Kshatriya community plans statewide agitation against BJP over Rupala's remarks

Ahmedabad: Upset with the BJP for not withdrawing its senior leader Parshottam Rupala from the Lok Sabha contest over his alleged offensive comment, the Kshatriya community on Friday declared an all-out war against the ruling BJP.

The community leaders said they will work not just to defeat Rupala but also to see that the BJP loses all 26 LS seats in the state.

The decision came hours after the last day of filing and withdrawing nomination papers got over on Friday.

The community leaders had given an ultimatum to the BJP to withdraw Rupala by April 19 or else they will intensify the agitation.

On Thursday, the union home minister Amit Shah during his road shows in Ahmedabad told several local news channels that since Rupala had tendered "heartfelt apologies", the matter ended.

On the contrary, the Kshatriya Coordination Committee, which has been spearheading the agitation against Rupala, on Friday evening declared its decision after holding a meeting with community leaders in Ahmedabad.

Talking about the decision, committee's spokesperson Karansinh Chavda told reporters that since BJP didn't heed the demand, the community has pledged to keep its agitation against the BJP.

For this purpose, he said that the state has been divided into five zones- Kutch, Saurashtra, north Gujarat, central Gujarat and south Gujarat. He said that "Dharmartha" will be taken out across these zones carrying anti-BJP messages while teams of community's youth groups will stage protests to ensure BJP doesn't win a single seat.

The community has threatened that 75 lakh Rajputs in the state will go against the BJP and the agitation will spread across the country.

The Kshatriya agitation started after Rupala, who hails from the influential Kadva Patidar community, on March 22 spoke about how erstwhile rulers broke bread with the British and married off their daughters to them.

Rupala said this while addressing a public gathering organised by dalit community's Rukhi Samaj, saying that they never converted despite being persecuted by the Britishers.

Rupala has publicly apologised several times but the community leaders didn't accept it. The agitation threatens to bring back decades old caste rivalry between the two communities.