Jaipur:
An emotional appeal by the seniormost member of the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur -- Rajmata Padmini Devi - to the leaders of the Rajput community has set political circles abuzz in Jaipur.
"How much do you want to snatch from us?" she said. "This is not right. What about our honour? We are very sad. We have been insulted," she said at a meeting of community leaders on Monday.
Her words were meant for the government, and the issue was the escalating row over the Rajmahal Palace hotel.
The erstwhile royals and he state government have been in collision course over the palace, with the government sealing its gates, claiming it had acquired the property earlier and wished to take it over.
The royal family claims it had a court order about maintaining status quo on the property. Last Thursday, it pleaded with the civic authorities, which had come with bulldozers and police force. But the authorities went ahead and sealed the gates.
The erstwhile Queen Mother has asked people to join a rally against the government action in front page newspaper ads today.
"When the acquisition was ordered in 1993, a map was made and decreed by the court. It has the signatures of the Jaipur development authorities, but today they are refusing to accept their own map," she added.
The family claims that the Raj Mahal palace is one of the properties given to them under the covenant signed during the merger of the states in 1949.
The Rajasthan government claims it acquired the land in 1993 and has merely started the acquisition process now.
"It is a regular acquisition proceeding, there is nothing unusual about it," said the state's Urban Development Minister Rajpal Shekhawat.