Digvijaya, son launch attack on Scindia over ‘1857 ambition’, Reliance tag

In a tweet on Sunday, Jaivardhan said the “ambition of a Maharaja” scuttled the first war of Independence or else the martyrdom of Mangal Pandey, Rani Laxmibai, Tatya Tope and other freedom fighters would have ensured the country’s independence in 1857 itself.

आज ही के दिन मेरठ से देश के प्रथम स्वतंत्रता संग्राम की मशाल जलाई गई थी।
वो तो एक “महाराज” की महत्वकांक्षा आड़े आ गई थी नही तो मंगल पांडे, बहादुर शाह, रानी लक्ष्मीबाई, तात्या टोपे और हमारे स्वन्त्रता संग्राम सेनानियों के अमर बलिदान ने 1857 में ही आजादी का इतिहास लिख दिया होता।

— Jaivardhan Singh (@JVSinghINC) May 10, 2020

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Historians accuse the Scindia dynasty of joining hands with the British to scuttle the “sepoy mutiny” which started on May 10.

When Scindia was with the Congress, even Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other BJP leaders would obliquely refer to the alleged treacherous act of his forefathers. One such reference had upset BJP leader Yashodhara Raje Scindia.

Hours after Jaivardhan’s tweet, the Opposition Congress shared a clip of Chouhan’s old speech.

Jaivardhan’s tweet came a day after his father accused Scindia of fobbing off relief supplies by Reliance Foundation as that of Scindia Foundation. “Maharaj, your ancestors have left behind riches. You run many private trusts and relief could have been provided through them. How far is it justified to remove the Reliance Foundation tag (on relief material) and replace it with Scindia Foundation and use yours and (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji’s photograph,” asked the veteran Congress leader.

While Scindia has not replied so far, his spokesman and BJP leader Pankaj Chaturvedi said, “Those who are attacking his philanthropic work during the crisis should tell the world what they have done. The Scindia family has always provided relief to people during crises. He had spoken to Reliance Foundation. It’s true he distributed their relief material but he also distributed his own relief material in many parts of MP. The charge that the tags were replaced is not true.”

In a way, Scindia provoked the father-son duo by retweeting on May 4 an article that alleged that a labourer was quarantined in a toilet in Guna district. The piece claimed that the village was part of a constituency that has always elected a member of Digvijaya Singh’s family.

A day later, Scindia went a step ahead claiming that the village was part of Digvijaya’s former parliamentary constituency Rajgarh and his son Jaivardhan’s current Assembly constituency. While the district administration trashed the story of the labourer being quarantined in toilet, the BJP and Congress sparred over the location of the village.

The Congress claimed the village was part of Guna parliamentary constituency which Scindia represented till his loss in 2019 general elections. Former CM Kamal Nath has avoided criticising Scindia in public.