“The selfless work that Dilawar decided to do that day, he has been doing till now. Whether the party gives him a ticket or not, he works with the same enthusiasm and is a disciplined party worker. He is not greedy, but he’s boastful. However, that’s necessary for the kind of politics he does,” Vijayvargiya, the convenor of the Chambal Parliament — a local organisation that works for the conservation of the Chambal River — told ThePrint.
A dyed-in-the-wool Hindutva leader usually dressed in his signature style kurta-pajama and a vermillion tikka, Dilawar, who currently represents Ramganj Mandi in the assembly, has lately been in the news for his many controversial statements and decisions. Last month, he gave orders to suspend three Muslim teachers from a Kota village school after allegations of religious conversion flew. Both the school management and the suspended teachers have denied the allegations.
The same month, he called Mughal Emperor Akbar — a ruler historically known for his policy of religious tolerance — “a tyrant and rapist”. Later, he insisted that it wasn’t Orville and Wilbur Wright but an Indian by the name of Shivkar Bapuji Talpade who flew the first unmanned aircraft.
According to political analysts, it’s his out-and-out Hindutva stance and his dedication to the BJP that makes the party repeatedly reward him.
“It’s not like he has great influence in his area. It’s his dedication that has been giving him political dividends,” political analyst Om Saini told ThePrint.
But a section of Rajasthan’s BJP unit is upset at Dilawar’s statements, believing that such an approach could harm the party. Among these leaders is Kanwarlal Meena, a BJP MLA from Anta in Baran district who is particularly upset at how the minister targets minorities.
“A minister is a responsible person; his words should be measured,” Meena said.
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Saree seller to staunch Hindutva — Madan Dilawar’s journey
Situated in the eastern and southeastern parts of Rajasthan, the Hadoti region comprises Bundi, Baran, Jhalawar, and Kota. Once considered part of the Bundi Kingdom, it currently has 17 assembly seats, of which the BJP won 11 in the assembly elections held last November.
The biggest city in the region is Kota, an industrial area that was once the stronghold of the Congress and Communist parties. However, their waning influence and the Sangh’s work in the region since the 1960s have turned it into a Sangh fortress.
Born in 1959 to a poor Dalit family in Baran, Dilawar would buy sarees at wholesale rates from Ahmedabad and sell them in the markets of Kota. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1978 and eventually became the president of the Bajrang Dal’s Kota unit.
He joined the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in 1990, when it was at its peak. That year, he won his first Rajasthan assembly election from the reserved seat of Baran-Atru, and retained it for three more elections — 1993, 1998, and 2003.
He has served as minister thrice — under former chief ministers Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1993-98) and Vasundhara Raje (2003-2008), and now under Bhajanlal Sharma.
According to S.N Ambedkar, a professor of governance at the Rajasthan Central University, by the time Dilawar joined electoral politics, the Sangh wielded significant influence over Hadoti.
“Work there had been done on the ground since the time of the Jana Sangh (the BJP’s predecessor). Since Dilawar’s roots are connected with the Sangh and he is also a big Dalit leader, he got opportunities,” he said.
It was Rajmata Swarupa Devi of the erstwhile Jhalawar royal family who first lobbied for a ticket for him in 1989, said Hemraj Meena, former vice-president of the state’s BJP unit and an ex-MLA from Kishanganj in Baran. Meena himself claims credit for introducing Dilawar to the Sangh.
In 2008, 18 years after he first won the seat, Dilawar lost Baran-Atru to the Congress’s Panachand Meghwal by a margin of over 16,000 votes. That was the last time he contested from that seat: in 2013, he fought and won from Ramganj Mandi, a seat he has retained since.
According to Saini, quoted earlier, former CM Shekhawat, one of the state’s tallest BJP statesmen, cultivated leaders such as Dilawar and former Kota North MLA Prahlad Gunjal as “hooters”.
“These people used to create a ruckus for the party, then in the Opposition. Vasundhara Raje then took it forward,” Saini told ThePrint, adding that Shekhawat, who himself was from Hadoti, did not “tackle these overenthusiastic leaders” but left it to former Rajasthan BJP president Gulab Chand Kataria.
