Gurugram: The Haryana government Friday constituted a panel to “examine historical facts” about Samrat Mihir Bhoj, a 9th century emperor whose statue unveiled at Kaithal in July sparked a row between the Gurjar and Rajput communities.
The move comes two days after the Rajput (Kshatriya) community held a Maha Sammelan at Kaithal and gave an ultimatum to the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP government, threatening to oppose the BJP in next year’s elections and ban entry of its leaders to their villages if their grievances were not addressed.
The seven-member panel led by the Karnal divisional commissioner, which includes historians, police officers and advocates, was formed “with the aim of averting the proliferation of disinformation”, according to an order issued by Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal, seen by ThePrint.
The order stated that the divisional commissioner of Karnal would be the chairman of the committee, the inspector general of police, Karnal Range, would be the vice-chairman and the Kaithal deputy commissioner would be member secretary.
“Superintendent of Police, Kaithal, advocates of both sides (Kshatriya and Gurjars) and Rajeev Lochan and Priyatosh Sharma, both professors of medieval history at Panjab University, Chandigarh, will be members of the committee.”
Col Devender Singh Rana (retd), president of the Kshatriya Sangharsh Samiti, however, said that the committee set up by the government was unlikely to resolve the issue and added that no two historians have ever come to a common conclusion.
He told ThePrint Saturday that he had served in the Army in the 4th Battalion of the Rajput Regiment, where nearly 50 percent of the soldiers in the regiments were Rajputs and the rest were Gurjars.
“There were no differences between the two communities…However, the present BJP government has been pitting one community against the other for its own benefits,” added Col Rana.
He went on to say that the Rajput community doesn’t have any hopes of justice from the BJP government and they have already prepared themselves for a long battle on political as well as legal fronts. At the Rajput Mahakumbh held in Karnal on 30 September, he further said, they had constituted three committees — Sangharsh Samiti, a historians committee, and a legal committee — which would help them in the fight.
“We are ready for the fight. But if the BJP government doesn’t fulfil all our demands within 15 days, we will not allow any of their leaders to enter our villages. They will be taught a lesson in the coming parliamentary and assembly elections,” said Rana.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Sharma, state spokesperson of the BJP, maintained that the BJP has nothing to do with the row. “If two different communities supporting the BJP have a dispute over an issue, it doesn’t become the party’s issue. Nor does it mean that the party was fanning it. The BJP was rather making all possible efforts to resolve the issue, and the committee set up on Friday is a step in that direction.”
Leela Ram, a BJP MLA from Kaithal from the Gurjar community, who along with the district president of the BJP, Ashok Gujjar, was behind the move to install the statue, didn’t respond to calls made by ThePrint.
When ThePrint reached Ashok Gujjar on his phone, he refused to comment.
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Demands of Rajput community
The Rajput community has been angry with the BJP ever since the statue of Samrat Mihir Bhoj, carrying an inscription describing him as a Gurjar king, was unveiled in Kaithal by MLA Leela Ram on 20 July.
Kanwar Pal, a Gurjar and a minister in Khattar’s cabinet, was to unveil the statue, but he skipped the event when the Rajput community started opposing the move a day before the event and was reportedly dispersed after lathi charge by the police.
At the Maha Sammelan at Kaithal Friday, the Rajput community raised several grievances and demanded the removal of the Gurjar prefix from all statues of Samrat Mihir Bhoj in Haryana and to call him ‘Hindu Samrat’ instead.
They have also sought the constitution of a Kshatriya Commission and the withdrawal of all criminal cases registered against people from the Rajput community during protests against the movies Jodhaa Akbar and Padmaavat.
The grievances also called for an immediate stop to the tinkering with the history and identity of national heroes. The community has even sought action against officers who alleged ordered lathi charge against Rajput youth during their protests against the unveiling of Samrat Mihir Bhoj’s statue.
Furthermore, the community has sought Maharana Pratap Chair be set up in Kurukshetra University as announced by former chief minister Bhajan Lal, and give them the right to carry swords as given to the Sikhs.
According to Rana, the Rajput community has never taken the stand to establish the identity or the caste of Samrat Mihir Bhoj. “We have always believed that mahapurush (national heroes) are of the entire nation and not of any particular community,” he said.
He added that “we have never demanded Kshatriya Samrat or Rajput Samrat be inscribed as prefixes with the name of Mihir Bhoj”.
“We want the prefix Gujjar removed and the word Hindu Samrat to be written before Mihir Bhoj’s name,” Rana asserted.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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