In-Depth | Scindias, the BJP and the Congress: How history repeated itself with Jyotiraditya’s switch

On March 11, former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia — a firebrand leader from Madhya Pradesh — joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

This came a day after Jyotiraditya, the head of Gwalior’s royal family, stormed out of the Indian National Congress — a party he had been with for 18 years.

Jyotiraditya’s exit also left Madhya Pradesh’s Kamal Nath-led Congress government in a precarious position. Several Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) considered close to Jyotiraditya submitted resignations from the House, reducing Congress to a minority in the Assembly.

However, these turn of events did not come as a surprise to many. For months, there were reports of an internal conflict brewing in Congress’s state unit between Jyotiraditya and the party’s ‘old guard’.

The 49-year-old was for long considered one of Congress’ top leaders in Madhya Pradesh. In fact, in the run-up to the 2018 Legislative Assembly election, Jyotiraditya was seen as a contender for the state’s top job. But, when the party wrested the state from the BJP after 15 years, the ‘high command’ instead chose Nath — a Congress veteran — for the chief minister’s post.

Jyotiraditya, called ‘Maharaj’ by the masses in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior-Chambal belt because of his royal lineage, was also close to the Gandhi family. He spent years campaigning for polls alongside Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and was often seen by his side in Parliament.

When Nath was chosen over Jyotiraditya in 2018, Gandhi had quoted Leo Tolstoy in a tweet: “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time”. On March 11, hours after Jyotiraditya joined the BJP, Gandhi retweeted the same.

Years 2018 and 2019 saw Jyotiraditya suffer a series of setbacks. First, he was not made the chief minister. Then, just six months later, he lost the Guna Lok Sabha constituency. He had held the family bastion from 2002 to 2019.

The Congress party also failed to make a mark in western Uttar Pradesh, of which Jyotiraditya was in charge during the general election.

Guna has been a Scindia family bastion for decades. In fact, in 2014, Guna was one of the two seats Congress had managed to win in Madhya Pradesh amid the ‘Narendra Modi wave’.

Politically, the Scindia family exerts considerable influence not only in Guna, but also the entire belt, including Gwalior and Shivpuri.

While being inducted into the BJP, Jyotiraditya attacked the Congress saying that the party was living in denial and that it was not what it used to be.

Within hours of him joining the party, the BJP gave him a ticket to contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha election. Reports suggest that Scindia could also be inducted into the Union Cabinet.

Jyotiraditya’s cousin and former Tripura Congress chief Kirit Pradyot Deb Barman claimed he felt sidelined by Congress’ old guard and was not given an appointment to meet Gandhi despite trying fervently in the recent past.

While some saw this as Jyotiraditya’s bid to get a plum political position — something that he had failed to get while being with the Congress — others saw it as history repeating itself. You see, this was the third time a member of the Scindia royal family had exited the Congress.

The Scindia family has had a long association with politics and many of its members continue to be prominent political leaders.

History repeating itself

It all started with Jyotiraditya’s grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia. Popularly known as Rajmata, she entered electoral politics in 1957 and successfully contested from the Guna Lok Sabha constituency on a Congress ticket.

Jyotiraditya’s recent strategy was very similar to the one used by Rajmata in 1967 when she herself broke away from the Congress. Her exit had led to the Dwarka Prasad Mishra government’s collapse.

The political conflict was reportedly sparked by Mishra’s criticism of royal families during a party workers’ meeting.

Rajmata, who had taken away 35 MLAs of the Congress, joined hands with other parties, including the Jan Sangh. A new state government was then formed under the stewardship, with Govind Narayan Singh becoming the chief minister. However, the Sanyukt Vidhayak Dal (Samvida) government itself collapsed in 1969.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who would later go on to become the prime minister, played an instrumental role in bringing Rajmata into the Jan Sangh’s fold. Jan Sangh is considered to be the precursor to the BJP. There, she not only went on to become a key leader at a time when the party had limited resources, but also led the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit.

Vijaya Raje’s son and Jyotiraditya’s father Madhavrao Scindia also won the Guna parliamentary seat on a Jan Sangh ticket in 1971 when he was just 26 years old. However, he contested as an Independent candidate in 1977 and managed to defend his seat despite a strong wave in favour of Janata Party.

When Emergency was promulgated, Vijaya Raje, who was then a Lok Sabha member, was jailed along with other Opposition leaders under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).

Madhavrao Scindia and the Congress

While Rajmata went on to become a founding member of what is now the BJP, Madhavrao joined the Congress and retained the family bastion Guna in 1980. This led to an ideological split in the royal family.

This ideological battle among the Scindias heated up further in 1984 when Congress fielded Madhavrao from the Gwalior Lok Sabha constituency to take on Vajpayee. Gwalior was also the hometown of the Scindias. Facing a reluctant Vajpayee, Madhavrao won the seat.

