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Last Updated: December 07, 2023, 12:06 IST
Karni Sena organisation was founded on September 23, 2006.
There is a grand temple of Karni Mata in Deshnok, 30 kilometres from Bikaner, attended by thousands of devotees daily. She is also the revered folk Goddess of Rajputs.
Karni Sena had made news back in 2018 when it raised objections against the portrayal of Queen Padmavati in the Bollywood film Padmaavat. 5 years later, the Rajasthan-based outfit is in the news again after its national president Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi was shot dead in cold blood on Tuesday. While the motive behind the murder and the whole case is still under investigation, there is renewed public interest in Karni Sena, its origins and other details.
There is a grand temple of Karni Mata in Deshnok, 30 kilometres from Bikaner, attended by thousands of devotees daily, attracting even foreign tourists. She is also the revered folk Goddess of Rajputs. The outfit borrows its name from this Goddess, who is believed to be the incarnation of Hinglaj by her followers.
The Rajput leader Lokendra Singh Kalvi’s initiatives to organise the Rajput community in 2005 laid the foundation of the Karni Sena. The organisation was founded on September 23, 2006, mostly by young Rajput people in the Jhotwara neighbourhood of Jaipur.
The newly established organisation’s main goal was to push for Rajputs to be given caste-based reservations in government positions and educational institutions. Among its other goals were to assist in electing Rajput lawmakers to the government and to put an end to the “sidelining of Rajput figures in textbooks”. Ajeet Singh Mamdoli served as the organisation’s first president.
Later, Karni Sena coordinator Lokendra Singh Kalvi joined Congress. Due to this, there was a split in the Karni army. Ajit Singh Mamdoli expelled Lokendra Singh Kalvi from the organisation. Mamdoli claimed that Kalvi was worried about his increasing political influence since it was causing tension between the two leaders and a rift inside the organisation. Mamdoli broke away to start a new faction. He claimed that Kalvi had registered the name Shri Rajput Karni Sena and initiated a lawsuit against Kalvi’s outfit.
Following Mamdoli’s exit, Kalvi named Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi as his faction’s president. Later, on demands for reservations, a rift emerged between Kalvi and Gogamedhi. Following his expulsion in 2015 due to criminal allegations, Gogamedi established the Shree Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena, his section. Kalvi then named Mahipal Singh Makrana as his faction’s state president.
The administrator of the Karni Mata temple, Gajendra Singh, stated that there is a belief at this temple that Karni Mata is the true form of Maa Durga. The wishes of the devotees who come here are all granted. Rats are present in the temple in numbers. The temple is well-known for its 25,000 or more resident black rats and its few, extremely uncommon white rats, both of which are treated with reverence. These sacred rats are thought to have been Depawat charan in a prior life. Both take birth in a cycle of Depawat charan and Rats respectively.
