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Evoking Lord Ram in Kshatriya territory of Wadhwan in Gujarat, PM Narendra Modi said on Thursday that Congress was trying to divide Ram and Shiv Bhakts and create conflict between them.
Union Minister for Dairying, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Purshottam Rupala, who is BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Rajkot and is facing ire of Kshyatriyas in Gujarat, remained absent at the venue in Wadhwan. Modi introduced the BJP candidates representing Surendranagar and Bhavnagar parliamentary seats.
BJP supporters during Narendra Modi’s Election rally in Surendranagar on Thursday | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI
“You all tell me, shouldn’t the work of building the Ram Mandir be taken up on the second day after India gained independence? The Congress kept it pending due to vote-bank politics. They created hurdles and played games. After a wait of over 500 years, a magnificent Ram Mandir was built. Don’t you trust your son now? Doesn’t he do whatever he says?” Modi asked the audience at the venue, where he was greeted with chants of “Jai Shri Ram” and saffron banners carrying the inscription “Ram” hung from the roof of the shamiana erected to shield the audience from the hot summer sun. Modi spoke at Wadhwan, a former princely State belonging to the Jhala Rajput clan, located about 110 kilometres from Ahmedabad.
Tactical Omission
During his speech, Modi did not touch upon the Kshatriya strife brewing in Gujarat, nor did he mention the absence of Rajkot candidate Parshottam Rupala. Rupala found himself facing the ire of the Kshatriya community after he passed comments against the community during an election campaign on March 22. Rupala had said that the members of princely States in India bowed to the British, fraternised with them, and even married their daughters to the colonists. Though the Union minister publicly apologised later, various Kshatriya groups across the State have been agitating against him.
When asked why Rupala remained absent from Modi’s rally at Wadhwan, BJP spokesperson Raju Dhruv, who was present at the venue, said Rupala could not make it due to health reasons. “The BJP candidate from Rajkot could not attend as there were restrictions with regard to his health,” Dhruv told media after the event ended.
On May 2, the Gujarat Rajput Samaj Organisation’s Coordination Committee issued a press statement stating that the Kshatriya community members will not disrupt PM Modi’s election campaign in Gujarat. The leaders from the community, however, said that they plan to vote against the BJP on May 7. Even the Gujarat unit of the Congress shot a letter to the EC to ensure that the names of Kshatriya voters do not get deleted from the voter list “like it happened” during the Patidar agitation of 2015.
Touring Gujarat for a second consecutive day, Modi also addressed election rallies in Junagadh and Jamnagar districts, which too were princely States and have a sizeable population of Kshatriyas. ”Break all voting records in your respective villages. We are looking not just at winning all 26 seats in Gujarat, but at each and every polling booth,” said Modi, asking voters to turn out in large numbers on the polling day.
Thirty-five-year-old Mahendra Jhala, a Kshatriya, who turned up at PM Modi’s rally at Wadhwan, said, “He has not said anything in public about the hurt caused by Parshottam Rupala. So I had come to the event thinking he would address the issue.”
Strategic Diplomacy
Later, while addressing his last election rally for the day at Jamnagar, Modi tried to appease the Kshatriya community by saying that his government plans to build a special museum dedicated to the royal families whose kingdoms were incorporated into India. “I am going to make a museum for royal families who have contributed to nation-building. No government ever thought of honouring them. It occurred to me because I worship the glory enshrined in history. Those who forget history cannot make it.”
Modi said he also went to meet the head of the royal family of Jamnagar. He also narrated his past association with the Kshatriya community in Jamnagar. He also remembered the contributions made by the royal family of Jamnagar. “The Maharaja of Jamnagar, Digvijaysinhji, had given shelter to Polish citizens in Jamnagar. Even today, the Parliament of Poland remembers the King,” he added.
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