Will Sachin Pilot Repeat Incident From 1988 Rajasthan Politics?
Jaipur, 27th September 2022: Amid the ongoing political drama in Rajasthan, old stories of the power struggle are also coming into the limelight. Today, the support of 92 MLAs is being discussed along with Ashok Gehlot.
It is being said that in such a situation, it will not be easy to remove him from the post of CM. However, despite the support of 87 MLAs in Rajasthan, the Congress Chief Minister had to give up his chair – this happened in 1988 when Haridev Joshi had to vacate the chair for Shivcharan Mathur, who was supported by only 25 MLAs. Now the question is arising in the present situation whether the pilots will be able to repeat that history of 1988.
Haridev Joshi was the Chief Minister of Rajasthan in the year 1988. At that time, Ashok Gehlot was the state president of the Rajasthan Congress. Rajiv Gandhi’s government was at the centre. Gandhi had a landslide victory in 1984-85. There were many non-Rajasthanis, who won MP from Rajasthan. These included many names, including Rajesh Pilot, Sardar Buta Singh, and Balram Jakhar. This group of MPs started getting along well with Ashok Gehlot and Shivcharan Mathur, and they started a campaign to remove Haridev Joshi.
In 1986-87, there was a severe drought in Rajasthan, while the Roop Kanwar Sati episode also took place in the state. It is said that Rajiv Gandhi was not happy with the way Chief Minister Joshi handled both these incidents. He was also grappling with issues like Bofors and Shah Bano. Amidst all this, he decided to send a strong message. For this, he decided to remove Joshi from the post of CM. Congress observers GK Moopanar, B Shankaranand, NC Chaturvedi and RL Bhatia reached Rajasthan for the process. The Joshi camp claimed that they had the support of 87 MLAs. At the same time, Shivcharan Mathur, whose name emerged as the new CM, was said to have the support of only 25 MLAs. Despite this, due to the orders of the high command, Mathur got the throne as CM and Joshi was forced to take over the post of Governor of Assam.
Since the high command was in power in 1988, the legislators readily agreed. But at present, this story does not seem so easy. The way the MLAs of the Gehlot camp are taking a rebellious stand seems to be confusing. In such a situation, Sachin Pilot will have to work on many factors to repeat history. At the same time, they also have to expect, like in history, that the present high command also makes tough decisions.
