Independent MLA who is pain in Rajasthan govt’s neck: Who is Ravindra Bhati

Since his election as an MLA for the first time from Sheo in the December 2023 Assembly polls, Bhati has remained in the news, either for his initiatives or due to his run-ins with the local administration, police and private firms.

According to Magan Khan, a Sub-Inspector at Sheo Police Station, Bhati has been booked under Section 308 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), which deals with extortion. Sources said that the instructions regarding the latest FIR came from the very top in the government. Addressing a press conference Monday, Bhati said that all three FIRs lodged against him so far have been for raising people’s issues.

However, Bhati is also riding high due to his popularity among the people for raising local issues. In the year since his election as an MLA, he has spoken up on housing for nomadic tribes and Pakistani refugees, protested against the death of an inmate in Barmer jail, demanded reservation for locals in private companies, raised the issue of unemployment, and water scarcity, power cuts, etc.

The Sheo MLA has written to ministers, both at the Centre and state, and to CM Sharma, over some of these issues, including demanding a museum for the rail workers who died during the 1965 Indo-Pak War. An educational tour organised by him for 80 meritorious students from Sheo to Jaipur, followed by a Haridwar pilgrimage for 80 senior citizens and free physiotherapy camps, has also earned him goodwill.

Over the last couple of months, his protests have intensified. He has raised the issue of protecting oran (sacred groves) in Baiya, demanded adequate compensation for high power transmission lines, and protested against solar companies. Recently, the permission for Rohidi Music Festival in Barmer was denied by Collector Tina Dabi who cited national security – Barmer is a border district – among other things, as the reasons for its cancellation; the festival was then shifted elsewhere.

Love-hate ties with BJP

From his student union days to the 2023 Assembly polls and last year’s Lok Sabha elections, Bhati’s relationship with the BJP has been marked by ups and downs. Having won as an MLA from Sheo, Bhati also threw his hat in the ring for the Lok Sabha polls from the Barmer Lok Sabha seat. The BJP deputed Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma to convince him to withdraw. But Bhati persisted.

The BJP then left no stone unturned for the contest, fielding then Union minister Kailash Choudhary, and arranging visits by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CM Sharma, former WWE wrestler The Great Khali, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and other state ministers.

But Bhati put up a strong fight, and campaigned in a chopper in the last leg, drawing eyebrows. While he eventually lost, the contest for Barmer ended up as the only real triangular fight across the state’s 25 seats. Ummeda Ram Beniwal won, thanks to the consolidation of Jats.

Bhati’s meteoric rise

The MLA and his close aides cite the network of “friends and brothers” he built during his time at Jai Narain Vyas University (JNVU) for his quick rise.

In 2019, then a “sympathiser” with the ABVP, the student wing of the RSS, Bhati sought to contest for the students’ union president post but was denied nomination by ABVP. However, he went ahead and contested the polls, and the rest is history.

The son of a teacher, hailing from a non-political family, Bhati’s underdog story resonated with the students and he emerged as the first Independent student union president in the university’s 57-year-old history.

“JNVU is western Rajasthan’s largest university, where about 30,000 students study. Through student politics, he managed to connect with thousands on a personal level – and he does not forget their names,” one of Bhati’s aides said.

His opposition to the university charging fees during the Covid-19 pandemic also put the spotlight on Bhati, who claimed there were no studies happening so universities had no right to charge fees from students. Bhati’s team claims that his message reached over five lakh students and triggered protests in 26 districts, including outside the Assembly where he himself led the agitation. Through this period, he was suspended by the university, jailed and sat on a hunger strike.

In January 2022, he yet again grabbed the limelight with his demand for an increase in the number of seats for students and followed it with the Gauvansh Bachao Abhiyan in June-July of the same year, when bovines were affected by the lumpy disease. Though the then Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government provided free vaccines for the cattle, Bhati’s team claims that he arranged for free vaccines for thousands of cattle.

The same year Bhati cemented his position further after he successfully backed Independent candidate Arvind Bhati in the JNVU student union polls, where the NSUI candidate, who was backed by Gehlot’s son Vaibhav, faced defeat.

His “Run for Registan” – an awareness run for “environment, culture and nationalism” – in January 2023 is said to have drawn around 7,000 participants even as thousands more watched on.

By October-November 2023, about the time Assembly elections were on the horizon, Bhati had established himself in Sheo, leading the Sheo Jan Sanvad Yatra in the weeks leading up to the polls. Bhati subsequently joined the BJP but was denied a ticket following which he contested as a rebel and won by a narrow margin of 4,000 votes, mainly due to the Congress’s official and rebel candidates cutting into each other’s voter base.

Asked once why he has never been given a ticket by the BJP despite his proximity to ABVP and while he was a BJP member, Bhati had told The Indian Express that he tried “every time” but perhaps it is “not written in my kundali (astrological birth chart)”.

Incidentally, though he constantly attacks the BJP government in Rajasthan and accuses it of overlooking Sheo in its first Budget, Bhati never loses a chance to praise Modi — like at last year’s Rising Rajasthan Summit.

Said Rajasthan BJP chief Rathore: “Woh karega na, virodh mein hai, nirdaliye hai, free hai, chutta saand hota hai toh woh kya karega, kuch bhi kare (He will do so, as he is in Opposition, is an Independent and is free; what will a bull on the loose do, it can do anything it pleases).”