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Journalism of Courage
A day after Kshatriyas protesting against Union Minister and BJP’s Rajkot candidate Parshottam Rupala for his alleged derogatory remarks against the community launched the second phase of their protests, called ‘Kshatriya Asmita Andolan’, members of the community were briefly detained by the police on Thursday ahead of the inauguration of BJP’s election office in Savli Assembly constituency in Vadodara.
The incident occurred in the afternoon just before Vadodara district BJP leaders were to arrive at the new election office for Savli. A group of Kshatriyas had gathered to stage a protest, chanting slogans against the BJP and Rupala. Officers of the Savli police station arrived at the spot to disperse the crowd and detained seven members of the community.
An officer said that the protestors were brought to the police station and released about an hour later. BJP leaders arrived shortly after the police detained the protesters and went on to inaugurate the election office.
The protest comes days after banners prohibiting BJP leaders from campaigning in the constituency had come up in several Kshatriya-community dominated areas of Savli.
Thursday also saw Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil meeting leaders of the Kshatriya community from different parts of his Lok Sabha constituency of Navsari.
Addressing mediapersons, Paatil said while Kshatriyas of south Gujarat fully support Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, it was natural for the Rajputs to get offended by Rupala’s comments.
“Today, 108 Rajput youths have come here. They had also attended the community’s mega gathering in Rajkot on April 14. They have said their anger is against Rupala and not PM Modi because his contribution to the country and Gujarat cannot be forgotten,” Paatil said.
“They have come here to reaffirm their massive love for Modiji. Kshatriyas are known for bravery and forgiveness. I urge them to support each and every BJP candidate. I ask them to forgive Rupala,” he added.
Shailendrasinh, a Rajput leader from Chikhli taluka of Navsari, said, “For the Kshatriya community, ‘rashtra dharma’ also comes first. We have always supported Paatil and will continue to do so. We don’t have any issues with the BJP government. We are against Rupala for his comments and we will continue to protest.”
He added that the community has always been with BJP and Paatil because Rupala is not the whole BJP.
Rupala is facing the ire of Rajputs after claiming at a rally that rulers from the community collaborated with the British and other foreign invaders and kept “roti aur beti” (trade and marriage) relations with them.
WITH PTI INPUTS
