Vasundhara Raje

Early life

Vasundhara Raje was born on 8 March 1948 in Mumbai. She is daughter of Vijayaraje Scindia and Jivajirao Scindia, Maharaja of Gwalior, members of the prominent Scindia royal Maratha family. She completed her school education from Presentation Convent, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu, and later graduated with Economics and Political Science degrees (Hons.) from Sophia College, affiliated to Mumbai University, Mumbai.

Personal life

Vasundhara Raje married Hemant Singh, of the ex-royal Dholpur family, on 17 November 1972, but the couple separated a year later. Her son Dushyant Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha from her former constituency, Jhalawar.

Her siblings are Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Industries Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the late Madhavrao Scindia, the late Padmavati Raje 'Akkasaheb' Burman (1942–64), who wed Kirit Deb Burman, last ruling Maharaja of Tripura, and Usha Raje Rana (b. 1943) who married into the Rana family of Nepal.

Political Influence

Owing to the atmosphere Vasundhara was enveloped in at a tender age, public service and politics has been ingrained strongly into her mind and heart. Vasundhara during the 1960s and the 1970s was a spectator to the times when her mother, Vijaya Raje Scindia was accorded high recognition in the realm of Indian politics, after she combated the tyrannical forces of Congress Party. Meanwhile, the nation initiated an agitation against the supreme forces ruling then. Amidst the wild animosity in the nation, Rajmata Vijaya Raje was arrested during the concerned Emergency.

Early Political Career

In 1984, Raje stepped into the Indian political system. Initially, she was made a Member of the National Executive of the newly formed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She was also elected as a member of the 8th Rajasthan Assembly from Dholpur. The same year, she was appointed as the Vice President of the Yuva Morcha, Rajasthan BJP.

Work as Minister of State in MEA

In March 1998, the nation elected the 12th Lok Sabha in which BJP clinched a humungous mandate of 182 seats. It was Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was sworn in as the Prime Minister of the nation for the tenure 1998-2004. During this time, Vasundhara Raje was not only elected as the MP from Jhalawar but also sworn in as the Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, a department which was personally headed by the Prime Minister himself. Notably, Vasundhara Raje got an opportunity to work closely under the Prime Minister. Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been described as a large influence in Raje’s life. After being appointed as the Minister of State for External Affairs, Vasundhara pioneered the drive of strengthening Indian relations with a multitude of countries, thereby creating an amicable external environment of peace, security, collaborated personnel development among many other aspects. Vasundhara also received a battery of delegations from across the world. In 1998, India became highly equipped with nuclear capabilities, thereby becoming an influential nuclear power in the World. Nonetheless, this new status was regarded contrarily by the World community, while it was highly encouraging for the Indian community. The International community imposed sanctions on India. Raje became the face of India’s Foreign policy. She engaged with various sections of the international community and succeeded in restoring confidence of global communities towards the country. The International community withdrew sanctions in no time.

Aiding Lalit Modi (ModiGate)

On 25 August 2011, Lalit Modi revealed that BJP leader Vasundhara Raje signed a document supporting Modi's application to the British authorities. The application had a secrecy clause that it should not be revealed to the Indian authorities. The application was never presented to the British authorities, In her affidavit, Raje had claimed that Modi was a victim of a "political witch hunt" by the then ruling Congress. Earlier, in 2013, a Jaipur-based lawyer Poonam Chand Bhandari had filed a public interest litigation in the Delhi high court. She had claimed that Lalit Modi had transferred millions of rupees to a company owned by Vasundhara Raje and her son Dushyant Singh, using a shell company. It was also alleged that Raje, along with Lalit Modi's help converted the government property at Dholpur palace into a privately owned luxury hotel for her son. Niyant Heritage Hotels Private Limited (NHHPL) is owned by Dushyant Singh, and his mother Vasundhara Raje holds 3,280 shares in the company. In 2008, Lalit Modi's company Anand Heritage Hotels Private Limited (AHHPL) provided an unsecured loan of ₹ 38 million to NHHPL. During 2008–09, AHHPL acquired 815 shares in NHHPL, paying ₹ 96,000 for each share, although the face value of each share was only ₹ 10. NHHPL, which previously had a paid up capital of ₹ 1 million, thus received a total of 116.3 million from AHHPL. In June 2015, the Congress accused Vasundhara Raje of corruption, alleging that she had granted favours to Lalit Modi in exchange for the money. In July 2017, the issue resurfaced as an official enquiry by the government revealed that the documents were indeed signed by Raje, and that four prominent ministers of the BJP Narendra Modi government were all involved in multi crore scams, all of whom were women.

Aravalli hills mining scam

Ashok Gehlot was accused of granting mining lease in Rajasthan's part of Aravalli Hills to companies which were close to the congress. BJP issued a ‘Black Paper’ on graft under Ashok Gehlot’s government and alleged it to be a 3.4 lakh crore scam by Indian National Congress. After getting elected as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje's government justified the lease and argued against the cancellation of the lease. The same lease was earlier called to be against the Supreme Court orders by BJP, while she was in opposition. This raised questions about BJP's seriousness in eradicating corruption.

Membership of Legislative Assembly

Membership of Parliament

Positions held