Vijaya Raje Scindia

Vijaya Raje Scindia (12 October 1919 – 25 January 2001), born Lekha Divyeshwari Devi in Nepal and known popularly as the Rajmata of Gwalior in India, was a prominent Indian political personality.

In the days of the British Raj, as consort of the last ruling Maharaja of Gwalior, Jivajirao Scindia, she ranked among the highest royal figures of the land.

In later life, she became a politician of considerable influence and was elected repeatedly to both houses of the Indian parliament.

She was one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

Vijaya Raje Scindia was born in 1919 at Simraungadh in present-day Madhesh Pradesh, the eldest child of Thakur Mahendra Singh of Nepal, a government officer, by his second wife, Chuda Devashwari Devi.

She was named Lekha Divyeshwari Devi at birth.

Her father was a deputy collector in the provincial administration.

Her mother was the daughter of former Commander-in-chief of the Nepalese Army Commanding-General Raja Khadga Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana, the nephew of founder of Rana dynasty of Nepal, Jang Bahadur Kunwar Rana.

She died at Vijaya Raje's birth.

Her brother is Dhyanendra Singh, husband of Maya Singh.

In February 1941, at the age of 22, Lekha was married to Jivajirao Scindia, Maharaja of Gwalior, one of the largest, richest and highest-ranking princely states in India.

Vijaya Raje and Jivajirao had four daughters and a son:

Vijayaraje was initiated into electoral politics in 1957 when she contested and won the Guna Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh on a Congress ticket.

Five years later, she won on a Congress ticket from Gwalior.

Later, she quit the Congress and won the Guna seat in 1967 on Swatantra Party's ticket.

She soon joined Bharatiya Jan Sangh and resigned from Lok Sabha to take part in state politics.

She won the Karera assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh as the Jan Sangh candidate in 1967 and plunged headlong into state politics.

In the 1970s, Vijayraje and her son Madhavrao were involved in a public dispute over property.

Animosities heightened due to their differing political ideologies.

Jan Sangh defied the Indira-wave in the 1971 Lok Sabha polls to win 3 seats in Gwalior region – Vijaya Raje Scindia from Bhind, Vajpayee from Gwalior and Madhavrao Scindia from Guna, though he later left the party.

Vijayaraje Scindia did not contest Lok Sabha elections in 1977 and 1984 and lost to Indira Gandhi in Rae Bareli in 1980.

Vijayaraje came to the forefront of the BJP leadership in 1980 when she was made one of its vice-presidents.

She played a key role in popularizing the party's Ram Janmabhoomi movement and was considered a hardliner.

In 1989, she won from Guna as member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and retained the seat in 1991, 1996 and 1998.

Following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, she had declared that "she could now die without any regret, for she had seen her dream come true."

She remained a BJP vice-president until 1998 when she stepped down on health grounds and quit electoral politics.

She did not contest the elections in 1999 due to old age.

She was jailed by Indira Gandhi during the Emergency, ultimately sharing a cell with fellow Rajmata and MP, Gayatri Devi, in Tihar Jail.

She died in January 2001.