Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra said that the presence of the Rajasthan and Gujarat Governors at the BJP’s political event “raises serious questions about constitutional propriety and impartiality.”

“Governors are impartial custodians of the Constitution, not promoters of any political party. Using constitutional offices in this manner at a BJP political event is nothing short of murdering democracy,” he said.

Dotasra also questioned why Rajasthan’s agriculture minister Kirodi Lal Meena was not invited to the event. “The government should explain if there was such seriousness about farmers’ interests, why was he kept away?” He asked whether the government has distanced itself from Meena “after crores of corruption came to light under the guise of raids”.

Days ago, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had lodged an FIR and arrested Rajasthan State Seeds Corporation director Jugal Kishore and others for allegedly extorting money in lieu of facilitating the return of seized seed stock. The stock had been seized following raids by minister Meena himself.

“Is the Governor the custodian of the Constitution or the BJP’s programme in-charge? The oath for a constitutional position is taken in allegiance to the Constitution, not to any political party,” Congress General Secretary Jaswant Gurjar said. “When the Governor steps out of Raj Bhavan to grace partisan platforms, it is only natural to question whether they represent the Constitution or a particular ideology?”

BJP spokesperson and former MLA Ramlal Sharma said the event was a public awareness programme.

“The programme was organised by Kisan Morcha but it’s a worldwide issue concerning nature. In such a scenario, we have to return to our traditional knowledge systems when it comes to agriculture and decrease our dependence on chemical fertilisers,” he said, adding: “It is wrong of the Congress to view it through a political prism.”

Past precedents

Like Bagade, his predecessors too have been accused of impropriety. In 2021, after the launch of then Governor Kalraj Mishra’s biography on his 80th birthday on July 1, Vice-Chancellors of all 27 state universities in Rajasthan, who had attended a meeting with him, were given two cartons each of the book’s copies — and a bill of Rs 68,383 for 19 copies in hardcover coffee-table format.

In 2020, then CM Ashok Gehlot had accused Mishra of not calling the Assembly session urgently following the political crisis. Following Sachin Pilot’s rebellion, the Gehlot government, which had safely sequestered its MLAs in resorts, wanted a sitting to prove its majority in the House. However, this was allegedly delayed by Mishra.

In 2019, during the Lok Sabha polls, then Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra had violated the Model Code of Conduct by calling for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s victory. The Election Commission, which referred the matter to the President, had termed Mishra’s remarks a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.