MP Bypolls: ‘Maharaj ne Galat Kiya,’ Say Gwalior-Chambal Voters on Jyotiraditya Scindia’s Switch to BJP

Bhopal: For 32-year-old daily wage labourer Ravi, who seats every day on the stairs of Gwalior’s Maharaj Wada at the crack of dawn looking for employment, Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Union Minister and heir of the Scindia Royal Family is still a Maharaj (king). But his decision to switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in March this year from the Congress upsets Ravi.

“Maharaj heera aadmi hai. Wo abhi bhi hamar Maharaj hai, lekin unhone BJP me ja kar galti ke. Sarkar girane aur BJP me jaanse se unki chavi dhumil hui hai (Maharaj is a diamond of a person, but he made a mistake by joining the BJP. His image has become stained after felling the government and joining the BJP),” said Ravi, who lives in Sarafa locality of Gwalior’s old city and earns merely Rs 300-400 a day whenever he is lucky enough to get hired.

Suraj Rajak, 48, who hails from Bhind’s Mehgaon and was seating meters away from Ravi, suddenly jumped into the discussion when he heard about Scindia.

“Maharaj is a very good man but he erred by joining the BJP. We voted for him and now he has moved to BJP for his own profit. It is said that he took Rs 35 crores for each MLA (who defected from Congress to BJP),” said Suraj.

Suraj is also a labourer and lives in Gwalior with his family in a rented house. Suraj is a resident of Mehgaon where bypolls are due on November 3.

Ravi and Suraj are not alone; this is a common view among voters in Gwalior-Chambal region where bypolls on 16 out of 28 seats will take place on November 3.

According to Sanjay Gupta, who runs a Medical shop in Morena city, Scindia should have quit the Congress alone if he was not getting respect, instead of making the elected government fall. “Scindia imposed this (by) election on us for his personal reasons. Voters are bearing the brunt of Scindia’s high-handedness,” Gupta said.

“Scindia ke izzat hai, per is chunav me nahi milegi (Scindia has respect of the people, but he will not get it this election). Congress was doing good work especially against Mafias and adulteration although I hadn’t voted for the party in 2018 election,” he added.

From labourers to shopkeepers, from auto-rickshaw drivers to students, from businessmen to intellectuals, Scindia’s entry into the BJP has upset many and they claim that this move has tarnished the image of his royal family.

“If he would have formed a third front just like his father Madhavrao Scindia did in 1996 after breaking off from the Congress and forming Vikas Congress, the people of Gwalior-Chambal would have stood firm with him,” said Surendra Singh Tomar, an upper-caste leader of the region.

After a rift with the fellow party leaders, Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with his 22 loyalists, switched to the BJP in March 2020, which led to the fall of the 15-month old Congress government led by CM Kamal Nath in the state.

Later, most of his loyalists were inducted into the cabinet of Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the BJP sent Scindia to Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.

Scindia had never been as politically powerless as he was at the time he joined the BJP, observers say. In May 2019, Scindia lost his parliamentary seat -- Guna -- in Lok Sabha elections with a margin of nearly 1 lakh against his former close aide KP Yadav. This is the first time when a member of the Scindia family lost any election. He had already been denied the chief ministerial post in 2018 by the Congress. Furthermore, the party also denied him the post of Congress chief in Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile, a senior journalist in Gwalior, Ram Vidrohi said he observed a unique phenomenon, which had never happened in the region.

“I never saw any protest against the Scindia family or any news published against them in my entire life. But since Scindia has switched to the BJP, the news against him is hitting the headlines--this is entirely new,” he observed.

He further said that nearly 200 guest teachers protested outside the Scindia palace and raised slogans like “Scindia Murdabad” just months ago. Besides, when Scindia arrived in Gwalior for the first time after joining the BJP, thousands of people took to the streets and showed black flags to him. “Such things never happened against any Scindia family members in the region. This is a new phenomenon; people are angry with him,” he added.

Congress Branding Scindia as ‘Traitor’

Since Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the grand old party, his former party men have launched a scathing attack on him. They branded him as a ‘gaddar’ (traitor) and a land mafia; Shreemant (something people call Scindia as a token of respect) turned into ‘Shreeant’ and so on.

Congress held a number of press conferences and claimed that Scindia has illegally occupied land worth nearly Rs 10,000 crore in the Gwalior-Chambal region by misusing his power. When he was in Congress, BJP leader Prabhat Jha used to make such allegations against Scindia. Interestingly, when Congress started making such allegations, Prabhat Jha became a mute spectator.

Referring to Scindia’s predecessor Jayajirao’s alleged involvement in the killing of freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai, Congress Gwalior-Chambal media in-charge KK Mishra began saying, “Gaddari to inke khoon me hai (Betrayal is in their blood itself).”

It is believed that Jayajirao Scindia betrayed Rani Laxmi Bai in 1857 and sided with the British. In 1967, Jyotiraditya’s grandmother Rajamata Vijayraje Scindia betrayed the Congress and now, Scindia did the same, Mishra was heard saying in press conferences in Gwalior.

Further, the Congress is also republishing a book called ‘Jhansi Ke Rani Laxmi Bai’, written by Vrindavanlal Sharma in 1949, which demonstrates the role of the Scindia Royal family in defeating Rani Laxmi Bai. The party plans to distribute this book.

In addition to that, the Congress claimed that each of the turncoats had taken Rs 35 crore from the BJP and betrayed the voters. The Congress has been running extensive campaigning on the lines of Gaddar (traitor) verses Wafadar (loyalist), and banners and pamphlets carrying such slogans are aplenty.

In the beginning of the election campaign, Scindia was holding rallies along with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but after a protest by the of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers during a rally in Ashok Nagar, the BJP has sidelined Scindia from its rallies.

As a result, the BJP is giving wider scope to Scindia in the Gwalior-Chambal region and he is holding rallies alone.

“Gaddar verses Wafadar, Rs 35 crore and infighting within the BJP may play an important role in these bypolls and the results may shock everyone,” said Ravi Shekhar, a journalist from Gwalior.

How Scindia Maintaining His Cult

To prove his supremacy in Gwalior-Chambal, Scindia has been holding meetings with the BJP leaders and workers, and the RSS leaders who are working as interlocutors between them.

“He is personally meeting with the party men, visiting their homes, holding rallies and branding himself as a common BJP worker irrespective to this Maharaja tag,” said Keshav Panday, a close aide of Scindia.

“Jaise chini pani me ghul jata hai waisa to nahi hoga, waqt lagega (It won’t be like sugar dissolving in water, it will take time),” Pandey added. Union Minister and MP from Morena, Narendra Singh Tomar said a similar thing while talking to media persons during a rally when asked about Scindia.

To drum up support among BJP workers and voters, Scindia is referring to the works of his grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia in building the BJP and the RSS. “Ye to meri dadi ke party hai. Meri to bas ghar wapsi hai (This is my grandmother’s party. It is just my homecoming),” Scindia was heard saying in various rallies.

Meanwhile, upper-caste leader Surendra Singh Tomar believes that the new avatar of Scindia may change voter perception in the bypolls.

“We have been witnessing a drastic change in Scindia. The man who hardly met anyone personally is calling and paying visits to their homes," said Tomar. "Scindia became very active a fortnight before the elections and he is no more behaving like a Maharaja, but as a common BJP worker. It has made a huge impact on the people,” he added.

On the other hand, veteran journalist and political commentator Rasheed Kidwai said, “The bypolls on 28 seats are a litmus test for Scindia to prove his sway over the region. He is trying to prove his supremacy in Gwalior-Chambal region rather than political parties or its leader.”