Royal family fights on street, Rajasthan government seizes disputed site

A few hours after the coronation ceremony of Nathdwara MLA Vishvaraj Singh, who is the scion of the erstwhile Mewar dynasty, the Rajasthan government on Tuesday, seized a part of the City Palace, which remains disputed among Mewar family members.

The officials had to act tough after the dispute between the erstwhile royals of the Mewar family turned ugly leaving many injured in stone pelting on Monday night. Eventually, Vishvaraj returned to his palace without performing some rituals at the palace which he wanted to do and asked his followers to return home.

Stone pelting started at this site on Monday night when two parties, one representing Vishvaraj camp and another from his uncle Arvind Singh Mewar came face-to-face.

Vishvaraj, after being anointed as the ‘king’, was to follow a ritual of visiting Udaipur City Palace for ‘Dhuni Darshan’ as per the tradition of the Mewar family. However, this place was owned by his uncle who got the doors of the palace shut before his arrival.

This left the latter’s followers infuriated. They gathered in large numbers outside Udaipur City Palace.

It was the first time on Monday that such a fight was witnessed among the descendants of Maharana Pratap. At the same time, around 1.30 am on Tuesday, the administration seized the disputed place and appointed a receiver.

This entire dispute arose following the coronation of Vishvaraj post the death of Mahendra Singh Mewar, a member of the Udaipur royal family. Vishvaraj wanted to visit the Dhuni inside the City Palace after the coronation, however his uncle’s family living there did not allow him to do so. This is where the entire dispute started.

After the death of a former member of the royal family of Daiyapur and former MP Mahendra Singh Mewar, the tradition of anointing his elder son Vishvaraj Singh Mewar on the throne was performed. Even though the monarchy ended after the advent of democracy, however, this ritual is still being performed symbolically in different erstwhile royal families. On Monday, the ritual of the coronation of Vishvaraj was performed during the Dastur (Rasm) programme at Fateh Prakash Palace of Chittorgarh Fort.

After the coronation ritual in Chittorgarh, Vishvaraj reached Udaipur City Palace for Dhuni Darshan as per the Mewar tradition, however the gates to enter the City Palace (entering from Rangnivas and Jagdish Chowk) were closed. However, six vehicles of Vishvaraj Singh Mewar’s convoy reached Jagdish Chowk. Here the supporters tried to remove the barricading.

At 1:15 am on Tuesday, Vishvaraj left Lalghat for his palace Samorbagh and asked his supporters to return home. On the other hand, the Collector confiscated the disputed part of the City Palace and appointed a receiver on it as no consensus was reached,

The District Magistrate (City) after confiscating the disputed site appointed the Ghantaghar Police Station Officer as the receiver. The Police Station Officer, while reporting the entire incident before the District Magistrate, had cited the deterioration of law and order.

Udaipur City Palace was kept closed from Monday morning as Vishwaraj’s programme to visit City Palace was fixed.

Earlier, on October 3, there was a controversy over President Draupadi Murmu’s visit to the City Palace. On visiting the City Palace, Rajsamand MP Mahima Kumari and her husband and Nathdwara MLA Vishvraj Singh raised questions, stating that she should have desisted from the visit as it is under litigation.