Stir unites Rajputs split by politics

JAIPUR/AHMEDABAD/BHOPAL: Rajput members of rival parties Congress and BJP in at least three states — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — found themselves on the same page on ‘Padmaavat’. There is a “consensus” among Rajput members of the two parties that “sentiments of the community cannot be hurt”.
On Thursday, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh virtually echoed the sentiments of fellow Rajput leader and MP BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan, who had said opposition to ‘Padmaavat’ related to “respecting public feelings in a democratic set-up”.Singh said: “History should never be distorted... Any film that hurts religious or caste sentiments should not be made.”
In Rajasthan, Congress spokesperson Pratap Singh Khachariyawas had demanded a ban on the film in November, much before Vasundhara Raje said her government wanted to stop the screening in the state. “The movie distorts historical facts and that is unfortunate. The movie should not have been released at all,” said Khachariyawas.
In Gujarat, justifying the government’s ban on the film, junior state home minister Pradipsinh Jadeja had blamed the film-makers for Tuesday’s violence, citing the “distortion of history”. In November, Congress’s Shaktisinh Gohil had taken the same stand when he sought a ban on it ahead of the state polls.