Rajput Pride, Historical Purism: What's Sukhdev Gogamedi's Karni Sena All About?

Is the Karni Sena a pan-India organisation or a group of local outfits? How much sway do they hold over Rajputs?

Rajput pride, outrage over Padmaavat – formerly known and struck down as Padmavati – and now the murder of a prominent community leader. The Karni Sena pops its head out of local news coverage and catapults itself into national headlines from time to time, using a range of issues to prove that it is not a rebel without a cause.

Of late, the 17-year-old organisation has sprung into action in Rajasthan – holding demonstrations, burning vehicles, and stopping trains – in protest against the murder on Tuesday, 5 December of Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi, president of the SriRashtriya Rajput Karni Sena.

But, what is the Karni Sena? Is it a pan-India organisation or a group of local fringe outfits? How much sway do they have over Rajputs across north India? Let's find out.

Can the Real Karni Sena Please Stand Up? 

To start off, there isn't just one pan-India Karni Sena; the term is used to describe a group of Rajput outfits spread across north India.

However, at the time of its formation, there was only one: The Shri Rajput Karni Sena (SRKS) – the oldest of the Karni Senas – was founded in 2006. But the organisation soon splintered over a range of disagreements, including the question of leadership.

Two Rajput leaders claimed to have founded the organisation: late politician Lokendra Singh Kalvi and a builder named Ajit Singh Mamdoli. After the 2008 Rajasthan Assembly elections, Kalvi and Mamdoli had a bitter feud and parted ways. They even went to court over the issue of who gets to keep the name 'SRKS'.

However, Kalvi remained dominant among the two and successfully managed to present his front as the real SRKS.

Karni Sena and Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi

Gogamedi had been associated with the Kalvi-led SRKS since 2013. He was even made the state president of the organisation's Rajasthan branch.

However, differences between the two began to crop up and reached their culmination in 2015, when Gogamedi broke away from the SRKS and formed yet another Karni Sena – the SriRashtriya Rajput Karni Sena, or SRRKS.

The phrase "your enemy's enemy is your friend" received expression in 2021 when the Gogamedi-led SRRKS and the Mamdoli-led SRKS joined hands and merged their outfits.

In March this year, Kalvi passed away and his SRKS was taken over by his son, Bhawani Singh Kalvi.

Today, there are three known Karni Senas:

1. The Bhawani Singh Kalvi-led SRKS

2. The SRRKS which was headed by Gogamedi and Mamdoli

3. And an SRKS led by Mahipal Singh Makrana, another prominent Rajput leader.

Ideological Roots, Community Honour, Caste-Based Rivalry

There are several factors that ground the beliefs of Karni Sena members in their organisation.

Traditionally, the group sprang up amid rivalry with the Jats. In 2006, a Rajput gangster named Anandpal Singh killed two Jats in Didwana, allegedly over the control of illicit liquor in Rajasthan, according to The Indian Express.

That led to massive outrage among the Jats, who were given support across political circles. Their clout increased to such an extent that the police allegedly detained any Rajput who might be linked with Anandpal Singh.

Thus, to fight against the prevalent Jat dominance, the SRKS was founded in 2006 to mobilise the Rajput community.

The organisation was named after the revered Goddess Karni Mata.

The many aims of the outfit included the promotion of Rajput bonhomie, opposing the "misrepresentation" of history, and fighting against socio-political malice.

The Karni Sena also believes that it is the duty of Rajput men to "protect" the honour of their women. In some cases, this even means the protection of Rajput women's honour against their own wishes.

Case in point: In 2021, Karni Sena workers in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district allegedly stopped an interfaith wedding between a Muslim man and a Hindu woman, saying that the marriage was a case of “forced conversion and love jihad".

Dozens of such incidents have been reported over the years.

Padmaavat & Other Socio-Cultural Agitations

Perhaps how most Indians outside Rajasthan relate to the Karni Sena is through the widespread protests against the film Padmaavat.

There were several demonstrations across Rajasthan and other states by the Kalvi-led Karni Sena in 2017 when the song 'Ghoomar' was launched on social media platforms ahead of the film's release. The Rajput outfit argued that the song had offended their community's pride for allegedly showing a romantic scene between Queen Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji, a Muslim ruler.

The Karni Sena even publicly issued death threats against the film's director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and its female lead Deepika Padukone. The outfit's leadership also went to the extent of announcing a cash prize for the person who brings them Padukone's head. Gogamedi and other Karni Sena members were even successful in "slapping" Bhansali and burning down one of the film's sets.

The agitations led to the film's name being changed from 'Padmavati' to 'Padmaavat', thus exemplifying a symbolic shift from non-fiction to fiction by the film's makers.

The bounty on Padukone was not the first announced by the outfit. Gogamedi himself had allegedly offered Rs 20 lakh on the head of a Muslim man who married a Rajput woman. He was also booked after a purported video showed him threatening people visiting the Sufi Saint Moinuddin Chishti’s shrine in Ajmer in 2019.

Before Padmaavat, the SRKS even had a problem with Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar, alleging that the film had portrayed historical incidents inaccurately. Recently, similar protests were launched by Karni Sena members against the film Adipurush.

Political Protests

The Karni Senas have also indulged in several political protests to give voice to their community's demands.

One of their most oft-pressed demands have been to do with reservations for community members in political establishments and government-run schools and colleges.

"We want some reforms in the reservation system. There are poor Rajputs. We want reservations based on the economic status of the people," Vishvabhandu Banna, the general secretary of SRKS, had earlier told The Quint.

The SRKS had also led agitations for Rajasthani to be recognised as a state language under Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution.

Political parties in Rajasthan often have to lend a ear to the Karni Sena's demands owing to their influence in the Rajput community. Rajputs are a key electoral voter base in the north Indian state, and comprise immense clout in at least 25 out of 200 Assembly seats.

"We are a vote bank in ourselves. Now political parties will come to us, we don’t have to go to them with our demands. We  will only come forward when someone distorts facts about the customs, and rituals of our community,” Banna had told The Quint.

(With inputs from PTI, The Indian Express and The Financial Times.)