Vijayaraje Scindia

Vijayaraje Scindia (1919-2001) born Lekha Divyeshwari and until 1970 styled the Rajmata of Gwalior, was a prominent Indian political personality. In the days of the British Raj, as consort of the last ruling Maharaja of Gwalior, she ranked among the highest aristocrats of the land. In later life, she became a politician of considerable influence and was elected repeatedly to both houses of the Indian parliament. She was also an active member, for many decades, of the Jana Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party

Early years

Vijayaraje Scindia was born in 1919 at Sagar in present-day Madhya Pradesh, the eldest child of Thakur Mahendra Singh, a government officer, by his first wife Chuda Deveshwari. She was named Lekha Divyeshwari at birth. Her father was a deputy collector in the provincial administration. Her mother, who belonged to the influential Rana family of Nepal, died at Vijayaraje's birth.

Lekha's maternal grandfather, Khadga Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (the Shumsher Rana who murdered his uncle Sri Teen Maharaja Ranodip Singh Rana of Nepal in 1885), had been exiled to India and had taken up residence at Sagar. It was here that Lekha was born. Her mother's death meant that Lekha never lived with her father: she was raised in the household of her maternal grandparents. The young Lekha was deeply influenced by her grandmother, Rani Dhan Kumari, an exceedingly pious lady of orthodox disposition. The impress of this early influence was to leave a lasting impact on Lekha's personality.

Although her family was aristocratic, their exile status meant that they were not very affluent. To this circumstance may be attributed the fact that Lekha received a relatively normal upbringing and a standard education, suitable to modernizing, upwardly mobile families rather than aristocratic ones. Although she was educated at home initially, Lekha later studied at the Vasantha College, Benares, and the Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow. She stayed at a ladies hostel during this period and lived largely as other students did. During this period, the Indian independence movement was at it peak, and Lekha was deeply drawn to Gandhian principles. Already drawn towards austerity by the influence of her grandmother, Lekha gave up the use of foreign goods and fabrics.

Marriage

The era of leading a normal life was however destined to end at quite an early age. In 1941, at the age of 22, Lekha was married to Jiyajirao Scindia, Maharaja of Gwalior, one of the largest, richest and highest-ranking 21-gun-salute princely states in India. As per tradition, a new name was chosen for Lekha based upon the matching of the couple's horoscopes, and she assumed the name 'Vijayaraje Scindia'.

Her grandfather having died, Lekha's maternal uncles were instrumental in negotiating the alliance. Her husband family, the Scindias, were among the most prominent Maratha families of the land. The fact that Lekha belonged to one of the hoariest Rajput families in the sub-continent, (albeit to an impoverished cadet branch of such), undoubtedly lent special weight, in the eyes of her husband's family, to the suit that was pressed on Lekha's behalf by her uncles. Nevertheless, Vijayaraje Scindia recollects in her autobiography that she did face some initial hostility from her new family. She sensed that this wariness on their part was based on the fear that her non-Maratha heritage may result in the traditions of the ruling family being impacted. Vijayaraje privately resolved never to allow this to become an issue; by sedulous effort, she becoming utterly acclimatized to the Maratha customs and traditions of the Scindia family and thus won over her detractors.

Children

The marriage was blessed with four daughters and a son, being:
#Padmavatiraje 'Akkasaheb' Scindia (1942-64), who wed Kirit Deb Barman, last ruling maharaja of Tripura.
#Usharaje Scindia (b.1943), who wed her distant cousin, Pasupati Rana, a Nepalese nobleman. They are the parent of Devyani Rana.
#Madhavrao Scindia (1945-2001), prominent Indian politician.
#Vasundhara Raje (b.1953) prominent Indian politician and present Chief Minister of Rajasthan. She was formerly married to the titular maharaja of Dholpur.
#Yashodhara Raje (b.1955), also an active Indian politician and MLA. She was formerly married to a US-based doctor.

Family life

Vijayaraje's relationship with her husband conformed, by every account, to the Indian ideal of perfect harmony; this is easy enough to believe, as Vijayaraje, the supreme traditionalist, would have deemed it her duty to defer to him, and to family elders, on all matters.

The situation was in every sense reversed where her children were concerned. The demise of Jiyajirao in 1961 left Vijayaraje the only parent for her growing children. True to character, Vijayaraje proved an exacting and somewhat martinet parent; she expected her children to meet her own idealised standards of lifestyle and behavior. This did not make for particular warmth, and in later life, Vijayaraje's relationship with her adult children wavered between the formally cordial and the antagonistic. In her autobiography, she regretfully recounts how little sympathy she was able to extend to her two younger daughters in their troubled marriages, and wonders whether her husband may not have handled those situations better.

Her relationship with her only son was especially troubled; personal problems were exacerbated by political differences, and she sometimes felt moved to attack his character in public. Indeed, when her will was read shortly after her death, it was found that she had forbidden her son from participating in her funerary obsequies. This is the ultimate castigation an orthodox Hindu can mete out to a son. Her children have occasionally attributed these family differences to the baneful influence of Vijayaraje's advisors, but most observers disagree with this assessment.

Entry into politics

Vijayaraje was initiated into electoral politics in 1962 when she contested the Guna Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh on a Congress ticket. Five years later, she quit the Congress and joined the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Jan Sangh. She won the Kerera assembly seat as the party's candidate and plunged headlong into state politics. She went on to win seven consecutive parliamentary elections. She was jailed by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. In the 1970s, Vijayraje and her son Madhavrao were involved in a public dispute over property. Animosities heightened due to their differing political ideologies.

Vijayaraje came to the forefront of the BJP leadership in 1980 when she was made one of its vice-presidents. She played a key role in propagating the party's Ramjanmabhoomi agenda and was considered a hardliner. She remained a BJP vice-president until 1998 when she stepped down on health grounds and quit electoral politics. She died in January 2001.

References

*Scindia, Vijayaraje, with Malgonkar, Manohar. "The Last Maharani of Gwalior: An Autobiography", State University of New York Press, Albany (1987). 279 pp.
* [http://www.sawnet.org/whoswho/?Scindia+Vijaya+Raje Brief biography]
* [http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99jun13/edit.htm#1 From the Tribune newspaper]