Gulab Chand Kataria out of Mewar, Congress plays Maharana Pratap card in BJP stronghold

Maharana Pratap’s legacy has been at the centre of a tussle between the BJP and the Congress in the last few years. The Rajput ruler, who fought Mughal emperor Akbar in the Battle of Haldighati, is a revered figure in the state. On Monday, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced that the government would form a Veer Shiromani Maharana Pratap Board to make the younger generation aware of “Maharana Pratap’s bravery”. He made the announcement at an event in Udaipur commemorating the Rajput ruler on his birth anniversary.

सूरज से तेज़ भाल
अरि हेतु वे विकराल

अदम्य शौर्य, साहस व दृढ़ता के पर्याय वीर शिरोमणि महाराणा प्रताप जी की जयंती पर उनके सम्मान में महाराणा प्रताप बोर्ड के गठन का फैसला लिया गया है।

मेरा विश्वास है यह बोर्ड ऐसे महान नायक की गौरवशाली वीरगाथा से जन-जन को प्रेरित करेगा। pic.twitter.com/uemF72LLj7

— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) May 22, 2023

“This board will make the young generation aware of Maharana Pratap’s bravery. The board will prepare a plan for course content, heritage conservation, new constructions, research on various languages, publicity of the publications, national and international awards, lectures, kavi sammelans (meetings of poets) etc. This will build an atmosphere for the new generation,” read an official statement from the Chief Minister’s Office.

Speaking at the function organised by the Mewar Kshatriya Mahasabha, a Rajput body, Gehlot said it was the duty of the current generation to hand over “this glorious saga of valour as a heritage to the coming generations”.

While Gehlot was addressing the event, state BJP president C P Joshi was participating in similar programmes in other areas of Mewar to mark Maharana Pratap’s birth anniversary. Joshi minced no words while hitting out at Gehlot, terming his administration as a “Mughal Premi (Mughal-loving)” government and saying that the Congress “glorifies” Akbar. The BJP also accused the Congress of trying to erase Maharana Pratap from history books.

The Mewar region comes under the Chittor Prant of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and for several decades it has been a stronghold of the BJP — and before that its predecessor Jan Sangh — primarily because of the ideological supremacy that the Sangh Parivar enjoys in this area and a dedicated cadre base. Despite winning the 2018 Assembly elections and forming the government, the Congress could bag only two of the eight Assembly seats in Udaipur district. The BJP won the remaining eight seats.

The Rajput community, traditional voters of the BJP, regards Maharana Pratap as one of its greatest heroes. By announcing the formation of the board in a programme organised by the local Rajput community, Gehlot hopes to send the message that the Congress is equally invested in protecting the community’s interests.

Rajputs, who claim to be 11-12% of the state’s population, are a potent electoral force in Mewar and some other parts of the state. In the 2018 Assembly elections, the Congress benefitted, except in Mewar, from the community’s anger against the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government over reasons such as the death of gangster Anandpal Singh in a police shootout, the sidelining of late BJP leader Jaswant Singh, and registration of police cases against Rajput leaders after some protests turned violent.

Book battles

In the past decade, textbook revisions have become the norm as both the Congress and the BJP have sparred over Maharana Pratap and the Battle of Haldighati. The previous BJP government made changes in school textbooks, claiming that Maharana Pratap defeated Akbar in the Battle of Haldighati in 1576. The books also dropped “the Great” from the Mughal emperor’s name.

After the Congress returned to power in 2018, it formed a committee to review the changes in the textbooks. Later, when new revisions were made in the textbooks released during the current government, the information on Maharana Pratap and the Battle of Haldighati once again stoked a controversy.

One of the major changes concerned the battle. The new Class 10 social science books said Pratap left the battlefield and his horse Chetak died. It also said the clash between Maharana Pratap and Akbar was not a religious war but a clash for superiority between two political forces. Silent on the result of the battle, the chapter went on to describe Pratap’s guerrilla warfare against Akbar in subsequent years.

The BJP, in response, accused the Congress of insulting the Rajput ruler, while Congress hit back saying the BJP uses Maharana Pratap’s name for electoral reasons.