Lokendra Singh Kalvi , who opposed 'Padmavat' and 'Jodha Akbar', passes away

JAIPUR: Founder of Shri Rajput Karni Sena (SRKS), Lokendra Singh Kalvi (68), who spearheaded the nationwide controversy by calling for a ban on the Bollywood film Padmavat, died due to cardiac arrest at SMS Hospital on Tuesday.
Taking a stand against reservation, he formed the Samajik Nyay Manch (SNM) in 2003 just before the assembly election as a social-cum-political organisation. The body went to the polls promising reservations for the non-reserved communities but did not succeed in the elections. However, it helped him make inroads into the upper-caste communities.
His political journey was not as impressive as his social leadership. He fought elections in 2003 under the banner of SNM but lost it. The opponents termed the defeat as the end of his political career but underestimated his ability to become a public leader.
Kalvi formed SRKS in 2006 for social and political empowerment of the Rajput youths marking the beginning of his new innings in leadership. A veteran hogged the national limelight, probably for the first time for opposing the release of director Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar in Rajasthan in 2008. Later, he also demanded to ban Padmavat for historical misrepresentation and showing Rajput in a bad light. The move gave him and his organisation, popularly known as Karni Sena, a national recognition and he became one of the country's prominent leaders of the Rajput community.
Having studied at Mayo Boys School in Ajmer, Kalvi's oratory skills in Hindi and English gave him an upper edge in his nationwide reach. In 2018, in an unexpected move, he challenged and protested against the then CM Vasundhara Raje for staging a fake encounter of gangster Anand Pal at Sanwarad in Nagaur. He held a public address in Sanwarad and asked the community to not vote for the BJP to lower the respect of the community. Despite several Rajput leaders in the BJP convincing him to discontinue his protest, he did not budge and ran the campaign against Raje for almost two weeks.
Raje was among the first to express her condolences to the family of Kalvi. She tweeted, "The news of the demise of respected shri Lokendra Singh Kalviji, the founder of Shri Rajput Karni Sena, is very sad. He will always be remembered for his social service. May God give peace to the departed soul and strength to the family to bear this loss."
Son of a prominent politician, Kalyan Singh Kalvi, who served as a union cabinet minister in the Chandra Shekhar government in 1991, Kalvi never took advantage of his father's position.