When Digvijaya Singh was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the 6am queue of citizens at his home could often be seen handing their memorandums to or chatting with a young boy. Now 24, the boy is set to become the latest political son to enter the family profession.
Jaivardhan Singh, son of Congress general secretary and “Raja of Raghogarh” Digvijaya, can expect some sort of rivalry with a fellow royal and Dosco, 16-year-old Scindia scion Mahaaryaman, who cut his political teeth a year ago.
On December 21, Jaivardhan will start a 150km padayatra in Raghogarh, taking a short break from the MBA programme in rural development he is doing at America’s Columbia University. The former Doon School student plans to spend eight days and nights with villagers. “He will be spending nights at Dalit and tribal homes. The idea is to familiarise himself with the issues of the real India. Jaivardhan hopes to become a true follower of Rahul Gandhi,” said a Digvijaya confidant who did not want to be named.
Raghogarh is abuzz. Local people remember how, in August last year, Digvijaya had arrived in the family pocket borough to enrol his son in the Youth Congress. During that trip, Jaivardhan was made chief guest at local cricket and kabbadi tournaments that had drawn 500-odd teams. Digvijaya had told the crowds that since he was constantly on the move, his son would look after Raghogarh.
Jaivardhan, “JV” or “Baba” to his elders and friends, claims to be deeply influenced by Rahul Gandhi. He says he would become a “fulltime (politician)” once his MBA course is over “by the time I am 26-27 years”. What he left unsaid was that it would coincide either with the 2013 Assembly polls or the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
All this is said to be worrying Union minister of state Jyotiraditya Scindia, whose family empire once included Raghogarh and who now gets elected from neighbouring Guna constituency. Last December, the Scindias had plastered Shivpuri, a family stronghold and part of Guna, with posters of Jyotiraditya’s son Mahaaryaman, then a 15-year-old Class X student of Doon School.
While Jyotiraditya was himself busy attending the Congress plenary at Burari, his wife Priyadarshini Raje had taken their son around Shivpuri in an open jeep. Mahaaryaman, said to be fond of Harry Potter and cricket, had played his part well, smiling at the crowds, shaking hands with virtually everyone, and ending the day by attending a wedding in the royal diwan’s family.
Another young man with Scindia blood — BJP leader Yashodhara Raje’s son Akshaya Bansali — has been testing the water at neighbouring Shivpuri. Jaivardhan may need to face up to another potential rival: his uncle Laxman Singh. Digvijaya’s younger brother, a Congress MP turned BJP Lok Sabha member, is said to be disillusioned with his current party and is apparently knocking on the Congress’s door.
Jaivardhan, who graduated from Delhi’s Shri Ram College of Commerce, will be one among many MBAs in Indian politics. They include the Haryana chief minister’s son Deepender Singh Hooda, Gurudas Kamat, Jitin Prasada, Milind Deora, Mukul Wasnik and Naveen Jindal — and that’s just from the Congress. The BJP has Arjun Ram Meghwal, Nishikant Dubey, Dushyant Singh and Balkrishna K. Shukla, while Trinamul’s Dinesh Trivedi too is an MBA.
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