Royal fued: 50-year-old Bhupati Bhawan Palace in Amethi locked in inheritance battle

The 450-year-old Bhupati Bhawan Palace in Amethi has been witness to several political battles in the past four decades, but now it finds itself at the centre of a palace coup that involves two feuding queens and a ‘rebel’ prince out to unseat the Raja.
While 62-year-old Raja Sanjay Sinh and his son prince Anant Vikram Singh slug it out to claim the family legacy and ownership of the palace and other properties, the two queens are competing for the Raja’s affection and legitimacy as the real queen of the Amethi royal family.

The bitter feud has spilled out into the public domain, with several FIRs being lodged and public clashes among supporters of the two sides. On Monday, both Raja Sanjay Sinh and his son held separate press conferences in different corners of the 75-room palace hurling accusations at each other.

Anant, 37, even went to the extent of demanding a CBI probe into the killing of ace badminton player Syed Modi, in which his father Sanjay Sinh was once an accused but was later acquitted.

Caught in between are the people of Amethi town who have shared a social and political bond with the family but are now being forced to take sides. The Raja, much to his annoyance, finds his former subjects turning increasingly towards his son and his estranged first wife Garima Singh.

With the pallu of her saree firmly pulled over her head, Rani Garima Singh, who has been confined to a small corner of the palace tells ET, “I have been thrown out of the palace by the scheming Amita Modi (Sinh) and Sanjay Sinh. I did not protest then and suffered in silence.

But now when I see that my son and daughters are being sidelined and denied their rights, I have decided to come out in the open after more than two decades of suffering and injustice.

People of Amethi know the true story and what treatment was meted out to me and my children. They are my only support as Amita and Sanjay Sinh have powerful friends who are helping them. But the people of Amethi are with me.”

ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

The bitter turn of events for the Amethi royal family traces its roots to the sensational murder of ace badminton player Syed Modi in the summer of 1988. Sanjay Sinh, who enjoyed proximity to the Nehru Gandhi family, was then a high flying leader of the Congress.

A fitness freak, he used to regularly play badminton at the KD Singh Babu stadium in Lucknow and became friends with Syed Modi and his wife Amita, who was also a shuttler.

In a sudden and mysterious turn of events, Syed Modi, the eight time national badminton champion, was shot dead outside the stadium in July 1988. Fingers were raised at Sanjay Sinh and Amita Modi and both were named in the police case and even jailed for a brief while.

Shortly afterwards, Sinh divorced Rani Garima Sinh and married Amita Modi, anointing her the Rani of Amethi. Garima Sinh was chucked out of the Bhupati Bhawan Palace in Amethi and Amita took on the role of the dutiful Rani and later entered politics.

Anant Vikram Sinh says “the marriage of Sanjay Sinh to Amita Modi was illegal. Sanjay Sinh obtained divorce from my mother through fraudulent means. Even the Supreme Court has ruled the same, annulling the divorce decree obtained by my father.

Therefore the marriage of Sanjay Sinh to my mother Garima Sinh still holds and the so-called marriage to Amita Modi does not exist. Amita is a fake Rani. But this legality apart, it is the conniving of Amita Modi to usurp properties of the royal estate, which we want to expose.

She has even kept Sanjay Sinh in the dark on many issues. Both of them have been cut off with the people of Amethi and alienated them from the royal family”.



THE WEALTH

Though there is no official estimate of the value of the Palace and other properties owned by the royal family, it is estimated to run into several crores. Sanjay Sinh also controls a clutch of educational institutions in and around Amethi, besides properties in several cities including Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Delhi.

Palace folklore has it that treasure worth hundreds of crores is buried inside the palace compound. Anant Vikram Sinh claims that Amita has established a Trust, controlled by her, and has slowly transferred properties to it which were later sold off.

He claims ancestral properties in Varanasi and Lucknow were sold off through these means. Sanjay Sinh on his part says, “I have not known Garima Sinh for the last 25 years.

Bringing a family feud out in the open is wrong. It should have been discussed internally. Garima Sinh has brainwashed the children who were with me all these years. The allegation that I have transferred family properties is incorrect”.

