Meet The New Rajasthan CM - Bhajanlal Sharma

Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) central leadership stunned everyone on Tuesday by naming first time legislator Bhajanlal Sharma as the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The announcement of his elevation to the top post follows that of Mohan Yadav in Madhya Pradesh, and Vishnu Deo Sai in Chhattisgarh.

The BJP also announced that scion of Jaipur Royalty Diya Kumari, and Prem Chand Bairwa will be appointed deputy chief ministers of Rajasthan.

The decision of the BJP in the three states of bringing in new faces is loaded with multiple messages, and a deviation from established leaderships. These selections also spell an end to the ‘chief ministerial faces’, from the era of Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.

Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhra Raje Scindia in Rajasthan and Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh were from that era. Now the era of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah stands firmly established in the party.

Observers say that the BJP in its preparation for the forthcoming parliamentary polls next year has done a caste balancing act choosing another backward caste (OBC) candidate in Madhya Pradesh, a tribal in Chhattisgarh and a Brahmin in Rajasthan.

Rajasthan’s two deputy CMs come from the Rajput and Dalit castes. “All this needs to be seen in context of the pitch that was raised by the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi about the caste census in the run up to these elections. While the whole noise had been around OBCs, the BJP has gone ahead to appease others as well.

“In Rajasthan Haridev Joshi had been the last Brahmin chief minister. The community commands at least seven percent vote share in the state,” Rahul Singh Shekhawat, an observer having roots in Rajasthan, pointed out.

The state has around six percent Rajputs while the number of Scheduled Castes is around 17 percent according to sources.

Chief Minister Sharma (54) belongs to Atari village in Bharatpur, and won the recent polls from Sanganer seat. Deputy CM Kumari represents the Vidyadhar Nagar constituency, and Deputy CM Bairwa is the MLA from Dudu constituency.

The first message for the masses that can be derived here is that the BJP believes in bringing about a generational change in its leadership, and is willing to bring forth fresh faces.

The second is to put a stamp on the dominance of the central leadership when it comes to choosing leaders in the states. “Till now it was believed that a first time MLA would not even be made a junior minister but here we are seeing him becoming a Chief Minister and that too of a big state like Rajasthan.

‘Then there is another message coming in the form of the party respecting hard working individuals among its ideological ranks. Sharma has his roots in Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ANVP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the Sangh Parivar constituents including the BJP.

“He is known for his organisational skills and has been regarded as the ‘go to man’ on organisational matters. The choice also echoes what Modi has been talking of late about giving representation to those who work up the ladder when he says ‘naamdaar nahin kaamdar’ (not favouring those with big name but those who are known by their work),” was the view expressed by another observer.

He added that the BJP has demonstrated perfect social engineering not only in Rajasthan but in the other two states as well, in the polls that were being called the ‘semi finals’ ahead of the next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

However, there are some observers who have a different take on Sharma’s selection as CM. “The manner in which he was named over the other strong contenders including former CM Scindia, and a host of central leaders who had been fielded for these assembly polls points at the centralisation of power within the party.

“It reminds us of the days when an emperor would nominate his appointee in smaller kingdoms in the past. It clearly shows that the current party leadership at the centre does not want any leadership at the regional level to become strong.

“It wants the regional leadership to be completely dependent on the central power within the party which is not good for any institution or organisation in the long run,” a Jaipur-based observer pointed out.

Meanwhile, a lot is being read into Scindia proposing Sharma’s name as the party’s choice for the top post. She herself was a strong contender for the post and had been reportedly lobbying both with the newly elected legislators, as well as the central leadership ever since the results had been declared.

She had reportedly even visited the national capital to put forward her claim to the post before the central leadership.

Observers feel that she is still a force to reckon with in the state given the fact that around 40 of her loyalists are among the elected MLAs in the state. These include winners both among the BJP flock as well as among the independents.

Countering her manoeuvres over the last few days, the BJP foot soldiers had been saying that despite being the CM of the state on two occasions she could not bring the party back to power for a second successive term.

The BJP would rather have a leader who would break the tradition of alternate parties coming to power, was their defence for the party going into the elections without Scindia as the ‘ CM face’. It remains to be seen how the BJP’s central leadership placates her in the days to come.

The election results have been followed by some incidents that convey that Sharma has his hands full when it comes to running the state. The most important has been the killing of Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi.

Two of the accused have been arrested from Chandigarh in the case. The killing once again brings to the centre the all important issue of deteriorating law and order in the state for which the BJP had been attacking the outgoing Ashok Gehlot led Congress government.

Just after the results the state also got a taste of radical Hindutva with the newly elected BJP MLA from Hawa Mahal constituency in Jaipur Balmukund Acharya calling for a shutdown of non vegetarian restaurants and meat shops. He later reportedly backed off and apologised.

Observers say that the communal pitch that had assumed shrill notes in the run up to the Assembly polls is not expected to die down soon in the state with the Parliamentary polls less than six months away.

The state has a total of 25 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP had won 24 of them in 2019 and the remaining one had also been won by its ally.