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THE
NATION: SCINDIA ESTATE
Gwalior's
Intrigue
Two
wills, three claims and four children. The battle for Vijayaraje Scindia's
legacy is underway.
By Lakshmi Iyer and
Neeraj Mishra
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| DISPOSSESSED:
While Madhavrao performed his mother's last rites, the 1985 will said
"he shall not light my pyre" |
Seated
in his Sainik Farms residence on the southern fringes of Delhi, Sambhajirao
Angre has but one regret. He was not aware, he says, of the contents of
the will of Vijayaraje Scindia-the late rajmata of Gwalior and former
BJP MP-till after her cremation: "My wife, Rajeshwari Devi, who was
one of the three custodians of the will, gave me the trust deed only after
I returned from the cremation on January 27."
The will,
copies of which Angre distributed to journalists at a press conference
this past week, is a mother's indictment of her only son, Madhavrao Scindia,
deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. In the document, handwritten
on September 20, 1985, Vijayaraje says Madhavrao has "disentitled
himself, rendered himself unfit even to the right to cremate (his) mother's
dead body and do the last rites". That duty is bequeathed to associates
like Angre, who though two years Vijayaraje's junior is praised as "this
most loyal man of the Scindia Royalty".
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RAJMATA'S
WILL SAYS
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 SAMBHAJIRAO
ANGRE, confidant. "I am greatly indebted to him
for... the ease and smile with which he suffered all insinuations
and hostilities of my own son who (afraid to hit me but willing
to) made him and his family special target."
YASHODHARARAJE, daughter.
"Had to suffer a raw deal at the hands of her sister-in-law
and her brother in her jewellery matter."
MADHAVRAO, son.
"To show his loyalty to his political masters he mentally tortured
... and humiliated me ... He has morally forfeited his right to
call himself my son."
R.N. GOENKA, media baron.
"Though elder to me he regarded and adopted me as his mother
... helped me as a true son would."
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At Vijayaraje's
funeral it was Madhavrao who lit the pyre. Angre is determined the "error"
will not be repeated and promises that he will perform "shrada in
Gaya and the brahmakapali in Badrinarayan" himself.
It is not
just religious obligations that the will brings into the arena. At stake
is the gigantic property of the former royal house of Gwalior, recognised
as one of the five most important native princely states by the British
Raj.
Vijayaraje's
will virtually disinherits her son. The dowager queen gives away her personal
effects such as her jewellery to her three daughters (Usharaje, Madhya
Pradesh BJP MLA Yashodhararaje and Union Minister of State for Small Scale
Industries Vasundhararaje). She grants small gifts to a whole host of
retainers and friends. Former BJP president Kushabhau Thakre, an old associate
of Vijayaraje in Madhya Pradesh politics, gets Rs 1 lakh.
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| MOTHER'S
CHOICE: Vijayaraje's three daughters get a greater share of her affection
and property than their brother but efforts to reunite the Scindia
family may restore equations |
But the biggest
beneficiary is Angre. He is appointed a trustee of the rajmata Vijayaraje
Scindia Trust, which will manage her heritage. Angre is also given a "gift"
of two stud farms in Jodhpur.
Executing
the rajmata's testament may not be as easy an affair as imagined. For
one, another will, typed and duly validated in February 1999, threatens
to upstage the Angre document. It is understood that this will grants
more of Vijayaraje's property to her daughters and is less generous to
"outsiders", diluting for instance the 1985 commitment of "one-fifth
of my estate to charitable and religious purposes". The second will
also tones down the criticism of Madhavrao.
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