Will chop off your nose and ears: Karni Sena threatens Rajasthan minister

JAIPUR: The Shree Rajput Karni Sena, which was up in the arms against the makers of controversial Bollywood movie Padmaavat last year, has now threatened to chop off Rajasthan Education Minister Kiran Maheshwari's nose and ears for allegedly equating Rajputs with "rats".

The Rajput outfit has also demanded an immediate apology from the minister while launching a barrage of verbal attacks against her.

Maheshwari, who is a Cabinet-rank Minister of Higher, Technical & Sanskrit Education and Science & Technology Departments, has denied referring to the community.

Latching on to the opportunity, the Congress too slammed the minister for her statements.

Maheshwari had landed in troubled waters for saying, ''there are people like rainy rats who come out of their holes during election time."

The BJP MLA from Rajsamand made these remarks on Monday during a press briefing while responding to a question that the Sarv Rajput Samaj Sangharsh Samiti had started a campaign against the BJP ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.

Responding to that, the Karni Sena held a meeting on Tuesday during which it warned the minister to apologise or face dire consequences, adding that she should have remembered the Deepika Padukone incident during the "Padmaavat controversy" before making such remark.

"BJP has come strong in Rajasthan with the help of the Rajput community. Maheshwari had won the last assembly elections with the help of these 'rats' and hence we will teach her a lesson in the coming elections,'' the outfit said.

"There are 40,000 Rajput voters in her constituency (Rajsamand). She should apologise immediately. Also, the state government should issue a statement," Karni Sena's state chief Mahipal Makrana said in a video that went viral soon.

@kiranmaheshwari shame of you , sitting in rajasthan and targetting rajputs. this behavior is like you hv lost you mind. https://t.co/vn7RF0zBB0 — Shree Rajput Karni Sena (@KarniSenaDelhi) June 13, 2018

He added that although they hold women in high regard, they will not tolerate women insulting the community. 

Maheshwari later denied using any offensive language against the Rajputs and sought to clarify that her statements against the Congress were twisted to incite the community.

Congress' Rajasthan chief Sachin Pilot too condemned the incident and said that Maheshwari should apologise to the entire Rajput community.

(With IANS inputs)