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It’s rare that the son of a politician gets the same portfolio that his/her father held. Jyotiraditya M Scindia is one of them. The new Civil Aviation Minister takes up a post that his father, Madhavrao Scindia, held during the Narasimha Rao government (1991–96).
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Respectfully addressed as ‘Maharaja’, Scindia Jr is entering Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, the Civil Aviation Ministry headquarters, at a time when the other famous ‘Maharaja’ (Air India) is set to fly out of the Government’s book. It’s also a time when the entire civil aviation sector is hobbling under the impact of the pandemic, so Scinidia has extremely challenging days ahead of him. He will also have to deal with the controversies related to the handing over of Airport Authority of India (AAI)-owned airports to private parties for operation and management.
Scindia, 50, is a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from Madhya Pradesh, serving his fifth parliamentarian term. He has been Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and Union Minister of State for Commerce and Communications in previous governments. Boasting a royal lineage, he has been in public life for over two decades. He was also previously President of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association. He has an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Harvard University.
Losing the Guna (Madhya Pradesh) Lok Sabha seat in 2019 was one of the biggest setbacks for Scindia after having held it since 2002. The seat was earlier represented by his grandmother Vijaya Raje Scindia, as also his father. It is believed that he was not very happy in Congress Party. After the electoral loss, his next big political move involved getting nearly two dozen Congress MLAs (Members of Legislative Assembly) to resign, resulting in the fall of the Kamalnath Government and the reinstatement of the Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led BJP Government in Madhya Pradesh last year.
This incident brought him closer to the BJP and finally led to his exit from the grand old party. Last year, the BJP sent him to the Rajya Sabha and, since then, there had been a lot of discussion about his inclusion in the Government; the wait ended on Wednesday, when he was sworn in as Cabinet Minister for the first time.
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