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Article: Family reunion spells trouble for India's PM
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- April 13, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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New Delhi - At the height of the feud between the queen mother
of Gwalior and her son, they lived walled off from each other in a
colossal palace, which rises above the plains of central India, and
never spoke. They inhabited rival political realms, too. She is a
Hindu revivalist, while her son, Madhavrao, belonged to the secular
Congress party. As the queen mother once remarked witheringly: "I
should have let elephants trample on him when he was born."
The rift in the royal house of Gwalior has been one of the most
captivating and longest-running sagas in Indian politics. Mother
and son traded accusations of stealing family heirlooms. They
padlocked doors in their 150-room Jail Vilas ...