Ramarajya: Envisioning the Future and Entrenching the Past 91In the state of Rajasthan, attempts were made to organize the princes
and jagirdars, but the former did not see any point in such a collabora-
tion, as their interests were perceived to be different. As a matter of fact,
the princes were granted regular privy purses, but the jagirdars were to
get only compensation. In 1947 some of the leading jagirdars of the for-
mer Jaipur and Jodhpur states founded the Ram Rajya Parishad (RRP) to
organize the feudal-conservative elements of the society. The party had
the blessings and involvement of many religious figures, such as Swami
Karapatri as the founder, Shankaracharya of Dwarka as the patron, and
Swami Swarupanand as the president. Although some princes extended
their sympathy to the new party in its mobilization of the anti-Congress
forces, none of the prominent Rajput princes joined the RRP. This lack
of dynamic leadership resulted in the failure of bringing all the anti-
Congress feudal-priestly-conservative elements into the RRP fold and in
a large number of independent candidates in the first general elections
in 1952.^76
However, the real contest was between the Congress, which stood for
democracy and parliamentary institutions, and the RRP, which wanted
"to revive Ram Rajya in which the concept of 'Dharma' was predomi-
nant." The idea was to expose the relative weakness of the democratic
order as opposed to the feudal leadership and "to prove the superiority
of the old order." Ramarajya came in handy to represent the old order.^77
Another author contends that the RRP "is by far the most orthodox Hindu
party." The party wished "to return to the glorious days of Rama's rule,
where everybody was contented, prosperous and religious."^78 The RRP
was against "secularized, anti-Shastric Hindu Code Bill," and "killing
cows, monkeys, fish or locusts." They supported the demand for Akhanda
Hindustan (Greater India), arming "every deserving citizen," promoting
Hindi, the right to own property, and adequate compensation for land
taken away. They were against any reform of the caste system and wanted
to give the untouchables "high posts in the management of sanitary
departments, and the leather and hides and allied trades."^79 In the 1952
elections, the RRP won 24 seats with 11.4 percent of the vote.
The hardly one-year-old Jan Sangh also fielded candidates in the 1952
elections and raised India's partition, rising prices, and Congress misrule
as the issues in its campaign. In the absence of crystallization of party
ideology, the Jan Sangh did not look distinct from the RRP. Both the RRP
and the Jan Sangh delved into ancient Indian folklore and myths to build a
positive halo around their election symbols of rising sun and lamp. There
was also a caste dimension to this election, as the Congress was regarded
by the upper-caste Rajputs as Jat-dominated. Hence a vote against the
Congress was considered to be a vote against the Jats. The RRP, which
was the major opposition party in the state assembly in 1952, was reduced
to a weak party in 1957, with 17 seats and 9.9 percent of the vote. The party