When the elections are contested in India on mere historical issues, sometimes the political parties and the leaders end up in little comic situation like one in Madhya Pradesh(MP) bye-election as late as May 2017 ! The Chief Minister of MP, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, and the National General Secretary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), Kailash Vijayvaragiya, accused the Maharaja of Gwalior of joining hands with the British in torturing people during the Mutiny of 1857 which was considered the first freedom movement against the East India Company regime. When they were calling the Maharaja, “the traitor”, they intended to target the present “Maharaja” of Gwalior, Jyotiraditya Scindia, a Congress leader; forgetting his two aunts(his father, Madhavrao Scindia’s real sisters) were not only the leaders of the ruling party in the state and at the Centre but were holding Ministerial posts too ! The eldest, Vasundhara Raje, being the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and the younger one, Yashodhara Raje, being the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Employment of Madhya Pradesh itself. The late Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia, a close friend of late Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, had resigned as a Member of Parliament of the ruling Congress and simultaneously contested and won on the tickets of the Swatantra Party and the Jan Sangh for the Lok Sabha(Parliament) and the MP Assembly respectively in 1967. She was also the founder Vice President of the BJP.
It is no denying fact that like most of the rulers of the Princely States, the Maharaja of Gwalior, Jayajirao Scindia, acted as the “Cobra” and “Traitor” helping the British, in the words of Swatantraveer V.D. Savarkar in “Indian War of Independence 1857”. The Rani Laksmi bai of Jhansi had cautioned Nanasaheb Peshwa, her co-leader in the Revolution of 1857 along with Tatia(Tatya) Tope, but the Scindia ditched even his ancestors’ boss for safeguarding his own interest at the cost of Swaraj and Swadharma. Barrister Savarkar writes: “They had written to the Scindia, ‘We are coming to you, so that we shall be enabled to proceed towards the south.’ But this ungrateful man had forgotten the former relations. Well then, remember the former and the present relations too. ‘The ancestors of the Scindia were our servants, our Hujres-that was the former relation. And, the present relation? The whole army of the present Scindia had joined us. Tatia had gone to Gwalior, seen the leaders, and gained all necessary information!’ But still, forgetting all this the Scindia, with all his army and all his guns, advanced on the Peshwa on the 1st of June, near Gwalior. The Shrimant(Peshwa) who deserves the respect of the whole country thought for a moment that the Scindia had repented and was coming forward to salute the flag of Swadesh. But, Lakshmi said that he was coming, not to salute, but to smash that golden flag. She came forward with her three hundred horsemen and advanced right on the guns of the Scindia. Soon, she caught the view of Jayajirao Scindia and his personal guard the brave ‘Bhaleghate’ troops. The cobra shows not such rage when it is trodden upon as Lakshmi showed at the sight of this traitor!”
Savarkar describes ; “Jayajirao Scindia, coward as he was , and his minister, Dinkar Rao, fled, not only from the field, but from Gwalior itself, and ran to Agra !....how can he who goes against his own country and against his own Dharma be a ruler ? …. On 3 June 1857, a big Durbar was held in Phul Bagh. All Sirdars, statesmen, noblemen, shiledars, and cavalry officers, who joined the Shrimant, took their seats according to their rank. Tatia Tope and the Arabs, Rohillas, Pathans, Rajputs, Rangdes, Pardeshis, and others under him came to Durbar in their military uniform and with swords by their side. The Shrimant himself was dressed in the Peshwa’s uniform Shirpana and Kalgitura on head, pearls in his ears, and pearl and diamond necklaces, round his neck…..all stood up in reverence, salutes were received, and the Shrimant ascended the throne.” The victory over Gwalior was celebrated but Lakshmi was missing since she preferred the battlefield to the Durbar. Lieutenant Rose attacked Gwalior and captured it too. Away from there even the Rani was killed. Thus ended the last organized resistance of the Rebellion. In the famous words of Rose, she was the “best and bravest of the rebel leaders”.
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s celebrated poem “Jhansi ki Rani” is being recited even today by the people of India, presenting the darling queen; but the Government of Rajasthan headed by Vasundhara Raje Scindia got the poem removed from the school textbooks since it presented the Scindia ancestors in bad light. Of course, it raised a controversy. The RSS leader, Kanaiya Lal Chaturvedi openly challenged the Scindia government’s decision saying it was a historical fact that the Scindia of Gwalior sided with the British in 1857. Vasundhara’s mother, Rajmata Vijaya Raje, in her autobiography, “Rajpath se Lokpath par”, tried to influence the readers to believe that the Maharaja of Gwalior, Jayajirao, was a nationalist and tried to help the Peshwa under whom the natives tried to challenge the English rule in 1857. Most of the historians have come to the conclusion that the Scindia sided with the British. Savarkar preferred to call him “a Cobra and a Traitor”.
Savarkar offered great tribute to the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, by quoting his letters, written in his own hand, to the Hindu kings of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Alwar, etc. appealing them to make united efforts to get rid of the foreign domination. “It is my ardent wish to see that the Feringhi is driven out of Hindusthan by all means and at any cost……I have no desire left in me of ruling over India, after the expulsion of the English, to my own personal aggrandizement. If all of you native Rajas are ready to unsheathe your sword to drive away the enemy, then, I am willing to resign my Imperial powers and authority in the hands of any confederacy of the native princes who are chosen to exercise it.” Needless to say that the English were ruling India in the name of the Mughal Emperor. Unfortunately, thanks to the Hindu and Muslim native rulers’ support to the English and actions of the “first-class traitor” Ilahi Baksh Mirza and Munsi Rajb Ali, the English got the Emperor, the unanimous leader of the Hindus and Muslims in the Mutiny, arrested and three of his princes were lynched on the streets of Delhi. India had to wait another 90 years to get liberated.
Next Column : Agony of Bahawalpur which financed Pakistan
( The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail : [email protected] )
