Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia — popularly known as the Rajmata of Gwalior — on her birth anniversary on Tuesday.
“Tributes to Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia Ji on her Jayanti. Hers was a life totally dedicated to Jan Seva. She was bold and kind. If the BJP has emerged as a Party the people trust, it is because we had stalwarts like Rajmata Ji who worked among people and strengthened the Party”, Modi said in a tweet.
Born in 1919, she was an active member of the Jana Sangh for many decades, and also the co-founder of Bharatiya Janata Party. As consort of the last ruling Maharaja of Gwalior, Jivajirao Scindia, she ranked among the highest royal figures of the region.
She believed and worked incessantly towards women empowerment and education of girls in the post-Independence era.
Vijaya Raje was initiated into electoral politics in 1957 when she contested and won the Guna Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh on a Congress ticket.
Later, she joined the Bharatiya Jan Sangh and resigned from the Lok Sabha to take part in state politics.
She entered into state politics after capturing the Karera Assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh as the Jan Sangh candidate in 1967.
She died on January 25, 2001.
