History and Politics of India

Some say she is the most charismatic Gandhi today in India’s political firmament. But the riddle that is Priyanka Gandhi is yet to be solved. She has helped her mother Sonia with election campaigning but has never publicly shown any ambition to carve out a political career for herself.

“I am here only to help my mother win a seat in the Indian Parliament,” she said. But it’s not as simple as it sounds. Behind that portrait of ordinary life and the charming smile is a human being, much of whose life was spent in circumstances far from ordinary or charming.

Hers has been a life shadowed by bodyguards. Her grandmother, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated when she was barely 12; her father, former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was slain when she was not even 20; and her mother, the diva of the ruling Congress Party, declined the prime minister’s job couple of years back, sending a nation of one billion, as well as all the news gatherers across the world, into a tizzy at present, brother Rahul is the one into active politics while Priyanka Gandhi herself ostensibly prefers to be in the background. But the buzz about her political future refuses to die down.

This is Priyanka Gandhi, whom the “secular” Congress once projected as its main hope for the future. Admittedly charismatic and youthful, she attracts millions of votes from young heart-broken bachelors from all over India. Without doubt the prettiest politician in India today, political analysts predict a bright future for her.