CM Raje shuts Rajasthan, knocks at Sangh door

The tone was set by the CM yesterday, when she appealed to people at a rally in the Walled City to ensure a successful protest. “This is a matter of faith,” Raje said.

She also appealed to ‘‘office staff’’ to stay away from work. “It is my desire that offices remain closed and employees take part in the protests,” Raje said. She, however, later clarified that her statement was not a diktat to the Government employees but an appeal to the private sector.

But the administration took the cue and ensured that rabble-rousers and bandh supporters face no difficulties and the bandh was successful.

“We were asked to support the BJP and VHP activists. The directions from the State Government were clear—ensure complete success of the bandh,” a senior police official told The Indian Express.

In the event, seven people—including a policeman—were injured in incidents of communal violence reported from Bhilwara. A shopkeeper from the minority community was stabbed in Bhilwara for not pulling down the shutters on his shop, said officials. Curfew had to imposed a few hours later as the incident led to skirmishes between the two communities and tension in the area.

Incidents of violence were reported also from Sikar, Pali, Kota, Baran and Bundi. In Jaipur, activists of the BJP and the VHP went on the rampage, causing damage to shops, institutions and government buses.

“The success of the protest would help in reviving the relations between the CM, the BJP hardliners and the RSS,” sources close to the CM said.

Recently, the BJP sent its general secretary Kalraj Mishra to Jaipur to douse dissidence that had erupted after party leaders alleged that Raje had “sidelined the organisation” and was running the Government with the help of outsiders.

Besides, the RSS and the BJP were angry with the CM because of her support for the new liquor policy, saying that it was against the tenets of the party.