Karni Sena has found another “cause”: the Rajput group, which was in the news at the start of 2018 for staging violent protests against the release of the film Padmaavat , has now set its eyes on ensuring the defeat of the ruling BJP in Rajasthan.
The Sena is organising Swabhiman Sammelans (self-respect conferences) across the State in the run-up to the election, and its chief, Lokendra Singh Kalvi, plans to visit 84 Assembly constituencies and all district headquarters in the coming days to urge people to vote out the BJP.
While many local Rajputs say the Sena’s influence on the ground is limited and that it is primarily seeking to garner publicity, Mr. Kalvi says the group’s campaign will make a difference, mainly among Rajputs.
And the Sena’s list of grievances is long.
“We have been BJP supporters to the extent of becoming slaves of the party,” Mr. Kalvi said, as he discussed the election at his Vaishali Nagar residence at 6.30 a.m., soon after his morning walk. “But we got no support from the State or Central government when we opposed the screening of Padmaavat , or when we mobilised against the encounter killing of Anandpal Singh.”
Anandpal Singh, a gangster, was a Ravana Rajput, a community claiming proximity to the Rajputs but not considered as having Rajput status. The killing had, however, been followed by protests and demands for a CBI inquiry.
“This time our effort is to make Rajputs and also other communities reject the ruling BJP,” Mr. Kalvi said. “We are supporting anyone, be it a Congress candidate or an Independent, who can defeat the BJP.”
A couple of days ago, the Sena chief was in Jhalrapatan, where Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is pitted against the Congress’s Manvendra Singh. Mr. Singh, son of former Union Minister Jaswant Singh, recently switched over to the Congress from the BJP, alleging that Ms. Raje had deliberately sidelined the family.
Eyeing CM’s home turf
“The biggest rally we addressed was there, with about 10,000 people attending,” Mr. Kalvi said. He added that while the Jhalrapatan contest was an issue of “Rajput pride”, they were aiming to mobilise other communities too as Rajputs were not a large enough percentage of the population in the constituency, which is not far from Madhya Pradesh’s Scindia stronghold of Guna.
Mr. Kalvi said the Karni Sena had invited Hardik Patel to address a public meeting to influence the Patidars to support the Congress in Jhalrapatan. He said Brahmin Mahasabha chief Suresh Mishra had also been contacted to address a rally with a view to mobilising Brahmins.
“I do not understand how a government that could reverse the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act believes the Ram temple is something that is to be decided only by the courts,” Mr. Kalvi wondered, alleging “hypocrisy” on the BJP’s part.
However, other Rajputs contend that it won’t be easy to defeat Ms. Raje.
“Manvendra Singh comes from the area near the Pakistan border and has been sent to the Madhya Pradesh border,” said a Rajput villager from Sanganer in Jaipur, who did not wish to be identified. “He would have won in his own area of influence but it is difficult to beat the Chief Minister in Jhalrapatan.”
