ThakurVaad

After Shinde, it was sheer coincidence that another Dalit leader pricked ‘‘Rajput pride’’. Mayawati jailed Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, an Uttar Pradesh MLA, under POTA after he went a little too far in trying to topple her government. As if this was not enough, she implicated his aged father — Uday Pratap Singh — too, accusing father and son of plotting to kill her.

While the BJP helplessly watched, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh stepped in. He took up cudgets on behalf of Raja Bhaiyya and positioned it as a battle for the entire community. The result: the BJP is perceived to have lost the Rajput vote-bank to the SP in Uttar Pradesh. This, even as Shekhawat occupies the vice-president’s office, Jaswant Singh manages the country’s finances from North Block and Rajnath Singh is back in the Union ministry — all courtesy the BJP.

In Rajasthan, where Rajputs — according to a popular myth — emerged from the sacred fire of a yagna atop Mount Abu, the community is engaged in a new struggle. It is clamouring for reservations in education, jobs and panchayati raj institutions. One section of the community wants these benefits on the poverty criterion, while another wants its inclusion in the OBC list.

The movement, under the banner of the Social Justice Front, is led by former minister Devi Singh Bhati and Lokendra Kalvi, son of the late Kalyan Singh Kalvi. They have roped in two other upper caste groups — Brahmins and Vaishyas — too.

In tiny Chhattisgarh, where over one-third of the assembly seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, the BJP has suddenly discovered that leaning on a former Rajput ruler Dilip Singh Judeo may be a good strategy. He is the latest from among party leaders in election-bound states to mount a campaign rath (chariot).

In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, it is the Congress that has done the needful for the community, having kept Digvijay Singh as chief minister for the past 10 years. Another Rajput leader, Virbhadra Singh, runs the party government in Himachal Pradesh.

The BJP, in its better days, had done even more for Thakur empowerment, if that be the word, having simultaneously made Rajputs the chief ministers of three contiguous states — Uttar Pradesh (Rajnath Singh), Uttaranchal (Bhagat Singh Koshiyari) and Himachal Pradesh (Prem Kumar Dhumal).

Two Rajputs — Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Chandra Shekhar — no doubt got to the top and became prime minister. However, they neither lasted very long in office, nor symbolised a resurgent community, which was itching for a key political role.

Singh was propelled to office by a united non-Congress opposition on the crest of an anti-Bofors wave, while Shekhar became the prime minister because a chunk of the same formation wanted to dump Singh. contact and bringing the game into disrepute. Youhana has been charged, both found themsleves on the margins of politics.

This desperation for poltical assertion has found some odd causes at times. Kalyan Singh Kalvi led 50,000 sword-wielding Rajput men to Jaipur in the aftermath of the Roop Kanwar sati case in Deorala, 1987. Today’s aberration is the sympathy generated for Raja Bhaiyya.

The clamour for reservations in Rajasthan and the undercurrent of support attracted by Raja Bhaiyya are both hard realities. One is symbolic of a participative, democratic mass struggle, and the other, a symbol of oppressive feudalism. Time alone would tell, which of these would become the voice of the community.

Right now, in Indian politics’ greasy pole of caste hierarchies, it’s Rajput on top.

Major Jaswant and his army of Rajputocrats

Brahmins may dominate the bureaucracy at the Centre, but Thakurs have slowly made inroads with the help of the only powerful cabinet minister they have. Jaswant Singh’s first move after taking charge as finance minister was to bring his trusted lieutenant Ajai Vikram Singh as revenue secretary. Ajai Vikram had served as special secretary in the defence ministry, when Jaswant had been given additional charge of that portfolio.

Then came the deluge. Today, the finance ministry boasts of at least three Rajputs in Jaswant’s inner circle. The minister’s former private secretary Raghvendra Singh is an IAS officer who should have gone back to his parent West Bengal cadre after a diplomatic posting in Berlin. Instead he was appointed OSD in the ministry.

New revenue secretary Vineeta Rai (a Rajput married to a Bhumihar) was promoted from urban development as banking secretary before being shifted to revenue. N.S. Sisodia, now the banking secretary, hails from Jaswant’s former constituency in Rajasthan.

Ajai Vikram Singh now mans the quiet non-conventional energy department. But other Rajputs are on the rise. Dhirendra Singh is secretary, disinvestment. K.P. Singh is director of the Intelligence Bureau. K.M Singh is DG, Central Industrial Security Force. Just in case you were wondering, the top defence officer too is Rajput. Admiral Madhvendra Singh, the naval chief, is also chairman of the chiefs of staff committee.