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Three years before he became the Prime Minister and even before the BJP picked him as a candidate for the post, in 2011, the Ranjitvilas Palace of the erstwhile Wankaner royals had hosted a felicitation for Narendra Modi where he was hailed as the ‘PM-in-Waiting’. Breaking an almost 15-year hibernation where not many were in politics, around 18 royal scions came out in support of the then chief minister.
It marked a turning point in the political positioning of the royal families of Gujarat, which had traditionally aligned with the Congress and held ministerial portfolios in its governments at the state and Centre. Plus, the BJP had the backing of the Patidars, numerically much more than the Rajputs and with a history of tension with the Kshatriyas (of which Rajputs are a part) over ownership of land and social hierarchy.
Now, 10 years into Modi’s prime ministership, the Rajputs find themselves relegated to the outer orbits of power – a position they are not used to. While protests by the Kshatriya community have been going on against him for a month, the BJP has refused to change Parshottam Rupala, a Kadva Patidar, as its candidate from Rajkot.
The Kshatriyas are demanding his removal over a remark suggesting that the community had yielded before the British, cooperating with them and giving their daughters in marriage.
On April 19, representatives of over 120 Kshatriya organisations of Gujarat held a meeting in Ahmedabad to decide their strategy against the BJP, where they announced protests across the state. On Sunday, a group of Kshatriyas turned up at the opening of the BJP’s election office in Vadali in Sabarkantha to protest.
The largest Kshatriya congregation so far was held on April 14 in Ratanpar, Rajkot, where a call was given for “Rajput Ekta” and slogans raised of “Jai Rajputana (hailing the land of the Rajputs)”.
The congregation cut across Kshatriya sub-groups, with support also extended by Inayat Khan Rathore. A scion of the princely state of Vanod, Rathore represented the Gujarat Mole Salam Garasiya Sanghathan, an organisation of Muslim Rajputs.
Rupala has apologised twice for his remarks, and on April 16, when he went to file his nomination, he was flanked by erstwhile royals. Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil has also appealed to people “with folded hands” to forgive Rupala, but the Kshatriyas are refusing to give in.
However, the BJP doesn’t seem unduly worried as it is counting on not just the fact that the Kshatriyas are small in number (about 6.5% of the state’s population) but that they are themselves divided – with upper caste Rajputs on one end, and Kathi Darbars, Thakors, Karadiyas etc, who enjoy OBC status, on the other.
While there is not a single Rajput in the BJP’s Gujarat list for the coming Lok Sabha polls, there are at least two OBC Kshatriyas – Rajpalsinh Jadav from Panchmahal and Devusinh Chauhan from Kheda. Rajendrasinh Rana, a Kshatriya who was BJP MP for five terms starting 1996 from Bhavnagar, was denied a ticket in 2014 and remains sidelined.
A royal scion and BJP leader, who has been with the party for over a decade, told The Indian Express that he too sought a ticket but was turned down. On the condition of anonymity, he added: “I know I was left out because I am a Rajput and not an OBC.”
Currently the only Rajput from Gujarat in Parliament is Kesridevsinh Zala of the Wankaner family, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha last year.
To forestall any rift within, Jamsaheb Shatrushalyasinhji of Jamnagar has called for “unity of Rajputs”, and a stinging reply to the BJP with a defeat in the elections.
The scion of the royal family of Devgadh Baria, Tushar Singh (Baba), who was ironically welcomed into the BJP in 2021 by none other than Rupala, then a party national vice-president, indicates his discomfort, telling The Indian Express, “I feel that nobody should speak against any community.” However, he adds: “People continue to vote for Narendra Modi because they see the greater cause… the greater good… in him.”
A Kshatriya leader admits the protests are an assertion by the community that feels overshadowed by other groups. “They had a good share in political power till the 1980s as they were always politically aware. But due to rising education levels, economic well-being and urbanisation, not only upper-caste Patidars but OBC communities also gradually became aware about their political rights and sought their share in political power,” says the leader.
Prof Rakesh Bhedi, an assistant professor with the Department of Sociology at Saurashtra University, Rajkot, says that apart from political power, the Kshatriyas also feel sidelined in the social hierarchy. “The protests represent resistance to these changed hierarchies… with the Patidars having emerged as the dominant community group.”
It is not lost on the Kshatriyas that, conversely, when the Patidars held a widespread stir in Gujarat for reservation, the BJP had gone out of its way to woo them back.
A Kshatriya leader warns that the party might be underestimating the community. “The protests and the mobilisation send a message that this community is still very strong.”
Ex-BJP leader and former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela, a Rajput himself, said earlier this month that the BJP may pay a price for its “mentality”. “This (anger) could spread to Rajasthan. There is an impression that the BJP is anti-Kshatriya, and there are examples – in 2019, you did not send any Kshatriya to Parliament, you removed Vasundhara Raje (as Rajasthan CM).”
Speaking to The Indian Express, Vaghela said: “In Gujarat, one may not see much impact, but the Kshatriya anger could hit BJP votes in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.”
Vaghela’s words might give the BJP pause. In the parts of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan which have already voted, Rajputs expressed their anger with the party over a range of issues.
