The 40-year-old Mewar royal family property dispute spilt onto the streets on Monday after BJP MLA Vishvaraj Singh Mewar, who was crowned as the 77th Maharana of Mewar, was stopped from entering the historic city palace in Udaipur to pay obeisance.
Vishvaraj Singh was refused entry into the palace by his cousin Dr Lakshay Raj Singh Mewar, the son of the current trustee of the palace Shreeji Arvind Singh Mewar. This sparked a row after supporters of the MLA thronged the palace gates and began pelting stones before trying to barge into the palace.
The supporters of Lakshay Raj Singh retaliated, resulting in chaos. There is a heavy deployment of police to prevent any untoward incident.
Even before Viswaraj Singh's arrival, there were speculations that a confrontation was possible after Lakshay Raj Singh's father Arvind Singh Mewar put up notices in local newspapers warning legal action against those who attempt to trespass or damage the property.
This was in anticipation of Vishwaraj Singh's arrival at the City Palace as part of his coronation ceremony. The BJP MLA was anointed head of the Mewar family, an ongoing dispute, on Monday after the demise of his father Shreeji Mahendra Singh of Mewar.
As part of the ceremony, a 'paghdi dastoor' (turban ceremony) was conducted at Chittorgarh Palace, after which the new 'Maharana' was to pay obeisance at the Dhooni mata temple inside the city palace and the Ekling Shiv temple about 50 kilometres from Udaipur. But since both temples are run by the trust, he was denied entry into the city palace.
Though the district administration tried to persuade the Museum Trust to allow a few erstwhile nobles to accompany Vishwaraj Singh into the palace for darshan, the trust denied it.
Royal Family Feud explained
The success feud in the Mewar royal family dates back to 1984 when Vishwaraj Singh Mewar's father Mahendra Singh Mewar went to court against his father Maharana Bhagwat Singh Mewar.
Maharana Bhagwat Singh was the adopted son of Maharana Bhupal Singh who ruled from 1930 to 1955. Bhupal Singh and his wife Veerad Kunwar had no children after which they adopted Bhagwat Singh from a member of the same family.
Bhagwat Singh went on to have two sons - Mahendra Singh and Arvind Singh - and a daughter Yogeshwari.
After Mahendra Singh Mewar went to court against his father Bhagwat Singh, he later made his younger son Arvind Singh Mewar the heir and the executor of the properties in his will. Mahendra was excluded from the property and trust.
Bhagwat Singh died on 3 November 1984. The case went on for decades and in 2020, the District Court of Udaipur passed a verdict which said the properties which Bhagwat Singh had sold during his lifetime will not be included in the claim.
So, only three properties - Shambhu Niwas Palace, Badi Pal and Ghas Ghar - remained. These were divided into equal parts. The court gave one-fourth of the property to Bhagwat Singh, one-fourth to Mahendra Singh Mewar, one-fourth to sister Yogeshwari and one-fourth to Arvind Singh Mewar.
The court also permitted Mahendra and Yogeshwari to stay at Shambhu Niwas for four years each. Since Arvind Singh was living in Shambhu Niwas for 35 years, Mahendra could stay for four and Yogeshwar for the next four. The court also banned the commercial use of properties.
The matter then went to the Rajasthan High Court which stayed the decision of the district court. The HC also granted Arvind Singh Mewar all rights over these three properties till the final decision is taken.