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{{Short description|Indian politician and last titular Maharaja of Jodhpur}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2010}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2012}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Maharaja Gaj Singh II
| title = Titular [[Maharaja]] of [[Jodhpur State|Jodhpur]]
| image = Maharaja Gaj Singh.jpg
| succession1 = [[Rathore|Head of the House of Rathore]]
| reign-type1 = Tenure
| reign1 = 26 January 1952 – present
| predecessor1 = [[Hanwant Singh|Hanwant Singh I]]
| successor1 = [[Shivraj Singh of Jodhpur|Shivraj Singh]]
| suc-type1 = [[Heir apparent]]
| succession2 = [[Jodhpur State|Titular Maharaja of Jodhpur]]
| reign-type2 = Tenure
| reign2 = 26 January 1952 – 5 November 1971
| predecessor2 = [[Hanwant Singh|Hanwant Singh I]]
| successor2 = '' Rajkumar Shivraj Singh ''
| succession3 = Personal Details
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1948|01|13}}
| birth_place = [[Jodhpur]], [[Jodhpur State]], [[Dominion of India|India]]
| death_date =
| death_place =
| place of burial =
| spouse = Hemalata Rajye<br>(m. 1973)
| issue = [[Shivranjani Rajye]] <br> [[Shivraj Singh of Jodhpur|Shivraj Singh]]
| house = [[Rathore|Rathore-Jodhpur]]
| father = [[Hanwant Singh|Maharaja Hanwant Singh I of Jodhpur]]
| mother = [[Krishna Kumari (regent)|Princess Krishna Kumari of Dhrangadhra]]
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
}}

'''HH Maharaja Gaj Singh ji''' (born 13 January 1948) is an Indian politician who served as a [[Member of Parliament|member]] of the [[Indian parliament]] and [[High Commissioner]] of India. He was the titular [[Rulers of Marwar|Maharaja of Jodhpur]] from 1952 until the royal powers, privileges and [[privy purse]]s were abolished by twenty-sixth Amendment of the [[Constitution of India]] (effective since 5 November 1971.)

==Early years and accession==
Gaj Singh is the son of Maharaja [[Hanwant Singh]] of Jodhpur by his first wife, Maharani [[Krishna Kumari (regent)|Krishna Kumari]] of [[Dhrangadhra]]. He succeeded to the titles and dignities of his father when only four years of age, in 1952, when his father died suddenly in a plane crash. He was enthroned shortly afterwards.

The infant and his siblings were raised by their mother, Rajmata Krishna Kumari. At the age of eight, Gaj Singh was sent first to [[Cothill House]], a [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|prep school]] in [[Oxfordshire]], [[England]], and then to [[Eton College]] and [[Christ Church, Oxford]], where he obtained a degree in [[Philosophy, Politics, and Economics]].

Singh's full title as Maharaja was [[His Highness]] Raj Rajeshwar Saramad-i-Raja-i-Hind Maharajadhiraja [[Maharaja]] [[Shri]] Gaj Singhji II Sahib [[Baghatur|Bahadur]], Maharaja of [[Jodhpur|Marwar]]. And popularly known as 'Bapji' by general public of Marwar

==Family==

In 1970, Gaj Singh returned to Jodhpur to take up his duties as [[Maharaja of Jodhpur]]. In 1973, he married Hemalata Rajye, daughter of the [[Raja]] of [[Poonch district, India|Poonch]], a major feudatory state of [[Jammu and Kashmir (union territory)|Kashmir State]] and his wife Nalini Rajya Lakshmi Devi, a daughter of King [[Tribhuvan of Nepal]] and Queen [[Ishwari Rajya Lakshmi Devi]]. They are the parents of two children, being:
#A daughter, [[Shivranjani Rajye]] (born 22 August 1974), and
#A son, [[Shivraj Singh of Jodhpur|Shivraj Singh]] (born 30 September 1975).