Anant says news of such “manoeuvring” brought him and his mother to Amethi on 25 July 2014 after a long absence. He says, “we were deliberately kept out of Amethi for all these years. I was working as a Merchant Navy officer and before that studied in Delhi and was discouraged to visit Amethi. My mother was barred from entering the Palace ever since Amita Modi came into the picture more than two decades back. But when we learnt that people of Amethi were being neglected by the royal family and our goodwill was at stake I decided to come back to Amethi and restore the honour of the family.”

LEGACY ISSUES

Rani Garima Sinh adds, “I was prepared to live a quiet life and did not utter a single word despite being wronged all these years. But now when I see my children being denied their rights and having to struggle I have decided to speak out. The legacy of the Amethi royal family should pass on to my children.

This fight is not about property or money but what is the legal right of my children.” While the children of Sanjay Sinh blame Amita for all their problems, they are bitter about their father’s role too. Anant’s sister Shaivya Singh married into a royal family in Mathura says “my father neglected us as children. He and Amita Modi brainwashed us against our mother (Garima Sinh). But it was my mother who raised us and supported us. She got us married and our father failed to perform his duties. My father even did not come to perform the kanyadan during my marriage and that of my other sister (Mahima). But now we have decided to expose the truth.”

The people of Amethi have shown their support for the young prince and Rani Garima Sinh. When Anant and his wife and six-year-old son arrived along with his mother in July, they were given a royal reception. People turned out spontaneously to greet Rani Garima Sinh and Anant Vikram.

Though they faced resistance from Sanjay Sinh’s people guarding Bhupati Bhawan Palace and were only given two rooms to live in, the people living around the palace in Ramnagar took care of their comfort and even food for the first few days. People gathered daily at the palace to meet Anant and his mother as the news of their return spread.

While this was happening, Sanjay Sinh stayed away for nearly two months. On 15 September when Sanjay decided to go to Amethi, a large crowd gathered around the gates to oppose his entry. The crowd was lathi-charged and they started pelting stones in retaliation.

In the chaos a police constable was shot dead. Shaivya Singh claims “the Samajwadi Party government is supporting my father Sanjay Sinh and Amita Modi. The administration has been instructed to ensure that we are evicted from the palace and Sanjay Sinh and Amita established here.

The police has lodged an FIR against my brother for the constable’s murder when he had nothing to do with it. There is now an imminent danger to my brother’s and mother’s life.”



THE POLITICS

The popular support for Anant Vikram Sinh and his mother has given rise to speculation that Anant may make his political debut in the next elections held in the state, which he denies.

Amita Sinh has been losing successive elections and came a poor third in the recent Lok Sabha polls fighting on a Congress ticket against BJP’s Varun Gandhi from Sultanpur.

Ironically it was Varun’s father Sanjay Gandhi who was seen as Sanjay Sinh’s mentor at one time. Sanjay Sinh’s father Rananjay Sinh had initiated the entry of the Indira Gandhi family into the political arena of Amethi during the 80s.

A young Sanjay Sinh soon developed a close friendship with Sanjay Gandhi and was one of the prominent political figures in the state until the Syed Modi murder case came to haunt him.

After Sanjay Gandhi’s untimely demise, Sanjay Sinh drifted towards the Janta Dal headed by his uncle VP Singh who later became the Prime minister. Later Sanjay Sinh joined the BJP and was made the communications minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government before eventually returning to the Congress a few years back. But Amita’s loss in the 2012 assembly polls and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket has cast a question over their popularity in the region.

With his political fortunes dipping and the Sonia Gandhi family keeping them at an arms-length given their political infidelity, Sanjay Sinh was rumoured to be moving to the BJP in the run up to the Lok Sabah polls.

A few months before the Lok Sabha polls he celebrated his birthday in Amethi in the company of many senior BJP leaders triggering rumours that he may leave the Congress for the BJP. That could have upset the calculations of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi who is elected from Rae Bareli and son Rahul Gandhi from neighbouring Amethi constituency.

Sensing trouble in her political backyard, Sonia Gandhi reached out to Sanjay Sinh and sent him to Rajya Sabah from Assam and gave the ticket from Sultanpur to Amita. But Amita failed to click again.

With the popularity of Sanjay and Amita Sinh taking a hit, Anant could well be the new Amethi royal making a political debut in the 2017 assembly polls. But till then the battle royale for inheriting the Amethi royals legacy continues to be fought between the family members.