On her birth anniversary, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma paid solemn tribute to Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia, honouring her as a lifelong symbol of courage, foresight, and selfless service to the nation — a figure whose legacy stretches far beyond her royal lineage into the lives of India's poorest citizens.

In his post on 12 October 2026, CM Sarma wrote in Hindi: 'जनसेवा और राष्ट्रसेवा के प्रति जीवनपर्यंत समर्पित, साहस और दूरदृष्टि की प्रतिमूर्ति' — 'Devoted lifelong to public service and service to the nation, an embodiment of courage and foresight' — offering his respectful salutations to the Rajmata on her birth anniversary.

A life devoted to the last person in line

Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia, born on 12 October 1919 in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, was one of the most consequential women in post-Independence Indian politics. The matriarch of the Scindia dynasty of Gwalior, she transitioned from royalty to grassroots political activism, becoming a founding figure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and one of its most revered icons. She served multiple terms as a Member of Parliament and was deeply associated with causes of the poor, the marginalised, and Hindu cultural heritage.

CM Sarma specifically highlighted her 'resolve to carry service to the last rung of society' — a phrase that echoes the BJP's longstanding framing of inclusive development. Her efforts for the upliftment of the poor and the dispossessed became a defining thread of her political identity, one that continues to inspire the party's narrative decades after her passing in 2001.

Rajmata's enduring place in BJP's founding memory

Vijayaraje Scindia was among the architects of the Jan Sangh's merger into the BJP in 1980, making her not just a political figure but a founding mother of the party that governs India today. Her son Madhavrao Scindia and later her grandson Jyotiraditya Scindia — now a Union Cabinet minister — have carried the dynasty's political torch, though on occasion on opposing sides of the aisle, reflecting the complex inheritance of her legacy.

For CM Sarma, who leads the BJP in Assam and convenes the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), paying tribute to foundational figures of the BJP tradition is both a mark of ideological continuity and a moment of genuine reverence. The Rajmata's birth anniversary is widely observed within BJP circles as a day of reflection on service and sacrifice.

More than two decades after her death, Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia remains a moral reference point — proof that the distance between a palace and the poorest village can, with will and conviction, be closed.