Over 200 shows are available in Lucknow, Noida and Ghaziabad if one wishes to see Padmaavat on Saturday. The movie running to packed houses in Yogi Adityanath's Uttar Pradesh and scenes from two days ago when UP police gave a sound thrashing to protesting Karni Sen cadre, are in sharp contrast to the BJP-ruled states of Rajasthan , Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh where the movie has failed to hit a single scene despite the Supreme Court's orders.Highlighting the irony here is the fact that Adityanath is himself a Rajput leader.Sample this. On the eve of Padmaavat’s release, when the Karni Sena bosses issued dire threats at a press conference in Jaipur, sending a message to their cadre across states to unleash violence, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was busy campaigning in Ajmer the entire day. On Thursday, when the movie was released in none of the 179 cinema halls in the state and the Karni Sena bosses continued to roam free, the CM spent the day in Alwar, another of the two Lok Sabha seats in the state where bypolls will be held on January 29.There is, of course, an election to be fought and won. For the record, the police chief of Rajasthan, OP Galhotra, says no pressure was exerted on distributors or cinema halls to not screen the movie and asserted that adequate security was assured to all. The other two states may take this line as well if the Supreme Court hauls them up for contempt as a petition on the same will be heard on Monday.But inaction by Rajasthan government in acting against the Karni Sena flies in the face of such arguments. Both Lokendra Singh Kalvi and Mahipal Singh Makrana of the Karni Sena remain free and have not been put even under preventive detention, a legal provision in the law to detain someone in the anticipation of violence or a threat to law and order. The Rajasthan CM maintained a studied silence, refraining from issuing any public assurance, or meeting, with the state’s distributors or cinema owners to screen the film without any fear.Compare this to what UP, also a big BJP-ruled state, did. It fielded a senior minister in Sidharth Nath Singh to publicly say that it is "Yogi Raj and no Jungle Raj in UP" and anyone interfering with the film's release after SC's orders or disturbing law and order will be dealt with an iron hand. Subsequent visuals of action against the Karni Sena men in UP showed the proof of the pudding lay in its eating.Though some cinema halls in Kanpur and Aligarh have not yet screened the movie, the majority of cinemas in the state have as the assurances from the state government registered. But it has not been so in Rajasthan, Gujarat and MP where none of the cinema halls or distributors picked the movie for screening.In fact, in a press statement, the Multiplex Association of India in these states clearly said the law and order situation was not good and there was clear threat to life and property. As the Karni Sena cadres unleashed violence in Ahmedabad and Gurgaon, among other places, cinema owners in Jaipur told ETthat they did not believe in assurances from police and would screen the movie only if Kalvi gives the green signal. “When the government is not backing us, why should we put our hands in fire?” said Kishor Kala, the manager of Jaipur's iconic Raj Mandir Cinema.Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar , on the other hand, chose to “advise in personal capacity” that cinema owners should not screen the movie, a stand also taken by the Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister, Nitin Patel Karni Sena leaders Kalvi and Makrana said on Wednesday that they were not bothered about being arrested. They have a reason not to be. The three bypolls in Rajasthan next week and the assembly election due later this year offer a compelling reason for the state’s inaction as 65 lakh Rajput voters form an influential vote bank. Long-time supporters of the BJP, the Rajputs are disillusioned with the party given its focus on the rival community of Jats and issues such as gangster Anandpal’s encounter, say political observers. Rajputs form a very small votebank in UP and the state is far from elections. But still, Yogi has set an example which other BJP CMs could well emulate to not cause damage toBrand Modi.