Why AAP’s Manish Sisodia claims he is a descendant of Maharana Pratap

Soon after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was founded in 2013, during a television debate, its then main ideologue Yogendra Yadav was asked about the ideological moorings of the organisation. He had said that they believed in extracting the best from every ideology. A party which had come into existence to cleanse Indian politics soon took to the vice ways of existing political parties and started to play the caste and communal cards right from the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Yogendra Yadav himself became “Salim” in the quest of Muslim votes on the Gurgaon seat. His compatriot journalist Ashutosh became “Ashutosh Gupta” while contesting from the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat in the same election. Now deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, facing charges of scam, has become a descendant of Maharana Pratap, who took on the mighty Mughals.

Under investigations from the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), Sisodia last week alleged that the BJP had offered to shut all cases against him if he quit the AAP and switched sides. “I have received BJP’s message — ‘break away from AAP and join BJP, we will get all CBI-ED cases closed’. My reply to BJP: I am a Rajput, a descendant of Maharana Pratap. I will cut off my head but I will not bow down in front of corrupt conspirators. All the cases against me are false. Do whatever you want to do,” Sisodia claimed in a post on Twitter.

This is interesting as celebrating Maharana Pratap’s legacy and his struggle against the Mughal rulers is traditionally part of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s agenda.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has even expressed apprehension that Sisodia may be arrested soon. Sisodia is among 15 persons and firms named in an FIR registered by the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Delhi excise policy.

Sisodia’s claim to the legendary Mewar ruler’s legacy emanates more for the reasons of caste calculations than any love for the hero of the famous Battle of Haldighati. Sisodia belongs to the Ghaziabad district, across the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. Ghaziabad has large presence of Rajput voters, the community to which Sisodia belongs to. The Delhi deputy chief minister’s village has a huge Maharana Pratap statue at Dhaulana, standing tall in the middle of the green agricultural fields.

No wonder that since 1991, during the last eight Lok Sabha polls, Ghaziabad seat has been won by a Rajput leader on seven occasions. The last two Lok Sabha members from Ghaziabad — Rajnath Singh (2009) and General VK Singh (2014 and 2019) — are Rajputs and belong to the BJP. Before them BJP’s Ramesh Chand Tomar won this seat on four occasions. That caste mattered in these polls goes without saying.

Sisodia’s Assembly constituency, Mandawali, in East Delhi, which borders Ghaziabad, has a huge migrant presence from the western UP district. Thus one can clearly see the need to revive the umbilical cord which connects Sisodia with Maharana Pratap’s clan.

Politics of caste has been integral to Indian democracy’s vibrant functioning, but the bigger question is: Would Sisodia also endorse the agenda to replace Akbar as victor of Haldighati with the name of the ruler of Mewar?

This shows how difficult a situation Sisodia finds himself in and how desperate he is to save himself from an imminent arrest in the excise scam. Soon after the news of the scam broke out and a flurry of charges were levelled against Sisodia and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, they tried to divert the issue saying: “They were being targeted for doing good work in the field of education and health.”

Even a news report about ‘great performance’ by the Delhi government schools published on the front page of New York Times was flaunted in their defence by Sisodia and Kejriwal. The authenticity of the said report has since been disputed as they carried photographs of a private school named Mother Mary School, located in Mayur Vihar.

Even a news fact-check website, perceived to be anti-BJP and pro-AAP, could not effectively certify the story to be true. Failing to take refuge in their ‘good work’ and the opposition BJP and the Congress pressing the charges of corruption, Sisodia then blew off the conch shell of being a descendant of Maharana Pratap.

Muslims constitute about 18 percent of Delhi’s electorate. They have been steadfast in their support to the AAP. One wonders how they will be reacting to Sisodia’s new-found connection with Maharana Pratap.

The writer is an author and president, Centre for Reforms, Development & Justice. Views expressed are personal.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.