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HERITAGE:
NEEMRANA FORT
Laying
Siege
A heritage
hotel is caught in a storm as politicians seek to convert it into a memorial
for Delhi's last Hindu ruler
By
Rohit Parihar in Neemrana and S.
Kalidas in Delhi
This
could well turn out to be one of the more bizarre political episodes of
our times. Or, depending on your viewpoint, the most brazen. In a curious
and craftily created circumstance, legend and pop-history, political pygmies
and respected national figures, artistic aesthetes and an enterprising
hotelier are all locked in a rhetorical battle over a 15th century fort,
halfway between Delhi and Jaipur.
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| Chandra
Shekhar (right) with Prithvi Chauhan Foundation's Vikram Singh (centre) |
When, out
of the blue on August 5, former prime minister Chandra Shekhar visited
the tiny hamlet of Neemrana, no one paid much attention. He returned two
weeks later, this time to plant a sapling in the garden of the two widows
of the late ruler of Neemrana, Rajendra Singh. He spread his largesse
further by donating a significant amount in cash to them. It was then
that the 6,000-odd residents of the village learnt of the historical importance
of their erstwhile ruler's fort. Rajendra Singh, Shekhar told them, was
the last ruler among descendants of Prithviraj Chauhan III-the hero of
many a legend, especially the ballad Prithviraj Raso-who had conquered
Delhi only to lose it to the Afghan marauder Mohammad Ghori.
Shekhar was
accompanied by Vikram Singh, the founder of the recently formed Prithviraj
Chauhan Foundation. Singh is a minor bjp leader who lost two Lok Sabha
elections and was president of the Yuva Janata Party in 1979. Singh claimed
that Prithviraj's remains lie desecrated in Afghanistan and demanded they
be brought back. Six weeks later Shekhar turned up again to organise a
three-day yagna and brought along a large crowd of Rajputs and Yadavs,
including the controversial member of Parliament, D.P. Yadav. The number
soared to thousands on the third day when more active leaders like Samajwadi
Party's Amar Singh flew down in a helicopter. Many prominent Rajputs converged,
donating money, ghee and other essentials.
This sparked
off a highly tendentious agitation. They demanded that the Government
acquire the privately owned Neemrana Fort Hotel to make it a museum in
Prithviraj's memory. Why, after 880 years of Prithviraj's demise, was
this matter being raked up and that too in Neemrana defies logic. Says
Bina Kak, minister of state for tourism, Rajasthan: "All this is
being done for political gain. Prithviraj had ruled from the Taragarh
Fort in Ajmer and later the Rai Pithora in Mehrauli, Delhi. If they are
so concerned about his memory they should go to those forts." The
Neemrana fort was built by a descendant 292 years after Prithviraj's death.
Besides, the fort is now a famous heritage hotel having been sold to the
present owners with full legal formalities by the late raja in 1984.
The family
of Rajendra Singh has been taken aback by this sudden attention of politicians
and media. Though they are trying to keep out of the controversy, it is
believed that they resented Vikram Singh's description of their living
condition as "below poverty line". They also declined the donation
that the foundation presented to them with during the yagna. The fact
is that their residence is a colonial bungalow with six acres of land
and they have a guard, a night watchman, and a servant. They also have
electricity, telephone and two wells.
No one paid
any attention to Neemrana till the crumbling and dilapidated fort was
bought in 1984 by Aman Nath who restored and rebuilt the fort. Nath's
labour of love was so successful that it has, over the years, not only
become the prime example of architectural conservation in India but also
the stuff that heritage tourism circles worldwide raise a toast to.
Its success
was so seminal that it inspired Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the then bjp
chief minister, announced a special loan scheme to erstwhile royalties
and Thakurs to renovate their havelis and run them as hotels. The scheme
not only brought in tourists, it generated employment too. In Neemrana,
villagers who helped in renovating the fort later stayed on as regular
hotel staff.
"Raja
saheb was so moved by our effort that he had tears in his eyes,"
recalls Nath. When Rajendra Singh's daughter Sunita was to marry, Nath
insisted that she be given away from the palace and the raja, in turn,
had Nath officiate as the maternal-uncle of the bride.
The present
political agitation threatens to tarnish all this. While Shekhar was unavailable
for comment when india today approached him, he was quoted in sections
of the press as saying, "It is the responsibility of the hoteliers
to look after the ranis. Prithviraj and his descendants represent India's
honour and dignity. I would persuade the owners to convert a part of the
fort into a museum."
Vikram Singh
is more threatening. He not only plays up the Hindu-versus-Muslim card
to the hilt, he even evokes the Babri Masjid symbolism. "A journalist
covering the Kandahar hijack,'' he says, "told me that Prithviraj's
samadhi in Ghazni is being desecrated by the Taliban." Others in
his company raise the chorus: "Should we do the same to Mughal relics
here?" According to Vikram Singh, "India is in bad shape today
because of this pitra dosh, we have not performed the last rites of our
last Hindu king properly." His talk touches a chord among the Rajputs
and Yadavs, who after splintering the body politic of Uttar Pradesh, are
desperately searching for a new cause to rally around.
The communal
overtones scare Amar Singh, MP, who was cautious in his speech. "I
had to act because many Chauhans who live in Uttar Pradesh approached
me to take care of their ancestral king's memory,'' he told india today.
He fears that "this issue can turn into another Ayodhya".
However,
few in the village support the agitation. Tea-stall owner Ranjit Singh
Tanwar says it was Amar Singh's helicopter which attracted the people.
Another, Rattan Singh Gujjar, quips, "Whether a prime minister or
a labourer, everyone wants to grab land."
The state
Government, on its part, is surprised at the demand for taking over the
fort. Kak says, "We are in the process of selecting a large number
of government-owned heritage properties for leasing them out to the private
sector." Shekhawat, when approached to intervene said, "Within
the norms of the law one can sell and renovate a heritage property and
run it as a hotel.''
But whether
the norms of the law are respected by those looking for political mileage
at best or land grabbing at worst remains to be seen.
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CII’s
conference on Friday on corporate governance is called Independent Directors:
Why, How and Who. Why Not, How Not and Who Not, would have been better,
says INDIA TODAY Associate Editor, V Shankar Aiyar