Raje’s Rajput face to win back community

Weeks before the recent Rajya Sabha elections, at an informal meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vasundhara Raje, former chief minister and BJP national general secretary, had made it very clear that VP Singh was according to her the best candidate to be sent to the Upper House.

She didn’t care much for the second candidate, even though the party had decided to contest two of the four seats.

VP Singh, former minister, four-time MLA and two-time Lok Sabha member, had lost the last Lok Sabha election from Bhilwara against Union Rural Development Minister CP Joshi. Raje sees a formidable Rajput leader in VP Singh, and someone who had stood by her in difficult times.

With the death of former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and the impending return of Jaswant Singh, Raje wanted to promote a young Rajput leader who could win back the traditional Rajput votes, which by and large had drifted towards the Congress in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. This was one of the major reasons for the BJP’s defeat in both the elections.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, scions of three former royal families of Jodhpur, Alwar and Kota not only joined the Congress but even won the elections. This was a big drift from the past as these families were firmly with the BJP earlier. It was a big blow to the BJP as by and large these erstwhile Rajput royal families in Rajasthan still command respects among their former subjects in general and the Rajputs in particular. Rajputs have all these years remained with the BJP.

The credit for bringing the Rajputs to the BJP fold goes largely to Shekhawat. When the Swantatra Party, mostly comprising former princely rulers of Rajasthan, became defunct,
most of its leaders joined the Janata Party. As the BJP and its earlier avatar the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, was getting stronger, Shekhawat successfully persuaded them to join the BJP. Until his death recently, Shekhawat remained an undisputed leader of the community.

Just before the 2003 Assembly elections, with Shekhawat already in Delhi as vice president, he and his associates started looking for a Rajput leader, who could lead the community. There aim was to stall those Brahmin leaders, including former deputy chief minister Harishankar Bhabhra and Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi to become chief minister, if the party came to power.

Jaswant Singh already high up in the NDA government was not interested in state politics. This was when they decided on Vasundhara Raje — She had the double qualification of being a scion of the erstwhile Gwalior royal family, belonging to the  Khastirya community and married to the erstwhile Jat rulers of Dhaulpur. She was projected as the chief minister candidate by the party. These Rajput leaders, including Shekhawat were sure that Raje would be pliable but they soon learnt that she was not oing to be a pushover. Within two years of her government, both Shekhawat and Jaswant Singh turned against her.

A shrewd Raje realised that if she wanted to survive as leader of the party in the state, she had to build a strong base, particularly among the Rajputs. And so she started looking for a young Rajput leader of the party. First she closed in on maverick Devi Singh Bhati. But soon realised he would be too strong a person for her to control. No one from the Udaipur and Jodhpur royal families was interested in joining politics. On the other hand, Bhanwar Jitender Singh, young scion of former Alwar ruling family, decided to join the Congress unlike his mother Mahender Kumari who was the Lok Sabha member of the BJP. The young Jitender also roped in another young blue blood Ijeyraj Singh from the Kota royal family. Chandresh Kumari, sister of Gaj Singh, former maharaja of Jodhpur, came back to her ‘maternal home’ to contest the Lok Sabha elections. This clearly sent out the message among the Rajputs that their former rulers were drifting away from the BJP.

Though in the Assembly elections Raje was able to make Sidhi Kumari from the former Bikaner royal family and Rohini Kumari of Karauli, the party’s candidates, many other Rajput leaders could not be accommodated for one reason or the other. She ensured the victory of Bhawani Singh Rajawat, her protégé, but did not campaign for Narpat Singh Razvi, son in law of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Rajpal Shekhawat, as she didn’t trust them.

So she decided to zero in on VP Singh, who is a scion of the erstwhile Badnaur state. He belongs to the Mertia Rathore Rajput community, which has a large presence in most parts of the state. His family lineage has links to Mira Bai and Raja Jaimal. Though he is no fire-brand Rajput leader, he enjoys a clean image. During his second term as a Lok Sabha member he was selected as the best parliamentarian by the house committee. He is among those Lok Sabha members who had utilised their entire MPLAD funds. He even spent more by using the interest accrued.

Jaswant can’t fill Sekhawat void

Current: How do you see the shifting of Rajput votes towards the Congress in the last two elections?

VP Singh: There was a time when the Rajput community was given due weight by BJP leaders and the credit for it goes to Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. He was the bonding factor for the Rajputs in the party. When Kalayan Singh Kalvi joined BJP in 1991, it was the final signal that only the BJP could look after the interests of the community. Though Shekhawat rose from the ranks, he was respected by all erstwhile Rajput rulers. It was Shekhawat who roped in Mahender Singh, former Maharana of Udaipur in the BJP and successfully persuaded Gaj Singh of Jodhpur to lend his support to the party’s candidates in his area. But after Shekhawat’s exit from state politics, there was no one in the party who could get along with the community’s leaders.

What about Jaswant Singh, where does he stand in the community?

He is a respected leader of the party. As for his influence in the community is concerned, it differs from person to person. Since he is back in the party, let’s see how it will benefit the party.

Can he regain his lost position?

It is a difficult question to answer. It depends how the situation plays out. He is yet to even visit the state after returning to the party fold.

Some party leaders claim Jaswant could fill the void created by the death of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. What do you think?

First there should not be any comparison between the leadership qualities of these two leaders. Shekhawat had risen from the grassroots and reached the highest office. He was like Ajatshatru – a man with no enemies He was a lovable and affectionate leader with a mass base. He had his own convictions and spoke in no uncertain term. His stand on Sati invited the wrath of the Rajput community but the same Rajput leaders later accepted that he was right. On the other hand, Jaswant belongs to the elite class and comes from an altogether different background. He is articulate and savvy, but his critics say he lacks all the qualities which made Shekhawat a mass leader. But his coming back to the party would definitely send the signal that the BJP still cares for the Rajputs.