[Rahul Gandhi, Nehru’s great-grandson, officially entered politics in 2004. At the time, some openly questioned why his younger sister had not taken up the mantle instead. The general impression is that Priyanka is “more articulate, forceful and more charismatic” than her brother, political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta said at the time.]
By
Niha Masih nad Joanna Slater
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Priyanka
Gandhi arrives at a rally for party candidates during the Uttar Pradesh
state assembly
elections at Rae Bareli, India, in 2017. (Sanjay Kanojia/AFP
/Getty
Images)
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Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, 47, took up a key
position within the Indian National Congress, the party once led by her
great-grandfather and now headed by her elder brother, Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress Party is attempting to deny
Prime Minister Narendra Modi a second term, a task that seemed impossible until
several months ago. But then it defeated Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party in three state elections in December, suggesting the fight to
govern India may be closer than expected.
Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into politics has
been the subject of fevered speculation for years. Until now, her political
forays had been largely limited to appearing at campaign rallies in
constituencies held by her family members.
She is a sharp and charismatic orator,
bearing a distinct resemblance to her paternal grandmother, Indira Gandhi —
India’s only female prime minister, who governed the country from 1966 to 1977
and again from 1980 to 1984. (The family is not related to Mahatma Gandhi, the
revered leader of India’s freedom struggle.)
Now Priyanka Gandhi will oversee the Congress
Party operations in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. Home to more than 200
million people, Uttar Pradesh is the country’s most populous state and the
place where national elections are won — or lost. In 2014, Modi’s BJP executed
a near sweep of the state’s 80 seats in Parliament.
Priyanka Gandhi’s move to join the political
fray is a “game-changer,” said Rasheed Kidwai, a political commentator and the
author of a biography of Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka’s Italian-born mother. “The
Congress thinks that the upcoming national election is make-or-break. Priyanka
is a natural politician and knows what people want.”
Sonia Gandhi led the Congress party to two
successive victories in 2004 and 2009, but the party posted its worst ever
performance in the 2014 elections when Modi and his Hindu chauvinist brand of
politics swept to power. It also lost a string of successive state elections to
the BJP and was reduced to governing three states and a union territory, until
its wins late last year.
The ruling BJP immediately criticized the
move as the perpetuation of dynastic politics by a party in thrall to a single
family. “Rahul Gandhi has failed so he needs Priyanka Gandhi, who is from his
own family, as a crutch,” Sambit Patra, a BJP spokesman, told reporters on
Wednesday.
As India’s oldest political party, the
Congress traces its roots back to the pre-independence era. Jawaharlal Nehru,
India’s first prime minister, was a Congress leader. Both his daughter, Indira
Gandhi, and his grandson, Rajiv Gandhi, went on to serve as prime minister.
Rahul Gandhi, Nehru’s great-grandson,
officially entered politics in 2004. At the time, some openly questioned why
his younger sister had not taken up the mantle instead. The general impression
is that Priyanka is “more articulate, forceful and more charismatic” than her
brother, political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta said at the time.
On Wednesday, a visibly excited Rahul Gandhi
told reporters that he was looking forward to working with his sister. It is
not clear yet whether Priyanka Gandhi will run for a seat in Parliament, and
her brother said that decision remained up to her. Meanwhile, he said, the
announcement had sent the BJP into a “panic.”
Modi’s own constituency falls in the area
Priyanka Gandhi will now oversee for her party. In the past, she has not shied
away from confronting Modi directly. In 2009, when Modi called the Congress an
“old woman,” she shot back, asking if she looked old to him.
Gandhi is married to a businessman, Robert
Vadra, and has two children. Her husband is under investigation for allegedly
corrupt land deals. He has dismissed the probe as “politically motivated.” On
Wednesday, Vadra posted a message on Facebook publicly congratulating his wife
on the new role. “Give it your best,” he wrote.
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