Latest revision as of 07:21, 6 January 2024

[edit] A backgrounder

[edit] The many Karni Senas

Hamza Khan, Dec 6, 2023: The Indian Express

The many Karni Senas

The expression ‘Karni Sena’ is now loosely used to describe several similar Rajput outfits spread across North Indian states. Perhaps the oldest is Shri Rajput Karni Sena (SRKS), which was founded in 2006. The outfit headed by Gogamedi is a splinter faction of this organisation.

Two people claimed to have founded the SRKS — the late Lokendra Singh Kalvi, an unsuccessful politician, and Ajit Singh Mamdoli, a builder. Mamdoli and Kalvi parted ways after the 2008 Rajasthan Assembly elections, and ran parallel factions with the same name, even fighting a court case over the name SRKS.

Kalvi and Gogamedi

The 6-foot-plus Kalvi was Karni Sena’s most visible face during the Padmaavat protests, when he travelled extensively to rally Rajputs in Northern states against the film. He emerged as the tallest figure of the Karni Sena, and remains one even after his death in March this year.

Kalvi was the son of Kalyan Singh Kalvi, a Minister in Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar’s government. Lokendra Kalvi contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1993 as an Independent, and in 1998 on a BJP ticket. He lost both times. In 1999, Kalvi left the BJP and started an agitation along with another former BJP leader to seek reservation for the poor among forward castes, including Rajputs. In 2004, he returned to the BJP. Kalvi tried unsuccessfully for a Congress ticket in the Lok Sabha elections of 2009.

In 2015, Kalvi expelled the state president of his faction of SRKS, Sukhdev Singh Shekhawat alias Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi following differences between the two, after which Gogamedi set up the SRRKS. The Mamdoli-led SRKS and Gogamedi-led SRRKS announced a merger in October 2021, with Gogamedi continuing as president of SRRKS.

As per Mamdoli, there are currently three Karni Senas which directly trace their roots from the 2006 SRKS: one SRKS led by Kalvi’s son Bhawani Singh Kalvi, a second SRKS led by Mahipal Singh Makrana and the third one, SRRKS, which was led by Gogamedi and has Mamdoli as its national convenor.

Rajput vs Jat

Both Mamdoli and Kalvi agreed that the SRKS was founded as a result of the Rajputs’ struggle with their traditional rivals, the Jats, in 2006. That year, Anandpal Singh, a Rajput and then Rajasthan’s most notorious gangster, killed Jivan Ram Godara and Harphool Ram Jat in Didwana, allegedly over control of the illicit liquor business. Mamdoli and Kalvi alleged that as Jats protested, they got support from a wide spectrum of political leaders, and the police allegedly detained any Rajput man who could be linked to Anandpal.

To resist this “hounding”, the SRKS was founded on September 23, 2006, with 11 declared aims, including opposing “political or social malice” against Rajputs, the misrepresentation of history or historical figures, and promoting Rajput unity. The outfit was named after Karni Mata, a goddess revered across Rajasthan but whose principal seat is at the famous rat temple in Deshnok near Bikaner.

Demands and protests

In 2008, the SRKS protested Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar over “inaccurate portrayal of history”. Also in 2008, it called a Jaipur bandh to protest a lathicharge on Brahmins, claiming that it was the duty of “Kshatriyas” to “protect society”.

In 2012, the SRKS called a bandh after BJP MLA Rajendra Rathore, later a senior Cabinet Minister, was arrested by CBI in connection with a fake encounter case. The following year, SRKS threatened to disrupt the Congress’s Chintan Shivir and confront AICC president Sonia Gandhi over the issue of reservations.

Among other things, over the years, SRKS has demanded that Rajasthani be recognised as a state language under Schedule VIII of the Constitution, and that a statue of Maharana Pratap be erected at the Kashmere Gate ISBT in Delhi.

As for the SRRKS, it was members of this outfit that assaulted director Sanjay Leela Bhansali in January 2017 during Padmaavat’s shooting at Jaigarh fort in Jaipur. More recently, in April this year, the Gogamedi-led group organised a Kesariya Mahapanchayat in Jaipur and demanded an increase in EWS quota for general castes from 10 per cent to 14 per cent.

Political relevance

Rajputs in Rajasthan have traditionally supported the BJP, while Jats have supported the Congress. After the BJP’s loss in the 2018 Assembly polls, anger among Rajputs over the Padmaavat issue and Anandpal’s encounter was cited as one of the key reasons.

Rajputs are among the most politically relevant and powerful communities in Rajasthan and are key voters in about 25 seats, or 1/8th of the total 200 Assembly seats.

Rajput leaders say the Karni Sena is trying to raise its profile by claiming for itself the historical role of “foot soldiers” of the society at large.