Like Saini, Hemraj Meena, too, calls Dilawar a “determined, hard-working, and honest person”, believing it was these characteristics, together with his loyalty to the party, that paid off for him.
However, according to Balkishan Nagar, a Congress leader who was a block president in Atru when Dilawar lost the 2008 election, it was the Congress that made him a leader. Nagar is a former classmate of the minister, having studied with him from Classes 6 to 10 at Atru’s Senior Higher Secondary School.
“They (Congress) always fielded weak candidates against him. But in 2008, the situation changed and Panachand Meghwal defeated him by 16,000 votes. He never again contested from Atru,” he said.
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‘Man of ideology’
Those who know the BJP leader call him “an outspoken man” who always says what he believes. “He’s always available for his people,” Nagar said, adding that Dilawar has frequently taken a principled stand against corruption.
Former journalist Vijayvargiya recalled one such instance from the 1990s when Dilawar was first made a minister.
“He was called as a special guest in Kota on the occasion of Republic Day, where he had to honour some people. But when he saw that a person facing many corruption cases was also being honoured, he reprimanded the district collector and refused to honour that person,” he said, adding that Dilawar is a “man of ideology” and “a follower of staunch Hindutva, who never deviates from its core ideas”.
An incident from 1989 illustrates the sway Dilawar has over Right-wing organisations like the Bajrang Dal. That year, the minister was taken into custody for his provocative speeches after there were riots between Hindus and Muslims in Kota — a district with a 15 percent Muslim population, according to the 2011 Census.
“Soon, however, a crowd of thousands of (Bajrang Dal) workers surrounded the police, chanting the slogan, ‘Jail ke taale tutenge, Madan Dilawar chhutenge (locks will be broken, Madan Dilawar will be released)’. Seeing such a huge crowd, the police had to release him,” he said.
This December, Dilawar became one of 22 MLAs to be sworn into the new Bhajanlal Sharma cabinet. According to a senior leader of the BJP, his decision to move away from the now-sidelined Raje played a role in the choice. Dilawar was the social welfare minister in the Raje government between 2003 and 2008.
“There was a time when Dilawar was considered close to former chief minister Vasundhara Raje. But with the decline of Raje’s importance under (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s rule, he started maintaining a distance from her. This has had a big role in his being made minister,” he said.
However, Hemraj Meena believes it was Dilawar’s ideological solidity that made the BJP pick him. “Some old people are needed to run the system. Dilawar has that experience, and most importantly, he’s dedicated to the RSS ideology. There’s a Hindutva wave and since he’s a staunch follower, he was the party’s pick,” he said.
Rohit Nayak, general secretary of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Baran, agrees, saying the minister has been able to carve out a distinct identity for himself in Rajasthan. “Right now, he’s the face of Hindutva in Rajasthan,” he said.
From ‘targeting’ missionaries to suspending teachers
Ever since he was sworn in as minister for the third time this December, Dilawar has been caught in a litany of controversies. From suspending and transferring teachers to his controversial decision of ordering Surya Namaskar in all schools in the state, the education minister has repeatedly been making national headlines.
In March, for instance, he suspended a Dalit teacher for refusing to pray to the Hindu goddess Saraswati at a Republic Day function.
But this isn’t the first time that the BJP leader has drawn flak for his decisions. In 2006, Dilawar, then the state’s social welfare minister, ordered the closure of five institutions run by Emmanuel Mission International (EMI), a Kota-based Christian missionary group, over alleged irregularities. In August 2008, the Rajasthan High Court reversed the decision.
Bajrang Dal state coordinator Yogesh Renwal alleged that the organisation had been conducting religious conversions. “That’s why he took action,” he said.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has been calling for Dilawar’s dismissal over his various controversies.
“It should have been the job of the education minister to work for the betterment of schools, but he is following the divisive policy of the RSS,” general secretary and spokesperson of the Rajasthan Congress R.C. Choudhary said.
On the other hand, Naresh Dadhich, a former professor of political science at Rajasthan University, Jaipur, said, “No one can question his honesty. And social service has been an important part of his politics. He has self-confidence and a different style of speaking.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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