At Surat mega gathering, Kshatriya leaders urge crowd to use vote as sword against BJP | Elections News
At Surat mega gathering, Kshatriya leaders urge crowd to use vote as sword against BJP | Elections News
Nearly a week before Gujarat votes for the Lok Sabha elections, Surat on Sunday saw a mega gathering of thousands of people as Kshatriya leaders yet again registered their protest against the ruling BJP over Union Minister Parshottam Rupala’s contentious comments. The leaders exhorted the attendees to use their ‘vote as a sword’ against the BJP in the Lok Sabha election, which is due to be held on May 7.
Addressing the Kshatriya Asmita Mahasammelan at Bardoli, state coordination committee member Karansinh Chavda said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a slogan — “Swachh Bharat Samridha Bharat” (clean India, prosperous India) … so we have to keep the button next to the BJP election symbol in the electronic voting machine clean and not touch it. It should be sent like that to the strong room.” Protests have been going on across the state ever since Rupala — at a Dalit event last month — said that the kings “bowed down” to the British.
Referring to the Ashvamedha ritual, which was said to be performed by the kings to establish their supremacy, he further said, “The Ashvamedha horse which started from Surendranagar has reached Bardoli. If you have the courage, try to stop it or else surrender. The horse will cover Khambhat, Banaskantha, Kheda and Jamnagar. After this, the Kshatriya folks will stay in Rajkot. We have formed a booth committee in all 18 wards of Rajkot. We have already opened the Kshatriya Samaj Central office in Rajkot to work against the candidature of Rupala.” Rajya Kshatriya Samaj Sankalan Samithi (a state coordination committee) was formed earlier this month to lead the movement across the state. The panel had also organised a massive gathering in Rajkot on April 14.
In Bardoli, over 10,000 gathered from various parts of the state to attend the event, said the organisers. While men were seen wearing saffron turbans, women were seen dressed in saffron sarees. “Kshatriyas are different from other communities and when they go to war, they don’t fear the results, whether they will win or lose. We will continue our protest,” Chavda said, addressing the gathering as he added, “We have got support from different communities like Dalits, Tribals, Muslims, and Sikhs.”
“We are thankful to Pasabhai who had said controversial statements, due to which our community got united. If you go for voting on polling day, before leaving home, just see the face of your daughter. We are sure that Rupala will lose the election and the protest will affect the results in 10 seats of the state,” he further claimed. In her address, state coordination committee women wing leader Truptiba Raol said, “Our fight is not for victory or defeat but it is for our asmita (self esteem). In this battle, we have to use our vote as a sword.” Ahead of the mega event, the Rajput leaders went to Swaraj Ashram in Bardoli town, and garlanded statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Kshatriya leader Dr Rajendra Sinh said, “Our community supported Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister and also supported him when he was in the race to become the prime minister. But when time came for his help, he did not utter a single word and did not accept our demand to change the candidate.”
