Diya Kumari: Rajasthan royal is burning bright in BJP

In 2013, right after she joined the BJP, Diya Kumari, Jaipur’s erstwhile princess, was thrust into the political limelight with a firecracker of a contest in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur.

She contested from the Meena-dominated constituency for the Assembly polls against the community’s tallest leader, Kirori Lal Meena, who was then a BJP rebel.

Political observer and former Samajwadi Party member Anil Shekhawat recalls the novice’s feat. “She had no connection with Sawai Madhopur, except that it was built by her ancestor Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh I," Shekhawat told DH.

The Rajput community does not have the numbers to swing votes on their own there. But a combination of other castes like Gujjars, Muslims, Brahmins, Vaishyas and Jats have a say in the poll results.

"And that is what Diya Kumari did, reached out to all communities and became one with them.”

The result? Diya Kumari polled over 37 per cent votes and won.

This refrain – of being able to become a ‘commoner’ amid voters - comes up time and again in conversations involving Diya Kumari.

Now, Diya Kumari’s boilerplate utterance of 2013 from Sawai Madhopur — “People have high regard for royals because they used to serve people, and that is what I wish to do. I entered politics with aims, not like other opportunist politicians” — seems to make sense.

That is why a decade on, the 52-year-old is still going strong; she has connected with the masses and shown the stomach for the good fight.

Despite her seat being changed thrice, Diya Kumari remained unfazed. She was tested as an MLA, became an MP and has now been catapulted back to the state to fight it out as a legislator. Diya Kumari has taken all of it in her stride.

With the backing of the Modi-Shah duo, her political stock seems to be rising. The announcement of her candidature from Jaipur’s Vidyadhar Nagar for the Rajasthan Assembly polls certainly made noise.

Political sources say Diya Kumari has assured the BJP top brass that they can field her from anywhere and she would emerge triumphant. 

Diya Kumari is energetic, accessible, hard-working. She maintains her poise and is beautiful, too, like her legendary step-grandmother, Gayatri Devi.

There is a rebel inside her as well. She created quite a stir when, going against Rajput tradition, she married Narendra Kunwar in 1997, someone who worked in the royal household.

People placed trust in her. And she delivered. "Apart from roads, she transformed the local hospital with specialist units," say locals. 

It is said that her relations with Vasundhara Raje, another royal who urged her to enter politics when she was the CM, turned frosty after an incident concerning her heritage property. 

Sources say in 2018, Raje denied her an MLA ticket after Kumari had a run-in with civic officials over a disputed land worth Rs 1,200 crore in her heritage property, Hotel Rajmahal, in the heart of Jaipur in 2016. The anti-encroachment drive is said to have had the tacit approval of Raje. 

Her family took out a huge rally to salvage the ‘Rajput honour’, but in reality, it was done to score a political point.

Although hurt that no BJP leader came out in her favour then, Diya Kumari, however, kept her composure and continued to work for the party. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she stood from Rajsamand, a region which serves as a catchment area for the defence forces.

And Diya Kumari showed tactical nous as she used her father Brigadier Bhawani Singh’s army background to the hilt on her way to a resounding win. Her father, a war hero who had fought in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, had received the country's second-highest gallantry award, the Maha Vir Chakra.

Like her step-grandmother, Diya Kumari dabbles in charities and was involved with a public school. Acknowledging Gayatri Devi’s influence, Diya Kumari told DH: “My grandmother was ahead of her time and an icon. She is definitely my inspiration.”

“She listens, is accessible, well-mannered and soft-spoken,” says Timmie Kumar, an art connoisseur and a hotelier from Jaipur. “Whenever I have tried to reach her, she has invariably messaged back even if she was busy at that moment. I have heard whenever on the campaign trail, she has lunch with villagers, although there is a packed meal for her team. That shows how down-to-earth she is. And getting a ticket from Jaipur’s Vidyadhar Nagar is a plus point as I believe she genuinely cares for this city.”

Her recent bizarre outbursts involving Taj Mahal and Jaipur royals being the descendants of Lord Rama have been discordant notes in an otherwise relatively controversy-free political life. But these are “minor irritants,” says Shekhawat, adding that she is unlike other royals, including Raje and Bikaner’s Siddhi Diya Kumari, who carry an aura of royalty with them.

“Although people in Rajasthan still have reverence for the royalty, they want somebody who can be in their midst and listen to their woes. She does not have administrative experience behind her, but 10 years is a long time in politics,” he says. 

Given her track record of winning and approachability, there is speculation that Diya Kumari is slated for a bigger role in state politics, perhaps even as a counter to Raje.  

Diya Kumari acknowledges that politics is the best vehicle to serve people. “Politics is one of the many ways to serve people. But the scope of serving people as a public representative is much larger,” she quips.