Pataudi with Sharmila

When Indira Gandhi abolished privy purses, the young Nawab of Pataudi chose the democratic way to protest: he contested the Lok Sabha election to seek a mandate against a “breach of trust”.

Since the erstwhile princely state of Pataudi, which is now part of Haryana, was tiny, the Nawab’s loss was only Rs 48,000 a year but he chose to take on the mighty Indira Gandhi as a matter of principle.

Privy purse was a payment made to the royal families of princely states as part of their agreement to first integrate with India in 1947, and later to merge their states in 1949, whereby they lost all ruling rights. In addition to privileges such as gun salutes and titles, about a hundred crore of tax-free money was paid to 565 former royals.

The bill to take away the perks and privileges was considered “controversial” by many within the Congress too. Indira’s own finance minister, Morarji Desai, had earlier opposed it on the ground that it would be unethical for a Congress government to break the agreement. However, for Indira, the very idea that some people enjoyed a life of luxury out of their “fabulous, unearned and untaxed purses” was abhorrent.

In 1971, the charming cricketer contested the election from Gurgaon. As a nominee of the Vishal Haryana Party, Pataudi got less than 5 per cent of the votes.

But the 1971 electoral battle and defeat did not affect Pataudi’s ties with the Nehru-Gandhi family. In 1991, when Rajiv Gandhi was seeking to return to power, Tiger again donned political colours.

This time, Pataudi teamed up with Rajiv to avenge another “betrayal”. The reference was to the departure of V.P. Singh, incidentally a former royal, from the Congress in 1987 over Bofors to upstage Rajiv in the 1989 general election. V.P. Singh’s regime did not last long, prompting the 1991 general election.

Pataudi’s new political turf was Bhopal, the rich princely state had lost privy purse worth Rs 11 lakh. Pataudi’s mother Begum Sajida Sultan was the last regent of Bhopal. Rajiv was reasonably sure of Pataudi’s success as the nawabs of Bhopal were popular figures, having given huge tracts of land to the poor.

Pataudi himself never sought to seek compensation from the Madhya Pradesh government for the 500 acres submerged with the bada talab (lake) of the city. The compensation would have run into several hundred crores of rupees.

After Sajida Sultan’s death, Pataudi become chief muttawalli (custodian) of several mosques, dargahs, graveyards and other shrines (worth over Rs 1,000 crore at current value). Two years ago, he had appointed his elder daughter and a jewellery designer, Saba Ali Khan, as his successor. Saba will formally take over as the muttawalli now.

The1991 Bhopal election proved an anti-climax. A few days into the campaign, Pataudi discovered that it was a city divided sharply on communal lines.

While he and Sharmila drew huge crowds, Rajiv flew down to Bhopal to campaign for Pataudi a few days before the former Prime Minister was assassinated in Tamil Nadu. A section of the Congress conspired against the party’s official nominee on the calculation that Pataudi’s success would seal the doors for local satraps for years. Moreover, in Pataudi, Rajiv would have a trusted man in Bhopal to keep a check on ambitious politicians like Arjun Singh, Shukla brothers and the Scindias.

Like the 1971 verdict in Gurgaon, Bhopal rejected Pataudi in 1991.

But Tiger continued to rule hearts in the city — the affection was on display over the past few days when many rushed to mosques to pray for him.