Five-time BJP MLA Vasudev Devnani was on Thursday unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 16th Rajasthan Assembly. Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma moved the motion for Mr. Devnani’s appointment, which was seconded by Congress leader and Tonk MLA Sachin Pilot. The House passed the motion with a voice vote by legislators from both the treasury and Opposition benches.
Elected from Ajmer North, Mr. Devnani, 73, was the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) face in the two BJP governments headed by Vasundhara Raje. He was the Education Minister for two terms, when he took some controversial decisions, including compulsory recitation of Saraswati Vandana, and the mandatory exercise of Surya Namaskar in schools.
Mr. Devnani belongs to the Sindhi Hindu community, which migrated en masse from Pakistan’s Sindh province during the Partition and settled, among other regions, in and around Ajmer. The ruling BJP has selected Mr. Devnani for the Speaker’s post to bring in the element of caste diversity in the government following the appointment of Mr. Sharma, a Brahmin, as the CM, and a Rajput and a Scheduled Caste person as the two Deputy CMs, respectively.
