New Delhi: With Jyotiraditya Scindia’s exit from the Congress, there are three things to de-clutter — the Scindia dynasty, why such a thing has occurred in the Congress, and what the Congress can expect out of this.
The Scindia dynasty
In 1957, Jyotiraditya’s grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia had contested on a Congress ticket in Guna and won. In 1962, she fought on a Congress ticket again but got disillusioned with the party in 1967 and joined the right-wing libertarian Swatantra Party.
At the time, it had attracted many feudals and royal dynasts, prompting Indira Gandhi to call it a party for feudalists.
Vijaya won on a Swatantra ticket that year, but went on to join the Jana Sangh — precursor of the BJP — and brought down the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
Fifty two years later, her grandson has done the same thing.
Before that, however, her son Madhavrao Scindia had joined politics in 1971, at the age of 16, and contested on a Jana Sangh ticket from the family’s pocket borough of Guna and won.
By 1977, he became disillusioned with the party. The story behind this is when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975, she locked her rivals up in jail — among them was Vijaya Raje Scindia.
He decided to contest as an independent that year and won. By 1980, when the Janata Party collapsed, Vijaya became one of the founding members of the BJP while Madhavrao pitched his fate with the Congress. He won, once again, from Guna.
In the next election in 1984, he was handpicked by Rajiv Gandhi to contest against Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Gwalior. He won by a large margin and became a minister.
Apart from Madhavrao, Vijaya also has two daughters — Vasundhara Raje, who has been the chief minister of Rajasthan twice, and Yashodhara Raje Scindia, who has been an MLA from Gwalior since 2013.
While the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is in decline, the services of this one are split between the Congress and the BJP. Jyotiraditya’s exit from the Congress makes it the first time since 1977 that both streams of the dynasty will come into the same fold.
Why this has happened with Congress
Compared to this father, Jyotiraditya was not able to secure the same roles and responsibilities at the same age. He was made a minister of state only in the UPA 2 regime, and not of a significant ministry.
Even though he is nearing 50, he is still considered a “youngster” by the Congress, and feels there is no future in the party.
It reflects a strange mindset on the part of Congress, which says, “don’t tell us what you’ve done; you are what you are because of us”.
Several young Congressmen have had the same complaint — Jagan Mohan Reddy suffered first, then came the turn of Himanta Biswa Sharma.
Under Sonia and Rahul, the Congress has reversed Indira Gandhi’s playbook of 1969, when she split the Congress into Congress (Indira) and Congress (Organisation). She took with her the younger talented people — though most of them turned against her later — leaving behind the older members.
Now, younger talent is leaving the party, and older people are staying on.
Where does the Congress go from here?
The Congress has a peculiar quality — once it loses power comprehensively in a state it doesn’t come back. Strong leaders like Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh, and K. Chandrasekhar Rao in Telangana have taken power where Congress once ruled.
There is a strong possibility that Madhya Pradesh will go that way. In other words, the vote that was loyal to the Congress party will now go to somebody else.
You can watch the full episode of CTC here.
Funny publication the Print. This article says JD was made a MOS only in UPA2. But another article above this says JS was made a MOS in UPA 1 . Guess the Print is like the GOI, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Still it wants to be seen as credible. No wonder nobody believes MSM.