Madhavrao Scindia would have been PM of India, a new book reveals

Madhavrao Scindia like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Pranab Mukherjee was probably one of the best prime ministers India never had His rise was cruelly cut short by fatemdashat the same time as when the Congress was on the trail of a comebackHe died in a tragic plane crash on 30 September 2001 just eight months after the death of his mother Vijaya Raje Scindia But while the ailing Rajmata was in her eighties and had the satisfaction of seeing her party the BJP firmly on the seat of power Madhavrao was just 56 in the prime of his political lifeLess than three years later in 2004 a Congressled coalition would come to power at the Centre and remain at the helm for the next ten years lsquohellipMadhavrao Scindia would have been Prime Minister if he had livedrsquo K Natwar Singh 89 diplomat turned politician insists even today In other words according to Singh Madhavrao would have been Sonia Gandhirsquos first choice as prime minister in the United Progressive Alliance UPA government instead of Dr Manmohan SinghScindia with his mother Rajmata Scindia at an official function Pic courtesyKedar Jain Roli BooksWhile that will always remain in the realm of conjecture there is little doubt that within the Congress Madhavrao was much more popular as a leader than Manmohan Singh who is by nature a reticent man A measure of Madhavraorsquos popularity can be estimated from the fact that he would win every Congress Working Committee election he contested by a huge margin without even being part of the lsquoinformal panelrsquo that would be formed as a quid pro quo to garner votes from delegatesHe also shared a unique understanding with Sonia Gandhi In private conversations Madhavrao was perhaps alone in a league of Congress leaders addressing politician Sonia on a first name basis He would however address her as lsquoSonia jirsquo in the presence of others and at formal party forums Sonia used to address him as Madhav and often invited him for a cup of tea or coffee at a rather short notice too They had known each other from the time of her arrival in India and her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi in 1968Madhavrao was aware of the Italianborn party presidentrsquos inner conflict on opting for the lsquobig chairrsquo of the countryrsquos prime ministership whenever such a situation may come to passIt was not that Sonia had discussed this hypothetical scenario with him but political events in 1999 had given Madhavrao an insight into the matter It was at this time that the BJPled National Democratic Alliance NDA regime failed a noconfidence motion by a single vote and an attemptmdashan unsuccessful onemdashwas made by the opposition to stitch together an alternative coalitionSonia Gandhi was to be the leader of this alternative but it was at this time that Madhavrao was able to assess that she was in search of a person who could be trusted with the prime ministershipAnd Madhavrao had the credentials to aspire for the job Apart from his own comfort level with Sonia he had also amassed a huge following among the great Indian middle classes through his previous stints as minister for railways civil aviation and human resource development HRDMadhavrao had been in the reckoning for the top job when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur on 21 May 1991 There were many who in that hour of grief had felt that Madhavrao would carry forward the young Rajivrsquos vision and legacy The buzz around Madhavraorsquos candidature as Rajivrsquos possible successor led to a chain reaction Rajesh Pilot a former air force squadron leader also joined the fray projecting himself as a young leader best suited to step into Rajivrsquos shoes But unlike Madhavrao Arjun Singh or Sharad Pawar others in the running Pilot had no locus standi in terms of experience in the organisation Sonia was too shellshocked to intervene in party wrangling and the old guard manipulated the Congress Working Committee and other decisionmaking bodies to bring in at the helm a rather listless Narasimha Rao who prior to the 1991 general election had in fact already opted out of active politics and retired Rao was the most unlikeliest of candidates but it was on him that the mantle of leadership would fallAfter Rao had officially taken over as the prime minister in June 1991 he inducted Madhavrao into his cabinet as civil aviation minister Within a year the accountabilityconscious Madhavrao resigned when an aircraft leased from Uzbekistan Airways during a domestic pilotsrsquo strike crashlandedmdashthankfully without loss of lifemdashat Delhi airport Rao subsequently inducted him into the cabinet again in 1995 as the HRD minister as successor to Arjun Singh who had at that time quit the Congress to form a breakaway outfitSuch was Madhavraorsquos popularity at this time that his personal staff at Shastri Bhawan New Delhi would regularly receive letters and gifts such as bottles of perfume flowers and handkerchiefsmdashall addressed to the lsquoPeoplersquos Maharajarsquo A file that documented these items was marked lsquoConfidentialrsquo and shown to the ministerwho made it a point to thank every senderThis was also the period when the ties strengthened between Madhavrao and Sonia Gandhi who was already wary of Rao and was looking for a political role Madhavrao went out of the way to help Sonia continue as the head of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts IGNCA the countryrsquos premier and wealthiest cultural institution It was Madhavraorsquos machinations that Sonia was made life trustee of the IGNCAEdited excerpts from The House of Scindias A Saga of Power Politics and Intrigue Rasheed Kidwai Roli Books