As PM Modi steps up his Gujarat campaign, a race to douse Kshatriya fires

In the posh Kalavad Road area of Rajkot, a gate opens onto the makeshift office of the Kshatriya Asmita Andolan Samiti. With voter lists at hand, plans are being charted here to reach out to Kshatriya-dominated localities in the constituency.

Rajkot is the Ground Zero of the Kshatriya protests against Union minister and BJP Rajkot Lok Sabha seat candidate Parshottam Rupala, over remarks made by him against the community.

With the protests spreading from Rajkot to other constituencies with larger Kshatriya populations, all eyes are on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rallies in Jamnagar and Anand Thursday. Can the Modi magic work in his home state, helping the BJP bury the rift with the Kshatriyas, as it seeks to repeat its 26 out of 26 Lok Sabha seats for the third election in a row?

There seems to be some softening in the standoff. Just before Modi landed in Gujarat Wednesday for his first rally in the state of this election, the Gujarat Rajput Samaj Organisations’ Coordination Committee announced that it would not hold protests against any public meetings by the PM, in deference to his office.

But at the Kshatriya samiti office in Rajkot, there is no let-up in the plans. Coordinating the action is Rajbha Zala, a former BJP Rajkot city unit general secretary, ex-chairman of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation Standing Committee, and former Yuva BJP president.

“Ahankari Bhajap ne sabak shikhdaviye (We have to teach the arrogant BJP a lesson),” says Zala, pointing out that Rupala “has started avoiding roadshows”.

Posters behind him call for a “boycott” of Rupala; sticker replicas of the same are being distributed among community members.

While the BJP believes Rajkot itself may not pose a problem as the Rajputs here number “barely