==Derecognition==
In 1971, the constitution of India was amended. On 5 November 1971, the Maharaja and other princes were deprived of their [[privy purse]]s, the government annuities that had been guaranteed to them both in the constitution and in the covenants of accession whereby their states were merged with the [[Dominion of India]] in the 1940s, with the enactment of the amendment. The same amendment also deprived them of other privileges, such as diplomatic immunity.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/amend/amend26.htm|title=The Constitution (26 Amendment) Act, 1971|publisher=Government of India|work=indiacode.nic.in|year = 1971|accessdate=9 November 2011}}</ref> In the [[Constitution of India]] promulgated in 1971, the Government of India abolished all official symbols of [[princely state|princely India]], including titles, privileges, and remuneration ([[Privy Purse in India|privy purses]]).<ref>'''1.''' {{cite book|last=Ramusack|first=Barbara N.|authorlink=Barbara Ramusack|title=The Indian princes and their states|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kz1-mtazYqEC&pg=PA278|year=2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26727-4|page=278}}, "Through a constitutional amendment passed in 1971, Indira Gandhi stripped the princes of the '''titles''', privy purses and regal privileges which her father's government had granted." (p 278). '''2.''' {{citation|last=Naipaul|first=V. S.|authorlink=V. S. Naipaul|title=India: A Wounded Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XYeWbmq7pkIC&pg=PT37|year=2003|publisher=Random House Digital, Inc.|isbn=978-1-4000-3075-0|page=37}} Quote: "The princes of India – their number and variety reflecting to a large extent the chaos that had come to the country with the break up of the Mughal empire – had lost real power in the British time. Through generations of idle servitude they had grown to specialize only in style. A bogus, extinguishable glamour: in 1947, with Independence, they had lost their state, and Mrs. Gandhi in 1971 had, without much public outcry, abolished their privy purses and '''titles'''." (pp 37–38). '''3.''' {{citation|last=Schmidt|first=Karl J.|title=An atlas and survey of South Asian history|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzmkFXSgxqgC&pg=PA78|year=1995|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-1-56324-334-9|page=78}} Quote: "Although the Indian states were alternately requested or forced into union with either India or Pakistan, the real death of princely India came when the Twenty-sixth Amendment Act (1971) abolished the princes' '''titles''', privileges, and privy purses." (page 78). '''4.''' {{citation|last=Breckenridge|first=Carol Appadurai|authorlink=Carol Breckenridge|title=Consuming modernity: public culture in a South Asian world|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LN4MN35b-r4C&pg=PA84|year=1995|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-2306-8|page=84}} Quote: "The third stage in the political evolution of the princes from rulers to citizens occurred in 1971, when the constitution ceased to recognize them as princes and their privy purses, '''titles''', and special privileges were abolished." (page 84). '''5.''' {{citation|last=Guha|first=Ramachandra|authorlink=Ramchandra Guha|title=India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2fvd-CaFdqYC&pg=PA441|year=2008|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-095858-9|page=441}} Quote: "Her success at the polls emboldened Mrs. Gandhi to act decisively against the princes. Through 1971, the two sides tried and failed to find a settlement. The princes were willing to forgo their privy purses, but hoped at least to save their titles. But with her overwhelming majority in Parliament, the prime minister had no need to compromise. On 2 December she introduced a bill to amend the constitution and abolish all princely privileges. It was passed in the Lok Sabha by 381 votes to six, and in the Rajya Sabha by 167 votes to seven. In her own speech, the prime minister invited 'the princes to join the elite of the modern age, the elite which earns respect by its talent, energy and contribution to human progress, all of which can only be done when we work together as equals without regarding anybody as of special status.' " (page 441). '''6.''' {{cite book|last=Cheesman|first=David|title=Landlord power and rural indebtedness in colonial Sind, 1865–1901|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtBi1MgVD0AC&pg=PA10|year=1997|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0-7007-0470-5|page=10}} Quote: "The Indian princes survived the British Raj by only a few years. The Indian republic stripped them of their powers and then their '''titles'''." (page 10). '''7.''' {{citation|author=Merriam-Webster, Inc|title=Merriam-Webster's geographical dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Co_VIPIJerIC&pg=PA520|year=1997|publisher=Merriam-Webster|isbn=978-0-87779-546-9|page=520}} Quote: "'''Indian States''': "Various (formerly) semi-independent areas in India ruled by native princes .... Under British rule ... administered by residents assisted by political agents. Titles and remaining privileges of princes abolished by Indian government 1971." (page 520). '''8.''' {{citation|last=Ward|first=Philip|title=Northern India, Rajasthan, Agra, Delhi: a travel guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KubCD2jHjEsC&pg=PA91|date=September 1989|publisher=Pelican Publishing|isbn=978-0-88289-753-0|page=91}} Quote: "A monarchy is only as good as the reigning monarch: thus it is with the princely states. Once they seemed immutable, invincible. In 1971 they were "derecognized," their privileges, privy purses and '''titles''' all abolished at a stroke" (page 91)</ref>

==Career==
Later, Gaj Singh served as Indian [[High Commissioner]] to [[Trinidad and Tobago]].{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} He also served a term in the [[Rajya Sabha]], the [[Upper house|Upper House]] of the [[Parliament of India|Indian Parliament]].{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

On 20 July 1992, he founded a day-cum-residential girls' school named [[Rajmata Krishna Kumari Girls' Public School]], named after his mother.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

==See also==
*[[Rulers of Marwar]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.maharajajodhpur.com/ Maharaja of Jodhpur (Official website)]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Gaj, Maharaja of Jodhpur}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:High Commissioners of India to Trinidad and Tobago]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from Rajasthan]]
[[Category:People from Jodhpur]]
[[Category:People educated at Cothill House]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:Indian royalty]]

Gaj Singh - Revision history

->SdkbBot at 14:04, 4 January 2022