Jaipur: State BJP‘s continued silence over Vijay Bainsla, president of Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti and a party member, has raised serious questions about internal discipline and leadership authority in the party ranks. Bainsla successfully pressured the BJP-led state govt by threatening a major stir if the demand for 5% reservation for Most Backward Classes (MBC) was not included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.While the govt appeared to soften its stance under pressure, the party leadership neither condemned nor commented on Bainsla’s confrontational posture. This move was interpreted by political observers as a crack in the BJP’s disciplinary framework. Bainsla, who contested and lost the 2023 Assembly elections from Deoli-Uniara to Congress candidate Harish Meena, was reportedly sidelined within the party since then.Party insiders say he was not given space to raise community demands and was denied a ticket in the Deoli-Uniara bypolls in Nov 2024, fuelling his frustration and pushing him to take an aggressive stance to regain his position in the community. “The party didn’t want to open a new front in the form of Bainsla, especially at a time when it is already struggling to manage cabinet minister Kirori Lal Meena,” said a senior party leader, on condition of anonymity.Another senior BJP leader acknowledged that Bainsla commands considerable support among the Gujjar community, particularly on the reservation issue. “Being the son of the late Kirori Singh Bainsla, a towering figure in the Gurjar movement, he carries significant influence. During Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, Bainsla’s threat to oppose the march forced the Congress into damage control, resulting in formation of a four-member cabinet committee. That incident clearly established his clout,” the leader said. Kirori Singh Bainsla was the leading face of the Gurjar reservation movement in Rajasthan since its inception in 2004. Vijay Bainsla was swiftly inducted into the BJP, with hopes that he would swing the Gurjar vote base, which heavily tilted toward the Congress in the 2018 elections—attracted by speculation over Sachin Pilot’s potential elevation to chief minister. However, Bainsla’s defeat in the 2023 Assembly elections led to his political marginalisation.However, his recent political revival through the Gurjar Mahapanchayat in Pilupura, which saw participation from Gurjars across Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi, has repositioned him at the centre of the community’s politics.Speaking to TOI, Bainsla said, “I am very much part of the BJP, but I also carry the responsibility to pursue the long-pending promises made to the Gurjar community by successive govts.” Refusing to call his latest moves a rebellion, he added, “This is a ‘wait and watch’ phase — let’s see how the govt responds.”
BJP silent over Vijay Bainsla’s open challenge | Jaipur News