[edit] Brief history

Palak Nandi, Karni Sena: Band of jobless youth battling identity crisis, November 18, 2017: The Times of India

A non-political, social organisation is how the Shri Rajput Karni Sena (SRKS) identifies itself; a claim which fails to match its unlawful behaviour over a film. The 2006 organisation boasting of 9.63 lakh registered members, mostly under 40, in Rajasthan, has witnessed growing numbers and influence. Its presence has spread to 12 states with state presidents in Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Telangana and TN. In Rajasthan its office bearers cover all 33 districts.

Named after Karni Mata of Deshnoke town, the organisation’s members consider themselves foot soldiers of SRKS and Lokendra Singh Kalvi their chief. Its members are mostly unemployed youth and under graduates grappling with identity crisis.

Discrimination against Rajputs and the need for reservation led to the birth of SRKS, said Kalvi. The said discrimination dates back to 2006 when a gangster Anandpal murdered two of his Jat rivals in Nagaur district. Anandpal belonged to the Ravana Rajput community, which was then shunned by Rajputs, and hence they (Rajputs) had maintained a distance from him. “Despite this, Rajputs were deliberately targeted by police and the government because of the pressure from Jats. We needed to come together to fight back,” said Kalvi.

But after Anandpal was shot dead in an encounter in June this year, SRKS took up the cause of the ganster’s family demanding a CBI inquiry into the encounter. This won them the support of the Ravana Rajput community. SRKS has an 11-point agenda, the primary one being discrimination against a Rajput leader. A close second is distortion of “historical facts” and at the bottom of the list is reservation in education and government jobs. Recorded history does not concern them as much as folklore through the ages.

The agenda includes social responsibilities like widow rehabilitation and girl education. Yet, there is neither a women’s wing nor a woman decisionmaker, reflecting the patriarchal mindset of the community. The Padmavati controversy may well be the first time that direct or indirect support has been forthcoming for SRKS from R- S- S, VHP, Bajrang Dal, exroyals and political parties, bolstering Kalvi’s profile. This time, however, a majority of former royals have thrown their weight behind the cause.

Kalvi insists that there is more to SRKS than film protests. “Did we come into existence just for ‘Padmavati’? Have we existed for 11 years just to protest the film? Nevertheless this (distortion of history) cannot be allowed,” said Kalvi.

[edit] The rise & rise of the Karni Sena

Ashish Mehta & Dishank Purohit , The rise & rise of Karni Sena, January 24, 2018:The Times of India

Seen primarily as the coming together of a bunch of unemployed Rajput youths at its inception in 2006, Karni Sena has emerged as the community’s face in Rajasthan today. But the organisation has splintered. Among them the most prominent are Shree Rajput Karni Sena, with its patron Lokendra Singh Kalvi; Shree Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena Samiti, led by Ajeet Singh Mamdoli; and Shree Raastriya Rajput Karni Sena, led by its president Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi. These outfits have led various protests on issues involving Rajputs. Of late, they are at the forefront of the agitation against ‘Padmaavat.’ The outfits, with college students from Shekhawati as their core followers, have presented a united face but there are major differences among them due to the vaulting political ambitions of their leaders. In trying to upstage the other, all of them are trying to draw youngsters into their fold to strengthen their base.

“Kalvi was associated with Congress in 2008. Mamdoli wanted Kalvi to get him a Congress ticket and this is how they separated,” said Narayan Singh Divrala, a district president of Shree Rajput Karni Sena, which claims to have over two lakh members.

In January 2017, Karni Sena sprang into national consciousness when some Shree Rajput Karni Sena members assaulted film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali during the shooting of ‘Padmaavat’.

The same year, when a gangster, Anandpal Singh, was shot by Rajasthan police, Karni Sena held a ‘Shradhanjali Sabha’. Singh’s encounter became a rallying point for Rajput outfits. He had become a cult figure among many Rajput and Ravana Rajput youths who saw him as a defender of Rajputs against the “rival” Jat community. The gathering ended on a violent note as railway tracks were uprooted, public property damaged and a person allegedly killed in police firing. “At least 14 Rajput leaders are named in the CBI FIR,” said a senior CBI officer.

Karni Sena first made news in 2006, when Kalvi started protesting against Ashutosh Gowarikar’s ‘Jodha Akbar’ for “distorting history”. The film could not be released in Rajasthan. They hit the headlines again in 2013 with threats to disrupt Congress’s ‘Chintan Shivir’ in Jaipur over their demand for quota. Despite the negative publicity, they have continued the stir against ‘Padmaavat’. Now, Bhansali has asked them to watch the film. “We have agreed... provided he allows six historians nominated by us to watch it first,” Kalvi said.

[edit] See also

Karni Sena Lokendra Kalvi Padmaavat, the film (2017)