| Madhavrao J. Scindia | |
|---|---|
 Scindia on a 2005 postage stamp of India | |
| Union Minister of Civil Aviation | |
| In office 1991–1993 | |
| Prime Minister | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Preceded by | Harmohan Dhawan |
| Succeeded by | Ghulam Nabi Azad |
| Union Minister of Tourism | |
| In office 1991–1993 | |
| Prime Minister | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Succeeded by | Ghulam Nabi Azad |
| Union Minister of Human Resource Development | |
| In office 1995–1996 | |
| Prime Minister | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Preceded by | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Succeeded by | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Railways | |
| In office 22 October 1986 – 1 December 1989 | |
| Prime Minister | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Mohsina Kidwai |
| Succeeded by | George Fernandes |
| Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
| In office 10 October 1999 – 30 September 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Vijaya Raje Scindia |
| Succeeded by | Jyotiraditya M. Scindia |
| Constituency | Guna, Madhya Pradesh |
| In office 31 December 1984 – 10 October 1999 | |
| Preceded by | Narayan Shejwalkar |
| Succeeded by | Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya |
| Constituency | Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh |
| In office 15 March 1971 – 31 December 1984 | |
| Preceded by | Acharya Kripalani |
| Succeeded by | Mahendra Singh Kalukheda |
| Constituency | Guna, Madhya Pradesh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1945-03-10)10 March 1945 Bombay,Bombay Presidency,British India (present day Mumbai,Maharashtra, India) |
| Died | 30 September 2001(2001-09-30) (aged 56) Mainpuri,Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Other political affiliations | Bharatiya Jana Sangh (1971–1977) |
| Spouse | |
| Relations | SeeScindia Dynasty |
| Children | Chitrangada Singh (daughter) Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (son) |
| Residence(s) | Jai Vilas Palace,Gwalior,Madhya Pradesh, India Samudra Mahal,Mumbai,Maharashtra India |
| Occupation | Politician |
Madhavrao Jiwajirao Scindia (10 March 1945 – 30 September 2001) was an Indian politician andminister in theGovernment of India. He was a member of theIndian National Congress. He was viewed as a potential future prime ministerial candidate before the1999 Lok Sabha elections in the aftermath of the controversy overSonia Gandhi's foreign origin.
Scindia was the son ofJiwajirao Scindia, the last rulingMaharaja of the erstwhileGwalior State. Upon the death of his father in 1961, and under terms agreed to during thepolitical integration of India, Scindia succeeded to aprivy purse, certain privileges, and the use of the title "Maharaja of Gwalior,"[1] which lasted until 1971, whereupon all were abolished by the26th Amendment to the Constitution of India.[2][3][4]
Scindia was born in a 96 kuli Maratha family, to the last ruling Maharaja ofGwalior,Jiwajirao Scindia and his mother wasRajmata Vijay Raje Scindia. He married Madhavi Raje Scindia, a daughter of army general ofMadhesh Province,Nepal, and a great-granddaughter ofPrime Minister of Nepal and Maharaja of Kaski and Lamjung,Juddha Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, a patrilineal descendant of Sardar Ramakrishna Kunwar of Gorkha.[5] They had two children, a daughter,Chitrangada Singh (born 1967),[6][7] a sonJyotiraditya Scindia[8] (born 1971).[9][10]
Scindia underwent his schooling inScindia School,Gwalior and thereafter went for higher studies inWinchester College and atNew College, Oxford.[11]
On his return from the UK, Scindia followed the political tradition set by his motherVijaya Raje Scindia by joining politics. He was elected to theLok Sabha in 1971 from theGuna constituency on aBharatiya Jana Sangh ticket.[11]
He won for the first time fromGuna constituency at the age of 26. He contested the election on the ticket ofBharatiya Jana Sangh (the precursor of the present dayBharatiya Janata Party), which his family had long patronised. When theEmergency, he fled the country into self-imposed exile in theUnited Kingdom.
