Hindu Samrat or Gurjar Samrat? In Kaithal, BJP vs BJP as Gurjars, Rajputs face off over 9th C king

The local BJP leaders, primarily hailing from the Rajput community, were unhappy that the king had not instead been called a “Hindu Samrat”, which according to them was a title more apt.

Earlier, controversies between both communities have already broken out in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar over the lineage of the king.

On Thursday, some of the 35 BJP leaders alleged that the police had resorted to lathi-charge and used teargas on the community members when they had gathered to stage a protest in Kaithal a day before over the issue. In the incident, according to the leaders, two-three protesters had sustained injuries. A day after, on Thursday, a group of leaders from the community had burnt the effigy of BJP leaders to register their protest against the lathi-charge.

According to reports, Kaithal BJP Kisan Morcha president, Sanjiv Rana, Mandal BJP president Mahipal Rana, and Kaithal district BJP election management committee president, Dr Sandeep Rana, are among the 35 leaders who have offered to resign from the party. They have threatened that they would stand by their resignation unless the party decides to remove district BJP president Ashok Gujjar from his post.

On Thursday, while addressing a gathering after unveiling the statue, BJP’s Kaithal MLA, Lila Ram Gujjar, said, “Today, there is solid proof that Mihir Bhoj was a Gurjar Samrat. He had ruled India when Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Burma were also part of the country. The Rajput community members can’t be tampering with history today.” The MLA added, “Rajputs are our brothers but they should also exercise restraint while making comments.”

On the other hand, BJP leader from Rajput community, Mahipal Rana said, “We had sought to name the king as a Hindu Samrat not as Rajput Samrat. We will continue our agitation till the word Gurjar is removed from the statue.” In a press conference, Rana alleged that the same Gurjar community leaders who had assured to resolve the matter with them went ahead and unveiled the statue of the king at 7 am on Thursday.

Referring to the use of police force against the agitators on Wednesday, BJP Kisan Morcha district president Sanjiv Rana said that there was no need of a lathicharge on protesters. Rana admitted that the administration has already held nearly six meetings between the leaders of both communities to resolve the issue. Another Rajput community leader, who was present in the press conference in Kaithal, said: “We don’t have any plans to start a confrontation. If the statue was named as Rajput-Gurjar Samrat, Hindu Samrat or Chatrapati Samrat, we would have supported it.”