New biography chronicles life of Madhavrao Scindia (With image)
March 11th, 2009 - 6:11 pm ICT by IANS ( 3 comments )New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) Suave, educated and secular with a reputation for honesty, former minister and veteran Congressman Madhavrao Scindia, who died in an aircrash in 2001, did not conform to the conventional image of the Indian politician, a new book on his says.
The scion of the royal family of Gwalior, the Scindia clan, Madhavrao was a Maharaja with a difference, says the biography, “A Life- Madhavrao Scindia”, jointly authored by journalist-commentaor Vir Sanghvi and columnist Namita Bhandare.
Scindia, observes the book, did not forget his heritage - but ensured that neither his ancestry nor his political status clouded his persona.
He was at heart a liberal, funloving and a simple family man, the book says.
The book, published by Penguin India, was released by Congress president and ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi at the sprawling Durbar Hall of the Taj Palace Hotel in the capital at a star-studded ceremony attended by senior Congress politicians, media magnates, intellectuals and socialites, as also the family, friends and associates of Madhavrao Scindia.
The book traces the life of Scindia from his days as a rookie businessman at Bombay’s Ballard Estate and goes back and forth, touching upon his days as a student in India and Oxford; his rise in politics, his isolation from his mother, his family life and his premature death - all through a series personal recollections by long-time friend Vir Sanghvi.
Bhandare, who met Scindia only twice in her life, complemented Sanghvi’s personalised accounts, with well-contexted chronciles of the politician’s life set against the backdrop of contemporary Indian politics.
“When I received the invitation to attend the gathering, I wondered if it was seven years since Mdahavrao Scindia left us,” Gandhi reminisced in her inaugural address.
“I knew him before I joined politics. In fact, he was the only minister whose portfolio remained unchanged for five years. My husband (former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi) used to say Madhavrao Scindia had turned the railways around and mastered the intricacies of its functioning.
“My contact with him came much later. I worked closely with him when the Congress was battling forces of religious discrimination and communalism. And Madhavrao Scindia realised that this was a battle we could not afford to lose. As a colleague, he would proffer straight-forward advice and come up with sincere answers,” Gandhi maintained.
Recalling his first encounter with Scindia in 1977, author Vir Sanghvi said: “I was was student at Oxford and was doing journalism during vacations. I was asked to do a story on boarding schools of India by a now defuct Bombay-based magazine ‘Youth Times’, which was doing a special issue on boarding schools.
Madhavrao was the head of the Scindia Board of Governors (which managed the Scindia School in Gwalior),” Sanghvi said.
As the magazine did not have the money to send Sanghvi to Gwalior, it asked him to interview the politician at his home in Haji Ali in Bombay. The rapport that Sanghvi struck with Scindia flowered into a friendship that lasted for nearly 25 years.
“I knew I would write the book long before I wrote it,” Sanghvi said.
The book, he said, came about at the behest of vice-chairperson and editorial director of Hindustan Times, Shobhana Bhartia, a close family friend of the Scindias.
“The most enduring period of my association with Scindia was when he was accused in the hawala scandal. He left the Congress and contested against the Congress official candidate as an independent. I toured Madhya Pradesh with him. For sometime, it looked as if the hawala would never end and his political career was over.
“But the fact that he did not have to face ridicule or challenges made it so special. He believed in certain values which helped him tide over the crisis,” Sanghvi told IANS.
For Bhandare, who researched exhaustively for the project, it was a lesson in contemporary Indian history. “It gave me an insight into Indian politics right from the pre-emergency days when Madhya Bharat was merged with India up to the Vajpayee government and Kargil,” Bhandare told IANS.
The book was introduced to the audience by Madhavrao’s widow Madhavi Raje Scindia, the current chairman of the Madhavrao Scindia Foundation. Son Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of State for IT and Communications, sat in the audience.
The book is priced at Rs 550.
- Scindia kin ordered to pay Rajmata's Rs.6.52 lakh phone bill - May 27, 2011
- More Rahul men move into Manmohan Singh ministry - Jul 12, 2011
- Congress lost several high-profile leaders in their prime - Sep 03, 2009
- Political leaders who died in air crashes - May 04, 2011
- Rushdie visit cancellation sparks outrage on social media - Jan 17, 2012
- Politics not best way for change: Fatima Bhutto - Apr 04, 2010
- Exposing corruption: Man who started it all (IANS Book Review) - Oct 18, 2011
- Five former royals in Madhya Pradesh battle - Apr 20, 2009
- New Indira Gandhi biography casts light on life, politics - Nov 12, 2011
- Rahul Gandhi, Alexander and adventure on bookshelf (IANS Books This Week) - Jan 28, 2012
- World Cup-winning team felicitated, lifetime award for Durrani - May 31, 2011
- Journalist's book on Indian political history released - Oct 19, 2011
- Designer pays tribute to Scindia with 'nerdy-royal' collection - Aug 29, 2010
- Rahul justifies 'begging' remark - Nov 22, 2011
- Will Section 144 halt Rahul's march? - Jul 06, 2011
Tags: aircrash, ballard estate, congress president, conventional image, funloving, indian politician, indian politics, long time friend, magnates, maharaja, new biography, personal recollections, premature death, progressive alliance, sanghvi, scindia, socialites, sonia gandhi, star studded, taj palace hotel
February 25th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
I am amazed that a prominent journalist like Vir Sanghvi, though calling himself a friend of Madhavrao knows so little about him.
in the article he writes that he did not go to Gwalior as the magazine had no money, let me tell him that a first class ticket from Bombay to Gwalior was only 200 Rs.
to write a biography it is essential to know the childhood of the person.
