The Gurjjar face of Raje’s cabinet

Fifty-five-year old Kalulal Gurjjar, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister in the Vasundhara Raje-led government...

Fifty-five-year old Kalulal Gurjjar, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister in the Vasundhara Raje-led government, is in a tough situation. While he is tied down by the BJP’s stand on the Gurjjar issue, his son, Devalal Gurjjar, has openly come out in support of the Gurjjars.

On Wednesday, Devalal was put in preventive custody for “inciting violence among the Gurjjar community” in Bhilwara. Worse, he accused his father of being insensitive towards the Gurjjars. “He is under the influence of his second wife and is not paying any heed to the needs of the community,” Devalal, the minister’s son from his first marriage, said of his father. Ever since the Gurjjar agitation started last year, Devalal and his sarpanch wife have been critical of the BJP government. Devalal even courted arrest earlier this year in Bhilwara, the place that has the highest Gurjjar population in the state.

Area SP Mohan Singh says Devalal’s active interest in Gurjjar politics is well-known in Bhilwara and on Wednesday, police found him “inciting the crowd for violence”. But this is not a charge his father is free of either. The minister, who has been part of Rajasthan politics for at least four terms as MLA, was a much-favoured party loyalist until the Gurjjar agitations broke out last year. Then, the Chief Minister was reportedly upset with him for taking a stand against her. Gurjjar had criticised her government, of which he is a minister, for the police firing and had offered to resign.

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This year, the minister treaded cautiously until Wednesday when his son made headlines much to the embarrassment of the Raje government. Party state secretary and woman Gurjjar leader Seel Dhabai, however, defended him, saying the minister and his son do not live together. “His estranged son is trying to create troubles for the father but the minister is with the party,” Dhabai said.

But Kalu Lal, along with another minister in Vasundhara Raje’s cabinet, Nathu Singh Gurjjar, has become the target of the community.

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