Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya is the modern ‘‘Maharana Pratap’’, the ‘‘unquestionable’’ leader of the Thakurs in Uttar Pradesh — at least that’s what a few legislators of the community believe. At a function to mark the birth anniversary of the Rajput warrior, speaker after speaker equated the minister to the Chitaur ruler while schoolchildren sang paeans in his honour.The Food and Civil Supplies Minister was felicitated by the Rajput Welfare Association of India. ‘‘We have read about Maharana Pratap in history books but have got the chance to seem him in person in Raja Bhaiyya who fought with the draconian rule of Mayawati and finally won the battle by unseating her,’’ said Yashwant Singh, a Thakur MLC. Former CM Mayawati had invoked POTA against Raja Bhaiyya in 2002 when he, alongwith 11 Independent legislators, withdrew support to her government. Raja Bhaiyya had spent 19 months in jail.‘‘We want a king (read CM) to lead us. At least there is one person in Raja Bhaiyya who has come from our community and holds the capacity to lead the state one day,’’ Archana Rathore, vice-president of the association, said of the Cabinet minister who has 32 cases, including murder, against him. The minister himself did not take up the comparison. ‘‘None among us can equate the great Maharana Pratap .I have extended support to the SP as it was the only political outfit which protested on streets while I was in jail for 19 months,’’ he said.
