Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has equated Samajwadi MP Ramji Lal Suman’s remark on Maharana Sanga calling him a traitor with wiping the sacred ’tilak’ from one’s forehead.

Several leaders, including Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, demanded stern action against the MP and a public apology from him.

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Shekhawat, a three-time MP from the Jodhpur Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency, has begun a post on his X page with a poetic duplet saying :

“Those who wipe ’tilaka’ mark from forehead/

God only knows on which mirror they view their faces//”.

He said making such remarks against historic warriors reflected on the SP leader’s attempt of furthering the narrow-minded politics to appease those who treat foreign invaders as their role models. They can not understand the persona and the character of battle heroes like Rana Sangram Singh aka Rana Sanga, who bore the brunt of as many as 80 wounds while fighting battles against an external invader.

The Rajput leader said, “SP MP should deviate from his party lines and introspect on his act of making such a ‘mean’ comment for the epic king, the grandfather of Maharana Pratap.

Shekhawat demanded an apology from Suman to the nation.

Chief Minister Sharma said the people in Rajasthan listen and sing folklore and songs on the bravery of Maharana Sanga and his grandson Maharana Pratap. “We eight crore people of Rajasthan are hurt by the MP’s remark,” he added.

Rana Sanga has fought 100 battles and won all but the last one that he had fought against the Babar-led Mughal army in Panipat. This outstanding warrior suffered as many as 80 wounds on his body. To call such a brave king a traitor (ghaddar) is indeed an insult to all war heroes of the country, Sharma said.

The chief minister urged the Samajwadi party to take a stern action against the MP and ask him to tender a public apology.

Deputy Chief Minister and scion of erstwhile Jaipur royal state Diya Kumari also deplored the SP Rajya sabha MP’s utterance against the king of the erstwhile Mewar state.

Diya Kumari termed Suman’s remarks an insult to the elite community of brave rulers-soldiers of the country. It is an act of ‘blotting’ deeds of bravery of war heroes of the nation for that the MP should tender public apology.

Senior Congress leader and former minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said, “We all are hurt, Samajwadi party member’s utterance is unpardonable, his act deserves severe action.”

Khachariyawas, the nephew of former vice-president late Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, urged the Centre to make a provision for terminating the membership of MPs for making such “indecent” statements for our historic national heroes.

SP Rajya Sabha MP Suman kicked up a controversy by calling 16th  century king of Mewar Maharana Sanga a “traitor”. Suman has reportedly said that Rana Sanga brought Babar to defeat Ibrahim Lodi.