A Gandhi presses the flesh to woo India's largest state

The youngest of the Gandhi dynasty is campaigning to help the Congress Party win in Uttar Pradesh.

By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
and Mian Ridge | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

from the April 9, 2007 edition

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BAREILLY, INDIA - Just in case the speeches, the showers of marigold petals, and the adoring roadside chants of "Long live Rahul!" aren't enough, the marquee-size poster leaves no doubt: Ruling India is a family business.

On one side are the faces of the past: Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi – the father, daughter, and son who was each a prime minister. On the other side is Rajiv's widow and ruling party chief, Sonia Gandhi.

Next to her – both on the poster and probably also in India's line of succession – is her son Rahul. In theory, this campaign stop is about assembly elections in the impoverished farm-belt state of Uttar Pradesh, which began April 7. But in truth it is a first look at whether this Kennedy in a kurta has the stuff to someday lead the world's largest democracy.

Which is why "Rahul's Roadshow" – a barnstorming series of political rallies across India's most populous state– has become the can't-miss event of this political year.

But despite having been tipped for the prime minister's job since birth and elected to parliament in 2004, his political positions and personal life remain remarkably unknown. He has made no significant speeches, championed no causes, given no media interviews. The press don't even know last name of his girlfriend, who is intriguingly referred to only as "Veronique" – and is at turns described as being from Spain or Latin America.

"He is at the moment an unknown quantity," says Zoya Hasan, a political scientist in Delhi.

Actually, as a member of the parliament in New Delhi, Mr. Gandhi isn't even on the ballot during these elections, which are solely for the state assembly in Uttar Pradesh and will take place in seven phases, finishing May 8. But Gandhi has taken it upon himself to try to revive the fortunes of his Congress Party here in his home state, where it holds only 25 of 403 assembly seats.

At last, it seemed, the bespectacled, 30-something former management consultant was taking off the political training wheels, ready to become more than merely the vehicle for a famous name. What has emerged, however, has been something less definitive – a picture of a personable yet inexperienced campaigner more at ease among the masses than on the stump.

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