THE SCINDIA LEGACY: From RANOJI To JYOTIRADITYA

by Abhilash Khandekar

  1. ISBN: 978-93-5520-279-6
  2. Pages: 280 pages
  3. Date: 5th January 2022

ABOUT THIS BOOK

From royalty to politics, a hard-hitting look at the history of one of the
greatest dynasties of India, mired in wars, public disputes and property
contentions.
The Scindia dynasty, a 300-year-old royal house, is perhaps the only family
in India which is known not just for its unlimited riches and never-ending
popularity but also for its immense social service, mainly through politics.
There are innumerable stories—some told repeatedly and others seldom
told—from the time Ranoji Scindia founded the dynasty in 1731 to Rajmata
Vijaya Raje Scindia’s unwilling entry in politics in 1957 to Jyotiraditya
Scindia’s entry in the Rajya Sabha in 2020.
The book deftly outlines how, of the three generations in politics over the
centuries, it was only Madhavrao—Rajmata’s son and Jyotiraditya’s father—who
had never lost an election. He was the darling of people from his erstwhile
royal house of Gwalior, until his untimely demise in an air crash. Rajmata
and her grandson Jyotiraditya were members of both houses of Indian
Parliament at different times. The two share several similarities: both were
in the Congress first and then left it dramatically, to say the least. Both,
angered by prevailing political situations within their party, brought down
their own governments—some 40 years apart!
This book unveils many stories, about how the Scindias have conducted
themselves in public with a degree of elan, despite the bitter legal and
political fights which were the bane of the Scindias.
The Scindia Legacy show cases the courage and charisma of one of the
eminent political families of India.

AUTHOR OF THE BOOK

Hailing from Madhya Pradesh, Abhilash Khandekar is a veteran, award-winning
journalist of the standing of close to 40 years in English, Hindi and Marathi languages.
Having worked in his home state as well as in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi
in publications such as Free Press Journal, Hindustan Times, DNA, Dainik Bhaskar and
Divya Marathi, he knows the nitty-gritty of Indian politics rather well. He worked for
several years as the national political editor of the Dainik Bhaskar Group in New Delhi
before moving to TV.
Khandekar is presently the Roving Editor of the Lokmat Group of Newspapers.
Khandekar was unanimously elected the president of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket
Association (MPCA) in 2019 and is the moving force behind the Bhopal Literature
and Art Festival as one of its founding members.
Khandekar also dabbles in the field of environment, writing extensively on critical issues
such as tiger conservation and biodiversity.