New Delhi: From declaring Akbar a “rapist” to claiming that it was not the Wright Brothers who invented the plane, Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) chief Madan Dilawar has veered into one controversy after one other since taking cost as Rajasthan’s college training minister this January.
The six-term MLA has been on a mission to push the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and to brandish his credentials as that of a Hindutva chief. In some political circles, he’s even known as Rajasthan’s Narottam Mishra, who served as dwelling minister within the earlier Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP authorities in Madhya Pradesh.
In line with political analyst Rajan Mahan, “Dilawar has been a firebrand leader of the BJP since its early days, although he was not a very big leader during the tenures of (Bhairon Singh) Shekhawat and (Vasundhara) Raje.”
“The Hindutva flavour was not the main ingredient of his politics earlier, but now Hindutva is the core focus. Over time, he has risen the ranks and tries to consolidate the party’s strength ahead of polls, particularly in the Hadoti region, which is an RSS stronghold,” Mahan informed ThePrint.
A cupboard colleague of the minister added, “Dilawar was in the Bajrang Dal and was a close associate of Pravin Togadia. After the 1989 riots (in Kota), he was among those accused of making provocative speeches.”
“The Ram temple agitation gave many hardline Hindutva leaders a platform and Dilawar by raking up one controversy after another seized the opportunity. Being a Dalit also helped him climb up the ranks in the BJP.”
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Madan Dilawar on Akbar & Wright Brothers
Throughout a curriculum assessment assembly in Jodhpur Tuesday, Dilawar educated his weapons at Akbar declaring that the Sixteenth-century Mughal ruler was a “rapist” and to “take his name in India is a sin”.
“When we were students, we read that Akbar was great. I was also taught this, but I have also heard that he used to hold ‘meena bazaars’, pick up beautiful girls and women, and rape them… How can a rapist be great,” he was quoted as saying by information company ANI.
The minister additionally mentioned a panel would assessment college textbooks to cleanse them of any content material that ‘shows national heroes in bad light’.
To the chagrin of a number of historians have contended that to see Akbar in the identical mild as Aurangzeb or Babur is an unfair comparability, leaders of the Hindu Proper have at occasions termed all of them “invaders”.
On Wednesday, Dilawar courted yet one more controversy when he claimed that it was not Orville and Wilbur Wright however an Indian by the identify of Shivkar Bapuji Talpade who flew the primary unmanned plane, in Mumbai, however the incident was not recorded because the nation was beneath colonial rule.
“Whenever we talk about the making of aeroplanes, the Wright Brothers’ name appears, but it is not true. The truth is that an Indian named Talpade had already invented an aircraft before the Wright Brothers,” he mentioned on the closing ceremony of Rajasthan Vigyan Mahotsav in Jaipur.
In January, a video from 2019 exhibiting Dilawar went into circulation on social media wherein the minister was seen praying to god to carry sickness and misfortune to those that don’t eliminate single-use plastics.
Earlier this month, he mentioned mother and father have been partly guilty for the rising cases of scholar suicides in Kota. Youngsters who’ve little interest in engineering or medical research are being pressured to change into engineers or medical doctors which is leading to them taking drastic steps, he mentioned on the time.
Suspension of Muslim, Dalit academics
Final week, Dilawar performing on a grievance from an outfit recognized because the Sarva Hindu Samaj ordered the suspension of two Muslim authorities college academics in Kota district for allegedly selling ‘religious conversion’. In its grievance, the outfit claimed {that a} former lady scholar, a Hindu on the time, was known as a Muslim within the college register.
In a video assertion, the minister declared that he wouldn’t permit state-run colleges to change into “dens of conversion”.
It was solely after college students of the Khajuri Odpur authorities college staged a protest demanding the reinstatement of the academics that one of many suspended academics clarified that this was a case of ‘mistaken identity’. In line with a report by The Indian Specific, the lady in query had eloped with a Muslim man from the village which led to the confusion.
