Gujarat village makes princess sarpanch

RAJKOT: A princess is all set to rule. But her kingdom is a dusty little village in Saurashtra where she will take charge as sarpanch. Shruti Kumari Gohil, wife of Raghvendrasinh Gohil, scion of the erstwhile princely state of Dared, some 60km from Bhavnagar, has taken her first step in politics. Some 5,000 residents have chosen her sarpanch under the Gujarat government’s Samras scheme which gives incentives to villages that avoid panchayat elections.

Shruti’s mother-in-law is Justice Abhilasha Kumari of the Gujarat High Court; the latter, incidentally, is the daughter of Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

On the face of it, Dared is like any other village in Saurashtra . But it is one of the few to have a helipad. Villagers are also used to bumping into celebrities here. Thanks to former Samajwadi strongman Amar Singh who is married to Pankaja Kumari of the Dared royal family, Amitabh Bachchan, too, has visited the village.

The princess, who belongs to the royal family of Khapradih in Uttar Pradesh, holds a degree in English (honours) from Isabella Thoburn College , Lucknow. But for now, the new sarpanch is reading up on Panchayati Raj institutions. “We will work together with all members of the village and the panchayat to carry out developmental work in the coming days,” Shruti said.

Villagers still not only look up to the royal family for leadership, but also want to retain the earlier bonding they had with their rulers.

“We wanted her to lead the village panchayat. She is also one of the most educated people we have here,’’ Nankubha Gohil, a resident of Dared, said. Former sarpanch Jashubhai Ghelotar added, “We have a strong attachment with our former raja and we want to keep this bond forever.”