Rajasthan police step up security around Gehlot after Maulasar incident

The incident came close on the heels of a public announcement on January 11 by state secretaries of the CPI(M) and the CPI, Hari Ram Chauhan and Tara Singh Sidhu, respectively, that they would continue to disrupt Gehlot’s meetings till the power situation improved.

Consequent to a decision at the highest level, an officer of SP’s rank from the CID is deputed in advance to the place where Gehlot is scheduled to address a public meeting. He reports on the situation at the venue as well as the security requirements. The arrangements are accordingly reviewed.

Police men are deployed all along Gehlot’s route during his trips todistricts. They dot not only crowded bazars in towns but also smallvillages, hamlets and even deserted strips of roads. Uniformed men in fullriot gear are also drafted for his public meetings.

People are made to pass through metal detectors, while police men and women occupy front rows among the audience. The magnitude of the current level of deployment can be gauged from the fact that over 2,000 police personnel were roped in for Gehlot’s public meeting at Pipad City in his native Jodhpur district on Monday attended by some 12,000 people.

Police men, apart from throwing a security ring around him, kept people at bay. The districts aside, barricades are installed on an unprecedented scale on all roads leading to the state secretariat and Gehlot’s residence whenever a political party or any other organisation announces a protest demonstration.

Unlike the previous practice of installing single barricades, police erected barricades at two points on each route before the CPI(M) staged a demonstration here today. Policemen in full riot gear, ironically, far outnumbered protestors. Surprising, given the limited support enjoyed by the CPI(M) in Rajasthan.

Though neither Gehlot nor his detractors would admit it for obvious reasons,the Maulasar incident is a manifestation of Jat hostility towards Gehlot, fuelled by a campaign by a motley group of political leaders against grant of an OBC status to Jats.

Former Union minister Jagdeep Dhankar has articulated the common Jat suspicion that the campaign has the blessings of Gehlot, who, after resisting the Jat demand on this count, grudgingly conceded it only after a directive from Sonia Gandhi soon after the last Lok Sabha polls.

This explains the violence targetted at Gehlot at Maulasar, located in the Jat-dominated Nagaur district. Speaking about the incident, Jat leader Sona Ram, Congress MP from Barmer, told media persons at Jodhpur on Monday that power shortage and drought had alienated the farmers, who had formed the backbone of the Congress.

There have been road blockades and even attacks on officials of the Vidyut Prasaran Nigam in Sriganganagar, Jaipur, Alwar and Kaauli districts in recent days, but the Maulasar violence stands apart from them as it directed against Gehlot.

However, given the widespread public disenchantment, it remains to be seen how far the stepped up security helps in warding off similar incidents in the future.