The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat finds itself in troubled waters yet again, this time with the Rajput community.
It started three years ago, when Jitu Vaghani was appointed the BJP president of Gujarat. Vaghani soon became embroiled in a land dispute with Dansangh Mori, the sarpanch of Budhel village in Bhavnagar and an influential Rajput leader in the region, over a piece of gauchar land (pastoral land).
The feud saw Mori be suspended from the post of sarpanch in 2014, which resulted in mass protests from the local Rajput community. Soon, Mori was thrown in jail allegedly under trumped up charges, which included inciting riots and even stealing mobile phones.
Now, with elections around the corner, Rajputs came out in full support of Mori and organised a massive rally, titled ‘Sammast Rajput Mahasammelan,’ in Bavla on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on Sunday, 5 November.
Balvantsinh Padheria, the convener of the Bavla Convention and Ahmedabad district Karadia Rajput Samaj, told The Quint:
There were 1.6 lakh community members present during the rally from across Gujarat and Rajasthan. The state machinery tried hard to stall the movement of Rajputs towards the rally by setting up a naka bandi (blockade). Rajputs dominate 35 seats in the polls. The BJP should act smart if it wants to remain in power.
The rally saw over 250 leaders from the Rajput community gather on the same stage with tens of thousands of community members present in their colourful garb, to put forth a show of strength and unity.
The Rajputs have warned the BJP that it will face the wrath of the community in the upcoming polls if Vaghani does not step down from the post of Gujarat party president.
Rajputs dominate the Saurashtra Belt, and their vote has helped the BJP remain in power for many years.
However, the crowd in attendance wasn’t too keen on dismissing the BJP outright, as they have been loyal supporters of the saffron party since the time Narendra Modi took power in the state. Many even said that this matter would have not taken a political turn had Vaghani issued an apology.
Gujarat BJP vice president IK Jadeja issued a statement on the matter, on Sunday, 5 November, stating that the allegations levied against Vaghani are baseless and politically motivated.
According to Jadeja, the dispute is an internal matter among community members and doesn’t involve Vaghani. He went a step further and asked whether they have any documentary evidence in relation to allegations pertaining to the gauchar land.
This comes days after Jadeja pledged support to the Rajputs to issue a blanket ban on the film Padmavati, alleging that the movie portrays the community in poor light.
In a few weeks, the tickets will be distributed and it will be interesting to see how the BJP mends its ties with the Rajput community to hold on to power in Gujarat.
Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim
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