The resignation of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Congress is a personal reminiscence of his father Madhavrao and grandmother Vijayaraje of the Jana Sangh fame. The revolt by Jyotiraditya, the heir to the now non-existent throne, against Congress in Madhya Pradesh taken us down memory lane of a similar incident 24 years ago.
Jyotiraditya's late father Madhavrao Scindia, who was in Jana Sangh along with his mother Vijayaraje but joined the Congress after the emergency, had also left the Grand Old Party to form his own outfit in 1996.
Like his son Jyotiraditya, Madhavrao too was at the loggerheads with the then Congress leadership and quit the party to floats his own political outfit in 1996. He, however, returned to the Congress fold after charting an independent course for two years.
He was denied ticket by the party in the Lok Sabha April-May elections after his name figured in the Jain diaries, allegedly carrying the names of politicians who received a large sum.
Madhavrao denied the allegations of receiving any money. He felt humiliated by the Congress party's decision to deny him the ticket, given that he has never lost an election since joining politics in 1971 when he fought on a Jana Sangh ticket from Guna. Interestingly, this was the year Jyotiraditya Scindia was born.
Madhavrao joined Jana Sangh due to his mother Viajayraje, who was influential within the party fold, but found the ideology of the 'Sangh Parivar' didn't go down well with him. He fought the next election as an independent candidate and 1980 polls on the ticket of Congress (Indira). He went on to win the next three polls before revolting against the Congress in 1996.
Madhavrao, however, didn't join the BJP but formed his own party - the Madhya Pradesh Vikas Congress (MPVC). After the death of then Congress chief Sitarama Kesari, he returned to the party fold and became a key aide of Sonia Gandhi.
Vijayaraje Scindia and her dream of Jyotiraditya joining the BJP
Jyotiraditya's move is a depiction of his grandmother's political journey. Vijayaraje Scindia of the royal family that once ruled Gwalior joined politics in 1957 as a Congress member and won the Guna Lok Sabha seat.
However, after the death of Nehru and the emergence of Indira Gandhi in the Congress, Vijayaraje took a saffron plunge and switched her loyalty to Jana Sangh in 1967. She was at the heart of Jana Sangh's victory on three seats in Madhya Pradesh - herself from Bhind, her son Madhavrao Scindia from Guna and Atal Bihar Vajpayee from Gwalior.
Later, Vijayaraje, along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other members of Jana Sangh founded and nurtured the BJP. She was not happy with her son Madhavrao's decision to part ways with Jana Sangh and wanted her grandson to join the saffron outfit.
Jyotiraditya, however, chose to follow his father's path while two of her aunts - Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Yashodhara Raje also entered the politics and joined BJP. While Vasundhara joined as a member of BJP national executive in 1984, Yashodhara entered formal politics in 1998, four years after her return from the US.
With his decision to ditch the Congress and likely induction into the BJP, Jyotiraditya has followed the path of the Scindia clan. And as they say, there is always a tinge of saffron in the Scindias whether they are with the Congress or the BJP, and Jyotiraditya has proved it right.