The college principal too affirmed that he had not come throughout any case of ‘religious conversion’ thus far.
Dilawar was as soon as once more accused of ‘acting arbitrarily’ after he ordered the suspension of a Dalit authorities main college instructor for ‘hurting religious sentiments’ by refusing to place up an image of the Hindu deity Saraswati through the Republic Day operate at her college in Baran district.
In line with experiences, the instructor had put up footage of Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar and Savitribai Phule through the operate to which some villagers reacted by asking her why there was no image of Saraswati. This led to an argument wherein the instructor mentioned Phule needs to be given due respect for selling the significance of training and requested what position the Hindu deity had performed on this regard. The villagers, in flip, declared that the instructor’s remarks have been an affront to ‘Hindu religious sentiments’.
A video of the argument reached Dilawar who introduced the instructor’s suspension at a public operate in Kishanganj on 22 February, saying that motion had been taken in opposition to “those who give weightage to themselves so much that they question the contribution of Goddess Saraswati”.
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‘Surya Namaskar’ round
In a repeat of a 2015 order by the then Vasundhara Raje authorities, the state secondary training board issued a round on 23 January making it obligatory for all authorities and personal colleges to make a 10-minute session of ‘Surya Namaskar’ a part of the morning meeting.
A gaggle known as the Rajasthan Muslim Discussion board moved the Rajasthan Excessive Court docket in opposition to the order however the courtroom refused to entertain the petition.
Dilawar reiterated the choice on 15 February earlier than displaying his ‘Surya Namaskar’ abilities together with college students at a college in Jaipur as a part of a world file bid wherein almost 1.3 crore college students and academics throughout the state carried out the train. The minister additionally mentioned that no instructor or college member will probably be allowed to carry out puja or namaz throughout college hours and that motion will probably be taken in opposition to any college that refuses to adjust to the state authorities’s round mandating common ‘Surya Namaskar’.
Even in 2015, the transfer was met with criticism from outfits claiming to symbolize the Muslim group however opposition to it will definitely misplaced steam.
Headline hunter, Bajrang Dal roots
Madan Dilawar began his political profession with the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and was first elected to the Rajasthan Legislative Meeting in 1990 from Atru seat.
Dilawar retained his seat in 1993, 1998 and 2003 when he was appointed as minister of social welfare within the Vasundhara Raje authorities. He was additionally a minister within the authorities of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1993-98).
He unsuccessfully contested from the Baran-Atru meeting seat in 2008, didn’t contest in 2013, however received from the Ramganj Mandi seat on a BJP ticket in 2018. He retained the seat within the meeting polls held final 12 months.
On 22 January, after the consecration ceremony on the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Dilawar vowed to have just one meal a day until the time an analogous temple for Krishna was erected on the ‘Krishna Janmabhoomi’ in Mathura.
He made an analogous pledge through the Ram Janmabhoomi motion within the Nineteen Nineties, vowing to not put on a garland until the time a temple for Ram would come up on the disputed website in Ayodhya. When the temple was thrown open to the general public on 22 January this 12 months, Dilawar acquired two garlands, one weighing 34 kg and one other 108 ft in size, from his supporters.
Earlier than that, in February 1990, Dilawar had vowed to not sleep in a mattress until the time Article 370 was not scrapped.
“Dilawar knows what is praised within the organisation and the RSS. The parent organisation (RSS) wants to replace Muslim rulers with Indian heroes in school textbooks. Not only does it help the party expand the reach of its ideology but it also helps with polarisation. Dilawar is only working by the book. He knows how to retain attention and consolidate his political clout,” a state BJP functionary informed ThePrint on situation of anonymity.
Rajasthan Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi, nonetheless, mentioned “targetting Akbar before the polls is part of BJP’s Hindu-Muslim project”.
“Experts and academicians decide the textbook syllabus and Dilawar is questioning his own central government’s NCERT syllabus. He is questioning Modi ji. The BJP should look into it,” he added.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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