New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS): Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera on Tuesday sharply reacted to Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's comments criticising Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi over his remark on the role of royal families in India's freedom struggle and reminded the erstwhile royal of the now-abolished privy purse system for former Indian princes and pointed out that "the positive contributions of a few cannot overshadow the misdeeds of numerous royal families."
Scindia, in a post on Monday, had remarked, "The statement by Rahul Gandhi, a leader who considers the Constitution as his 'pocket diary', about the role of India's royal families before Independence exposes his narrow thinking and understanding. In his hunger for power and position, he has forgotten that these royal families laid the foundation for equality and inclusive development in India years ago."
Giving a sharp retort, Khera said in a post on X on Tuesday, "History points its finger at you and cries, Your Highness. If the 26th Amendment of the Constitution had not been enacted, even today the Government of India would have been paying crores of rupees as tax-free allowances to the Gwalior royal family – Rs 25 lakh annually in 1950, adjusted for inflation, would have been a staggering sum today. This practice continued until 1971."
The 26th amendment of the Constitution passed in 1971, abolished the privy purse system for former Indian princes.
Defending the royal families, Scindia had highlighted their contributions to social justice and education.
He said that Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad of Baroda provided financial assistance to Dr B.R. Ambedkar for his education; Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj pioneered social justice in 1902 by introducing 50 per cent reservation for Bahujans in governance; and Madhav Maharaj I of Gwalior established education and employment centres for empowering Backward Classes in the Gwalior-Chambal region.
Khera countered Scindia's narrative, accusing him of whitewashing history, saying, "You may have forgotten the treachery of many royal families and their allegiance to the British, but we cannot. History reminds us that a royal family's pistol was used to assassinate the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. The positive contributions of a few cannot overshadow the misdeeds of numerous royal families."
On Scindia's criticism of the Congress as fostering a "dictatorial ideology" and neglecting the rights of Dalits and the Backward Classes, Khera remarked, "The pain of Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru compelling kings and princes to surrender their privileges and transfer power to the common people still lingers in some royal households. This is why they attempt to rewrite history to suit their narrative."
To buttress his argument, Khera quoted Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s remarks in the Constituent Assembly on January 22, 1947: "It is extremely heinous for any person, no matter how high his status, to claim that they have come to rule over mankind by God-given privilege. This idea is intolerable, and this Assembly will never accept it. We believed the concept of divine right was buried a long time ago. If someone in modern India speaks of divine right, their words are entirely inconsistent with the country’s present condition."
Khera also invoked the lines of Hindi poet Subhadra Kumari Chauhan to remind Scindia of history's verdict.