In Rajasthan’s Kareda Buzurg, Hindus close ranks with Muslim women after BJP leader snatches back blankets

In the quiet lanes of Kareda Buzurg in Rajasthan’s Tonk district, a blanket meant to shield against the cold has ignited a storm of anger — and an emphatic show of communal unity.

When former Tonk-Sawai Madhopur MP and BJP leader Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria allegedly took back blankets from Shakuran Bano and at least four other Muslim women after learning of their religion, it was not just the women who felt insulted. Their Hindu neighbors did too.

“It’s not like I couldn’t survive without a blanket. This was about the humiliation,” says Shakuran, in her mid-60s, her voice steady but wounded. “The moment they took it away, I stood up and left.”

The incident occurred during a blanket distribution programme organised by Jaunapuria ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Ajmer on February 28. A video of the episode, now viral, shows Shakuran walking away as the leader dismisses her.

According to Shakuran, she and other women were invited to the meeting by a local resident. Fasting for Ramzan, they attended unaware that blankets would be distributed. “We were told to sit separately. He said those who abuse Modi have no right to the blankets. It felt deeply hurtful. No one was desperate for them,” she says.

‘More Hindus are angry than Muslims’

The backlash was swift — and cross-communal.

Hanuman Chaudhary, husband of village sarpanch Bina Devi Chaudhary, calls the act “condemnable”. “There is immense anger here. More than Muslims, it is Hindus who are angry. We burnt Jaunapuria’s effigy the next day,” he says.

Muslims constitute barely 3% of the gram panchayat’s population, he adds, but the village has long prided itself on harmony. “Be it Diwali, Holi, or Eid — we celebrate together. We don’t differentiate. Today it has happened with Muslims, tomorrow it could happen with others. This vitiates brotherhood.”

In the viral video, as Jaunapuria leaves, a voice confronts him: “You are taking the blankets back… everyone is equal in a democracy.” The leader responds sharply, “Are the blankets from the government?” The reply comes just as firmly: “You have committed a mistake.”

Shakuran says young Hindu men from the village objected on the spot. “They told him we live here as brothers and sisters. Even two or three policemen present said we should not have been removed,” she recounts. Neighbors later told her they felt ashamed that “this was done to an elder of the village”.

For her son Haneef, a blacksmith who lives with her in a modest two-room rented house, the episode has left a scar. “It has damaged our honour. We were humiliated unnecessarily,” he says. Yet he points to what he calls the silver lining: “The brotherhood here has held strong.”

Jaunapuria stands by decision

Jaunapuria, however, remains unapologetic.

He maintains the blanket drive was a personal initiative for around 200 women party workers and claims the Muslim women were not invited. According to him, they arrived after hearing about the distribution. “We had prepared a list. They were wrongly called. It was not appropriate,” he says.

The leader adds that he initially assumed the women were party workers but grew suspicious and asked their names. Once informed they were Muslim, he decided the blankets should not be given. Had they taken them, he argues, they might have later mocked him for being fooled.

“You are already getting government schemes and now want this too, while our workers are left out,” he says, denying any communal intent.

Jaunapuria also cites his long-running “sansad rasoi” in Tonk, which serves patients and families at a local women and children’s hospital, claiming that nearly half the beneficiaries are Muslim women. “There may be a Hindu on one hospital bed and a Muslim on another. How much can I segregate? I have to give to everyone,” he says.

A former MLA from Haryana’s Sohna and twice elected to the Lok Sabha from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur before losing in 2024, Jaunapuria has previously drawn headlines — notably in 2020, when he posted a video claiming a mud bath and blowing a conch could ward off Covid-19. He later tested positive.

Blankets returned, winter nearly over

In the aftermath, Shakuran has received two blankets — one from local politicians and another from the Rajasthan Congress Minority Cell. With winter receding, they now lie folded away.

But in Kareda Buzurg, the debate lingers.

For many residents, this was never about a piece of wool. It was about dignity — and about a village determined to assert that its social fabric is stronger than any attempt to tear it apart.