Scuffle at BJP event in Jamnagar: Day after Kshatriya women clash with cops, community leaders ask if police were acting at BJP’s behest

The protests came a day after Kshatriya women raised slogans at a similar BJP event in Ward No. 5 of Jamnagar and brought the ruling party’s election meeting to a halt before women police officers escorted some of them away from the venue.

On Thursday, led by PT Jadeja, international president of Rajput Yuva Sangh, members of the Shree Rajput Kshatriya Community Coordination Committee (SRKCCC), met Rajkot city BJP president Mukesh Doshi and submitted a memorandum.

Terming the police intervention a “mistreatment meted out on Kshatriya women”, SKRCCC highlighted that it happened in the presence of local BJP leaders at Modi Parivar Sabha—an election meeting in Ward No. 6 of Jamnagar on Wednesday.

“Kshatriya women were expressing their feelings against Parshottambhai (Rupala) in a democratic manner and local leaders of the BJP were present at the meeting. They looked on as police personnel, who were present beforehand, behaved very badly with the Kshatriya women, dragging them by grabbing their hands and removing their pallu which is the pride of women. They were pushed into a van like big criminals and taken away. This mistreatment (durvyavhar) is highly condemnable,” stated the Kshatriya memorandum.

“Is such action being taken at the behest of the BJP? At whose behest are police adopting such an approach and indulging, in a planned manner, in actions to disturb peace and safety in Gujarat?,” stated the memorandum.

“Earlier on Wednesday, someone removed the turban of Raj Shekhavat, the leader of (Kshatriya) Karni Sena, in Ahmedabad. Later in the evening, the pallu of Kshatriya women was removed by police in Jamnagar. We don’t know if police are doing all of this at the behest of the BJP or on their own while all that members of Kshatriya are doing is exercising their freedom of speech and expression. We wanted the BJP to clarify this position and hence, submitted a memorandum to Doshi,” Shailendrasinh Jadeja, a Kshatriya leader who was part of the delegation which met the BJP president, told The Indian Express.

Jamnagar Superintendent of Police Premsukh Delu could not be reached for a comment. However, a senior officer said there was no excess in police action. “We neither used force nor detained anyone,” the officer said, adding, “However, police can’t be mute spectators if someone tries to create ruckus at an event that has prior permission from the authority and halt that event”.

Meanwhile, as protests continue in many parts of the state, Union Minister Parshottam Rupala’s face was blackened with ink on a BJP hoarding on the 150-feet Ring Road Thursday.

Members of the Kshatriya community have been protesting against Rupala from the last week of March for his alleged remarks on Indian kings during British rule. The community has been demanding the party to cancel Rupala’s election ticket.