After he returned toIndia, he resigned from the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He contested from Guna constituency as an independent candidate and won the seat a second time in spite of the wave in favour of theJanata Party.[12]
In the 1980 election, he switched allegiance to theIndian National Congress and won from Guna a third time. In 1984, he was nominated as the Congress party's candidate fromGwalior in a last-minute manoeuvre to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party'sAtal Bihari Vajpayee, and won by a massive margin. After that 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 (22 October 1986 – 1 December 1989)[13] in theRajiv Gandhi Ministry.
Prime MinistersP. 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. Scindia is also credited with setting up theIndian Institute of Information Technology and Management (IIITM) at Gwalior as an institution of repute, which got renamed after Atal Bihari Vajpayee as ABV-IIITM.
After the defeat of the Indian National Congress in the1989 Indian general election, Scindia became a prominent member of the opposition. In 1990, after the fall of theV. P. Singh government, the Congress provided external support to theSamajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) government ofChandra Shekhar. Scindia was appointed president of theBoard of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a post he held until his 3-year term expired in 1993.
In 1996, he left the Congress party after being accused of bribery by prime minister PV Narasimha Rao. He founded the Madhya Pradesh Vikas Congress (MPVC), and along withArjun Singh and other Congress dissidents formed theUnited Front government at the Centre. Scindia himself opted to stay out of the cabinet. In 1998, just before theLok Sabha elections he merged the MPVC into the Congress party. He won the 1998 Lok Sabha election from Guna.[12]
Madhavrao Scindia died at the age of 56, in a plane crash in Motta village, which is on the outskirts ofMainpuri district ofUttar Pradesh, on 30 September 2001. The plane caught fire when it was above Bhainsrauli village.[14] Being viewed as a future prime ministerial candidate before the1999 Lok Sabha elections in the aftermath of the controversy overSonia Gandhi's foreign origin, he was on his way to address a rally inKanpur.[15]
All eight people on board the private plane (Beechcraft King Air C90) died in the crash. This included his personal secretary Rupinder Singh, journalists Sanjeev Sinha (The Indian Express), Anju Sharma (The Hindustan Times), Gopal Bisht, Ranjan Jha (Aaj Tak), pilot Ray Gautam and co-pilot Ritu Malik. The bodies were charred beyond recognition and taken by road toAgra, from where a specialIndian Air Force aircraft, sent byPrime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee, brought the remains toNew Delhi. The remains of Madhavrao Scindia were identified by his family, with the GoddessDurga locket that he always used to wear.[16]
The autopsies and other legal formalities were conducted and completed respectively at theAll India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi by ProfessorT. D. Dogra.[17] His sonJyotiraditya M. Scindia was symbolically appointed the head of thefamily.[18]
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Madhavrao Scindia Born: 10 March 1945 Died: 2 October 2001 | ||
| Preceded by | — TITULAR — Maharaja of Gwalior 1961–1971 Reason for succession failure: Monarchy abolished in 1948, and title, privileges, and privy purses abolished in 1971 | Succeeded by |
The crucial document was the Instrument of Accession by which rulers ceded to the legislatures of India or Pakistan control over the defence, external affairs, and communications. In return for these concessions, the princes were to be guaranteed a privy purse in perpetuity and certain financial and symbolic privileges such as exemption from customs duties, the use of their titles, the right to fly their state flags on their cars and to have police protection. ... By December 1947 Patel began to pressure the princes into signing Merger Agreements that integrated their states into adjacent British Indian provinces, soon to be called states or new units of erstwhile princely states, most notably Rajasthan, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, and Matsya Union (Alwar, Bharatpur, Dholpur and Karaulli).
Through a constitutional amendment passed in 1971, Indira Gandhi stripped the princes of thetitles, privy purses and regal privileges which her father's government had granted.
Although the Indian states were alternately requested or forced into union with either India or Pakistan, the real death of princely India came when the Twenty-sixth Amendment Act (1971) abolished the princes'titles, privileges, and privy purses.
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