Home Minister Amit Shah launched an attack on the Congress party and its leaders in Rajasthan, mocking both Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot for their internal feud and dismissing their chances of retaining power in the state. Speaking at a booth-level workers’ meeting in Bharatpur district, Mr. Shah said that the Congress government in Rajasthan was a “failed experiment” that had betrayed the people’s mandate and plunged the state into chaos and corruption. He advised Mr. Gehlot and Mr. Pilot to stop fighting with each other and “accept the inevitable” that the BJP will come to power in Rajasthan.This statement highlights the political situation in Rajasthan, India, where the Gujjar community is a powerful and influential caste group that has often agitated for more political representation and reservation in government jobs and education.
In the last election, the BJP had fielded nine candidates from the Gujjar community but lost the elections as the Gujjar votes shifted to the Congress party, in the hope that Sachin Pilot would become the first Gujjar Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The Congress party also performed better than the BJP in this region as compared to the 2013 elections, when it had faced a rout across the state. This information gives context to the recent comments made by Amit Shah, the Home Minister of India, on Sachin Pilot’s future in Rajasthan politics.Amit Shah appealed to the Gujjar voters to support the BJP and their vision for a “new India”. He promised that the BJP would ensure good governance, security, infrastructure, healthcare, education, and employment opportunities for all. The Gujjar community has been traditionally seen as a Congress vote bank in Rajasthan, and Mr. Shah’s remarks were significant as they came in a region of eastern Rajasthan that is dominated by the Gujjar community, to which Sachin Pilot belongs.
