Madhavrao Scindia
Madhavrao Scindia (
1945-
2001) (alternatively the Maharaja of Gwalior) was a prominent
Indian politician and minister from the
Scindia family, who formerly ruled
Gwalior.
Born on
March 26,
1945, Madhavrao Scindia was the son of the last ruling Maharaja of Gwalior,
Jiyajirao Scindia. He was educated at the
Scindia School, endowed by his family, in Gwalior, and then at
Oxford University. After Indian independence in
1947, his father acceded to the Indian government, and the kingdom of Gwalior became part of the new state of
Madhya Bharat, which in 1956 was merged into
Madhya Pradesh. Madhavrao followed the political tradition laid down by his mother
Rajmata Vijayraje Scindia, who was elected to the
Lok Sabha (parliament) in
1962.
A nine-term member of the Lok Sabha, Madhavrao Scindia never lost an election since
1971, when he won for the first time from Gwalior at the age of 26. He contested as an independent with the support of the Jan Sangh, a party that his family had for long patronised. In
1977, he switched to the
Congress Party despite resistance from his larger family, and won the Gwalior seat a second time. In order to avoid a direct contest with his mother, he later shifted to the neighbouring constituency of
Guna. But in
1984, he was nominated the Congress candidate in Gwalior as a last-minute manoeuvre to defeat the
Bharatiya Janata Party's
Atal Behari Vajpayee, and won by a massive margin. Since then Scindia contested from either Gwalior or Guna and won on each occasion.
The 1984 election brought Scindia his first experience as a Minister. He made his mark as an excellent administrator during his stint as Railways Minister in the
Rajiv Gandhi Ministry. He is credited with the modernisation and computerisation of
Indian Railways and with maintaining the most cordial and professional relationship with his managerial cadres.
Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao made him Minister for Civil Aviation. He faced a turbulent period of agitation by the staff of the domestic carrier,
Indian Airlines, and as part of a strategy of disciplining the workforce he leased a number of aircraft from
Russia. Early in
1992 one of these aircraft crashed, though without any loss of life, and Scindia promptly submitted his resignation. Although not known to be too finicky about such notions as ministerial accountability, the prime minister accepted his resignation. Scindia was later reinducted into the Cabinet in 1995 as Minister for Human Resource Development.
In
1996, he along with
Arjun Singh and other Congress dissidents had the opportunity to be part of the
United Front (U.F.) government at the Centre. Although his Madhya Pradesh Vikas Congress was part of the U.F., Scindia himself opted to stay out of the Cabinet. His first priority obviously was to return to the Congress and resume his old political bonds. His opportunity came when Narasimha Rao was ousted as Congress president after a string of indictments in corruption cases.
Scindia's political role and influence within the Congress party grew rapidly and he was seen as a potential prime ministerial candidate. His tragic demise in a plane crash demolished many hopes.
His son,
Jyotiraditya Scindia is a Member of Parliament elected to the seat that he held. His daughter is married to the Crown Prince of
Kashmir.
He was the President of the
Board of Control for Cricket in India from
1990 to
1993.
Scindia had a deep interest and commitment to literary activities. Thus instead of restricting his visits to political meetings, he was often the guest of honor in literary and cultural programs. On such occasions people used to request him to recite a poem after his formal lecture was over. He always used to oblige people by reciting choice poems or
Urdu shayari.
