Power has always been the biggest weapon of Princely India. Erstwhile Maharajas waged wars, fought for land and constantly kept pushing their boundaries further. Many of their descendants, who are citizens of democratic India continue this quest for power, sitting in governments, both central and state and gathering support through vote bank that majorly comprises people who live within the borders of their present-day states.
Nawab Kazim Ali Khan of Rampur
Indian politics has a generous sprinkling of royal blood in its cadre. What with one of our Prime Ministers, V. P. Singh, or Vishwanath Pratap Singh being the Raja Bahadur of Manda in UP; Kalikesh Singh who hails from Patna Bolangir being a sitting MP; Digvijay Singh the Raja of Raghogarh being a major face of national politics in Congress, Vasundhara Raje from Dholpur being the Chief Minister for more than two tenures; Chandresh Kumari, the Princess of Jodhpur and the Rajmata of Kangra sitting in the Centre as the Culture Minister…. the list is endless.
In the current state elections of UP, Punjab and Uttarakhand as well one is seeing a battalion of erstwhile rajas, nawabs and zamindars fighting at the polls. Nawab Kazim Ali of Rampur and his son topping this list. While the father Kazim Ali Khan, Congress pits his might against the notorious Azam Khan in Rampur, his soft-spoken son; the Nawabzada Haider Ali Khan (Apna Dal, a BJP ally) fights Abdullah Azam Khan in Suar.
The Raja of Amethi Sanjay Singh, two times MP jumps into the fray fighting from Amethi, which also happens to be his erstwhile kingdom. In the past, his first wife Garima Singh held fort there. A Congress supporter he also crosses over to BJP for this year’s elections. Also in Amethi fighting the elections is another royal Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh who is contesting from Tiloi seat on BJP ticket.
In Agra, Bhadawar dynasty’s Rani Pakshalika Singh, who lost the 2012 polls from Khariagarh on SP ticket, is again contesting from the same seat on the BJP ticket. Rani Pakshalika Singh is a BJP candidate from the Bah constituency in the 2022 UP Assembly elections. An entrepreneur and social worker, she is often referred to as the richest rani, her declared assets being Rs 58.5 crore, which includes Rs 4 crore in moveable assets and Rs 54.4 crore as immovable assets.
Pratapgarh’s Kunda constituency always remains in news due to Raghuraraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya of the Bhadri dynasty. He is again in the fray from the same seat as an Independent candidate and is looking forward to a double hat-trick win. Raja Bhaiya has been a Minister in the governments of Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, Rajnath Singh and Mulayam Singh in the past.
A known face in Uttrakhand politics Mala Rajya Laxmi, the BJP MP from Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal constituency was seen actively campaigning for the MLAs of her region. . She is the daughter in law of erstwhile Tehri royal family scion Manabendra Shah who represented the seat in Lok Sabha for a record eight times. She also holds the distinction of being the first lady MP to make it to Parliament after Uttarakhand was declared a separate state. She was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha in a by-election and is a Member of the BJP State Parliamentary Board in the state.
Like her Preneet Kaur, wife of Captain Amarinder Singh and the Maharani of Patiala, was seen campaigning for her husband who is fighting the elections as a BJP ally. A sitting Congress MP, her campaign met with critique. Meanwhile, her nephew Arvind Khanna, whose mother Naginder Khanna was the daughter of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, fights from the BJP ticket from Sangrur. Indeed these blue-blooded politicians are adding spice to the race up to victory at the polls.