Madhav Rao studied in Scindia School Gwalior, where I came into close contact with him from 1959 to 1961.
Did Mr. Singhvi find out about his life in school while his father was alive and later?
there are leading people still alive who could tell a lot about the character and doings of Madhavrao, to name a few, Vinay Kumar Modi, a leading Industrialist, Rajendra Nath Aga retired member traffic railway Board, late COL. Vijay Krishnan, our former foreign secretary S.S. Menon the list is endless.
Did Namita go to Scindia school and dig up old copies of Scindia School Review of the oeriod he was there? A more conscientious researcher would have done it as the first thing. Thereviews are still in the archive at least they were there in 2000 when I visited the school.
Does Vir know that Madhavrao as late as early seventie, had ADC’s who wore uniforms and adresed him with anachronistic titles, and they were his school friends, one i remember clearly, was vasant Sirrey whose family had a sports shop in Gwalior. Of the shabby treatment he meted out to his teachers after becoming the head of the board of Governors. His own ‘Gurus’. I have personally witnessed Madhavrao’s father adress the then pricipal Mr. Shukla as Guruji and nver interfered with theh School. While he was alive Madhavrao was more or less treated equally but after his death his true colours came about.
Your article has prompted me to somehow get hold of the book, and then I shall invite Vir for a debate if he is upto it. In fact without reading it, and just by reading this article I know i can punch more holes in it than tere are in a beehive
1. i am amazed that a prominent journalist like Vir Sanghvi, though calling himself a friend o Madhavrao knows so little abpout him.
in the article he writes that he did not go to Gwalior as the magazine had no money, let me tell him that a first class ticket from Bombay to Gwalior was only 200 Rs.
to write a biography it is essential to know the childhood of the person.
Madhav Rao studied in Scindia School Gwalior, where I came into close contact with him from 1959 to 1961.
Did Mr. Singhvi find out about his life in school while his father was alive and later?
there are leading people still alive who could tell a lot about the character and doings of Madhavrao, to name a few, Vinay Kumar Modi, a leading Industrialist, Rajendra Nath Aga retired member traffic railway Board, late COL. Vijay Krishnan, our former foreign secretary S.S. Menon the list is endless.
Did Namita go to Scindia school and dig up old copies of Scindia School Review of the oeriod he was there? A more conscientious researcher would have done it as the first thing. Thereviews are still in the archive at least they were there in 2000 when I visited the school.
Does Vir know that Madhavrao as late as early seventie, had ADC’s who wore uniforms and adresed him with anachronistic titles, and they were his school friends, one i remember clearly, was vasant Sirrey whose family had a sports shop in Gwalior. Of the shabby treatment he meted out to his teachers after becoming the head of the board of Governors. His own ‘Gurus’. I have personally witnessed Madhavrao’s father adress the then pricipal Mr. Shukla as Guruji and nver interfered with theh School. While he was alive Madhavrao was more or less treated equally but after his death his true colours came about.
Your article has prompted me to somehow get hold of the book, and then I shall invite Vir for a debate if he is upto it. In fact without reading it, and just by reading this article I know i can punch more holes in it than tere are in a beehive
if anyone is brave enough i can be contacted nd have no fears, this is not because Madhav Rao is no more, i did it to his face. Has Vir written about Madhavrao, and his activities from 1975 to 1977, while his mother was in Jail.
One good thing did happen by his cowardly approach he did not go to jail during the Emergency, and left the Jan Sangh. or else he would have been the Prime Minister of India and not Atalji.
December 23rd, 2010 at 7:29 pm
I only just came across this comment and feel the need to clarify. If Mr Naik would read the article again please, he would note that the reference to Vir Sanghvi’s not going to Gwalior as the magazine had no money refers to 1977 when he was commissioned by a magazine to write about boarding schools. Subsequently, during Madhavrao Scindia’s life and after his tragic death, several visits to Gwalior were made. Yes, I did visit Scindia School and spent considerable time speaking to Mr Scindia’s teachers and peers. Perhaps, Mr Naik should read the book before reaching conclusions.
January 4th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
I have sent a reply. The readers may just get to know the real Madhav Rao thanks to her. She has not taken up my challenge to VIR about a debate on Madhav Rao.I am willing for an open one.
Take it up LADY.I SAT AT THE SAME TABLE FOR THREE MEALS A DAY FOR MORE THAN A YEAR, THE ONLY CLASS NINE STUDENT. THE HEAD TABLE WHERE ALL THE TEACHERS SAT.
My case rests.
AMITABH