India’s Home Minister Amit Shah has launched a scathing verbal attack on the Indian National Congress party and its leaders in Rajasthan. During a meeting with booth-level workers in Bharatpur district, Shah dismissed the party’s chances of retaining power in Rajasthan, calling their government a “failed experiment” that had betrayed constituents and led to corruption. Shah also mocked Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and former deputy Sachin Pilot, who has recently stepped up his feud with Gehlot by launching a one-day fast against corruption by the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje, and accusing his own party’s government of failing to act against her. Shah told Pilot that he had wasted his energy in challenging Gehlot and had no future in the Congress party. Shah’s remarks appeared to be an effort to win over members of the Gujjar community, a powerful and influential caste group that has agitated for greater political representation in Rajasthan, through which he appeared to be trying to win the hearts of those hoping to see a Gujjar chief minister in Pilot.
