Padmaavat U-turn: Karni Senas at each other’s throat in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: A day after the vice-president of

Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena

praised Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film ‘Padmaavat’ and issued a letter claiming the outfit was withdrawing protests against the film, the fringe Rajput outfit made a U-turn and claimed it would continue with protests.

The outfit also said that the person who had signed the letter would be immediately suspended.

Addressing the media in Jaipur on Saturday, the outfit’s president, Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi, claimed that he had never directed anyone to watch the movie as mentioned in the letter. Claiming that he had nothing to do with the letter, he termed it ‘fake’ and went on to hint that it could be an insider’s mischief. On being probed further by media persons, he said, “We will immediately suspend the office-bearer who has signed this letter.”

The letter in question though has exposed the cracks within Rajput outfits that have been putting a united front ever since the ‘Padmaavat’ issue began. Till date, these outfits addressed the media at Jaipur’s

Rajput Sabha Bhawan

but Gogamedi was forced to meet the media persons at the press club on Saturday, reportedly as upset community authorities denied him space at the Bhawan.

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The leaders of the two Karni Senas had come together on Thursday to celebrate the BJP’s defeat in the bypoll. However, ever since a copy of the letter approving the film went viral on Friday, the two groups have been trading barbs. On Saturday, the two leaders were engaged in a war of words for grabbing ‘credit’ for the first attack on

Sanajay Leela Bhansali

and his team in January last year.

Gogamedi on Saturday claimed that his activists had roughed up Bhansali and disrupted the shooting last January. The Shree Rajput Karni Sena, on the other hand, said that efforts of its founder

Lokendra Singh Kalvi

led to the movie not being screened anywhere in the state. “Our boys kicked out Bhansali from Jaipur. Nobody should forget that we led the protest against Bhansali on January 27,” said Shree Rajput Karni Sena president Mahipal Singh Makrana. He claimed that it was the generosity of Kalvi that gave Gogamedi a platform.

Contradicting that statement, Gogamedi said, “Somebody should ask them (Kalvi and his team) if their Sena is even registered or not, we were in the forefront of the anti-Padmaavat agitation and galvanized the entire community.”

“Kalviji made Gogamedi the state president of Karni Sena two years ago. But it was due to his misdeeds that we kicked him out. Is it not widely known that he has faced serious criminal charges, including that of rape?” alleged a Karni Sena leader.

Earlier in the day, Lokendra Singh Kalvi, patron of Shree Rajput Karni Sena, addressing the media at the Bhawan, had said that their outfit was the “original” Karni Sena and the rest others were mere “duplicate” outfits. “I do not want to comment on the letter or on the other outfit. We have nothing to do with them. Our fight against Padmaavat and the filmmaker continues,” he said.

He said that he had already warned about people who would try to mislead their agitation. “I don’t want to give credit to this controversy by commenting on it. However, I had already warned that some defectors will always try to defame us,” he said, adding that ‘Janta curfew’ was the brainchild of his outfit which was supported by masses.

The latest round of infighting has come after BJP faced a drubbing in bypolls in Alwar, Ajmer and Mandalgarh. Both Karni Senas are claiming it was their efforts that led to the defeat of the ruling party.