While Vajpayee was born in Gwalior, the town was also the home of the Scindias where they enjoyed public support. Vajpayee had enjoyed good relations with the Scindias since his childhood. Rajmata’s husband and the last ruler of Gwalior, Jiwajirao Scindia, reportedly adored him personally.

It has been documented that Vajpayee did not want to contest against any member of the Scindia family, as in 1945, they had sanctioned a monthly scholarship for his higher education.

Madhavrao served as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Railways and later went on to serve as the Civil Aviation Minister at the Centre.

He had hoped to secure the state’s top job for himself when Arjun Singh, the then Madhya Pradesh chief minister, was forced to resign following Jabalpur High Court’s ruling that a lottery run by his son had violated laws.

However, Arjun Singh forced Rajiv Gandhi, who then led Congress, to not appoint Madhavrao as the chief minister. Madhavrao felt cheated as he was close to Rajiv Gandhi.

In 1993, the Arjun Singh camp again outwitted camps led by Madhavrao and others to get Digvijaya Singh elected. Incidentally, it is Digvijaya Singh's faction that backed Nath over Jyotiraditya in 2018.

Madhavrao left the Congress for a brief period. He floated his own party — the Madhya Pradesh Vikas Congress (MPVC) and joined hands with the United Front government in 1996.

But he eventually returned to the Congress fold when Sonia Gandhi was in command. He held on to the Guna seat until his death in an aircraft crash in 2001. Jyotiraditya joined the Congress and successfully contested the bypoll for the Guna seat in 2001.

Scindias beyond Gwalior

Rajmata’s daughter and Madhavrao’s sister Vasundhara Raje Scindia also joined the BJP.

Vasundhara went on to become Rajasthan’s chief minister twice. She was also elected to the Jhalawar Lok Sabha seat five times between 1989 and 2004.

In 2004, the seat was won by her son Dushyant Singh. The businessman and politician has been the MP from the reconstituted Jhalawar-Baran Lok Sabha constituency since 2009.

Vasundhara’s younger sister and Jyotiraditya’s aunt Yashodhara Raje Scindia is also a key member of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Yashodhara has been elected to the Legislative Assembly multiple times and has previously served as the state minister for tourism, sports and youth welfare. She was also elected to the Lok Sabha twice, in the 2007 bypoll and in 2009.

Vijaya Raje’s legacy

Even 19 years after her demise, Rajmata continues to be a key personality for the BJP.

Invoking Vijaya Raje while inducting Jyotiraditya into the party, BJP National President JP Nadda said: “Today is a very happy day for us. Today, I pay homage to Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia who played a key role in establishing the Jan Sangh. She worked day in-day out to establish the party and its ideology. Today, it gives me great happiness to induct her grandson in our party.”

Vasundhara, now the BJP National Vice President, was also quick to welcome her nephew Jyotiraditya into the party.

Vasundhara also invoked Rajmata, saying: "Jyotiraditya has followed the high ideals of the legacy of Vijaya Raje Scindia and took the decision in the interest of the country. I welcome this decision personally and politically".

"If Rajmata Sahab was here today, she would be elated to see you put the nation first. I admire your strength of character and courage. It's good to be on the same team. Welcome to the BJP," she tweeted.

Yashodhara described the development as Jyotiraditya’s “ghar wapsi”, claiming that her nephew will be of value to the saffron party. “The BJP would not have taken him if they did not see value in him as a leader,” the senior royal said.

When asked about the similarity between Vijaya Raje and Jyotiraditya’s exits from the Congress, Yashodhara told NDTV, that Rajmata was “forced to quit Congress”.

“My mother (Vijaya Raje) was a tall Maharani, respected by politicians and people alike. She was forced to quit Congress because of party leader Dwarka Prasad Mishra, who overruled her and did not respect her. She was very sad, and it eventually forced her to leave,” Yashodhara said.

Referring to her family members leaving the Congress, Yashodhara told the news channel that there was a problem with the party.

"When he (Madhavrao) came from England, he joined Jan Sangh but he left. My mother joined the Congress because Indira Gandhi asked her to. But she had a very rough time."

‘He abandoned his ideology’

Meanwhile, claiming the Gwalior royal’s defection to BJP was an action that stemmed out of fear and anxiety surrounding an insecure political future, Rahul Gandhi said on March 12: “He (Jyotiraditya) got worried about his political future, abandoned his ideology and went with the RSS brand of politics.”

He also claimed that even though Jyotiraditya had ended his long association with the Congress, his ideology does not align with the BJP.

Gandhi said the two had been friends since college, and therefore he knew that Jyotiraditya’s heart and words were in contradiction with each other.