Five-time BJP MLA Vasudev Devnani was on Thursday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 16th Rajasthan Assembly. Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma moved the motion for Mr. Devnani’s appointment, which was seconded by Congress leader and Tonk MLA Sachin Pilot. The House passed the motion with a voice vote by legislators from both the treasury and Opposition benches.
Elected from Ajmer North, Mr. Devnani, 73, was the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) face in the two BJP governments headed by Vasundhara Raje. He was the Education Minister for two terms, when he took some controversial decisions, including compulsory recitation of Saraswati Vandana, and the mandatory exercise of Surya Namaskar in schools.
Mr. Devnani belongs to the Sindhi Hindu community, which migrated en masse from Pakistan’s Sindh province during the Partition and settled, among other regions, in and around Ajmer. The ruling BJP has selected Mr. Devnani for the Speaker’s post to bring in the element of caste diversity in the government following the appointment of Mr. Sharma, a Brahmin, as the CM, and a Rajput and a Scheduled Caste person as the two Deputy CMs, respectively.
After Mr. Sharma moved the motion for electing Mr. Devnani as the Speaker, similar motions were moved by former CM Ms. Raje, Deputy CM Diya Kumari, and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MLA Hanuman Beniwal. Pro-tem Speaker Kalicharan Saraf clubbed all the motions and announced them having been passed after they were put to vote.
In his brief address to the House, Mr. Devnani expressed gratitude to the legislators for unanimously electing him, and said the appointment of a “victim of the tragedy of Partition” to the high post had exhibited the strength of democracy in the country. “I will try to improve the standard of debates in the Assembly and ensure that more sittings [of the House] are convened every year,” he said.
Mr. Sharma said Mr. Devnani, with his prolonged experience, would bring dignity to the office of the Speaker, while Mr. Pilot requested the new Speaker to protect the rights of the Opposition MLAs during the Assembly proceedings.
Mr. Devnani joined the RSS at a very young age and later served as the State president of the RSS’s student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), for nine years. He graduated in engineering from Jodhpur and and pursued an academic career as a teacher in a polytechnic college in Udaipur before entering politics.
Mr. Devnani has made headlines several times, both as a Minister and as an Opposition MLA, during the last two decades. He is a strong votary of an education system based on Hindu culture, and took significant decisions while being in the government. Mr. Devnani has always rejected the charge of “saffronisation of education”, and maintains that children should learn about national heroes instead of being taught about invaders and foreign scientists.
Earlier, six newly elected MLAs were sworn-in in the Assembly on Thursday following the oath administered to 191 legislators on Wednesday. MLAs Jagat Singh and Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya could not take oath as they were not present in the House. After the Speaker’s election, the Assembly was adjourned till January 19.
