BHOPAL: All doesn’t seem to be well within the ruling BJP in the Guna Lok Sabha constituency – which was considered the pocket borough of Gwalior’s erstwhile royal Scindia family till 2019.
First-time BJP MP from the seat Dr KP Yadav, who defeated his former political mentor, four-times sitting MP Jyotiraditya Scindia in the 2019 LS polls by 1.25 lakh votes, has launched a veiled attack on the Scindias.
Without naming the Scindia family, Yadav raised the issue of treachery with the queen of Jhansi, Rani Laxmi Bai, in the battle against the British during the country’s first war of independence in the 19th century.
“All of us know about the shaurya (bravery) of Rani Laxmi Bai. We also know that had some people not betrayed her, then our country would’ve been celebrating 175 years of independence and not just 75 years,” Yadav said while addressing an event of RSS-affiliated sports body Krida Bharti in Guna on Saturday.
Without taking the Scindia family’s name, Yadav raised the theory of then Gwalior ruler Jayaji Rao Scindia (Jyotiraditya Scindia’s forefather), having betrayed the freedom struggle and one of its icons Rani Laxmi Bai in the battle against the British. Praising Yadav over his veiled attack on the Scindia clan, the MP Congress media wing head KK Mishra said, “We salute Yadav for showing the courage to expose an occupational politician and his traitor family. But at the same time, history will never forgive those BJP politicians who are now licking the boots of the same people who were once dubbed by them as gaddar (traitor).”
Importantly, earlier BJP leaders, including ex-MP and former MP minister Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya targeted the Scindias over the same theory, while Jyotiraditya was in the Congress.