SHIVPURI: The royalty still holds a sway over large parts of Shivpuri and Guna even though the Scindia kingdom is history. But Election 2014 is different. For the first time in several decades, the palace is under siege. And the man leading the charge with his vitriolic outbursts against royalty at every rally is former Bajrang Dal president Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya.
He’s the same man who 16 years ago forced Madhavrao Scindia to quit his backyard Gwalior after a neck-and-neck battle. Madhavrao scraped through, but it was not a royal victory on home turf.
The ripples are being felt again in the Scindia fortress of Shivpuri-Guna even as Pawaiya declares that “2014 will be a bigger revolution than 1998”. The saffron rabble-rouser, buoyed by a perceptible Modi wave has polarized voters—not on communal lines, but triggered unrest between loyal subjects and those crying for change.
Speaking to TOI, he said, “It’s time to uproot the last vestige of royalty.”
The mood at Scindia’s Bombay Kothi headquarters in Shivpuri is sombre. Congress candidate and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has been shackled in his constituency in the face of the onslaught, barely addressing meetings outside his seat.
“Pawaiya is screaming murder on the streets. We are dignified in our approach and don’t believe in personal attacks,” said Scindia’s wife Priyadarshini Raje. But a Congress leader admitted that this time the victory margin will be slim. “Nobody can defeat Maharaja in Shivpuri-Guna, but the contest is very tough,” he said.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has mobilised the entire BJP machinery into action. Despite a busy schedule, he addressed eight marathon rallies in Shivpuri-Guna alone. “It’s time to breathe freely. It’s time for change. They say it’s the maharaja’s rule, we say it’s the people’s rule,” he told a gathering at Kolaras.
Shivpuri was also on Modi’s itinerary. Last week, he also spoke in Pawaiya’s language and launched a diatribe against the palace.
But one saffron politician is visibly missing in action. She’s the local BJP MLA from Shivpuri, Yashodhara Raje Scindia. Congress candidate Jyotiraditya’s aunt has kept herself aloof.
“The palace is united. They maybe in different political camps, but in times of crisis, ideology blurs for the Scindias,” said a BJP leader.
There may be raucous voices at BJP rallies, but when the dust settles, Shivpuri-Guna may still go by their heart. As one villager at Bhonti in Pichour assembly constituency said, “People will continue to bow before the king. The palace may face cracks, but it cannot be breached.”