Politics Recast: How 18 Years Changed Rajasthan

Since 2008, Rajasthan’s politics has been shaped as much by the street and the party backroom as by the ballot box. The Gujjar reservation agitation showed how mass mobilisation could force policy shifts, while the Congress years exposed how internal rebellion—most dramatically Sachin Pilot’s 2020 breakaway—could threaten govts from within. Even as power kept alternating between Congress and BJP, new regional forces began altering local equations. Ashok Gehlot’s creation of 19 new districts redrew administrative and political maps, and BJP’s 2023 return ended with an unexpected leadership choice: Bhajan Lal Sharma.