Priyanka Gandhi

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (née Gandhi; born 12 January 1972) is an Indian politician and the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee in charge of Uttar Pradesh. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, sister of Rahul Gandhi, and granddaughter of Feroze and Indira Gandhi, making her a member of the politically prominent Nehru-Gandhi family. She is also a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
Gandhi in 2019
General Secretary of Indian National Congress
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 September 2020
President	Sonia Gandhi (interim)
Preceded by	Position Created
General Secretary of AICC for Eastern Uttar Pradesh
In office 4 February 2019 – 11 September 2020
President	Sonia Gandhi (interim)
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	(1972-01-12) 12 January 1972 New Delhi, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Robert Vadra ( m. 1997)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Rajiv Gandhi Sonia Gandhi
Relatives	Rahul Gandhi (brother) Nehru–Gandhi family
Alma mater	University of Delhi (B.A, M.A)
Signature

Early life and background

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was born at the Holy Family Hospital in Delhi on 12 January 1972 to former Prime minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi - who later became the President of the Indian National Congress as the younger of their two children. Her older brother Rahul Gandhi is a member of Parliament from Wayanad in Kerala. She is the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi - former and first woman Prime Minister of India and Feroze Gandhi - a freedom fighter and politician, and the great-granddaughter of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and Kamala Nehru.

Priyanka Gandhi did her schooling at Welham Girls' School in Dehradun till 1984. After this, both Rahul and Priyanka were moved to day schools in Delhi due to security reasons. After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, because of constant terror threats, she and her brother Rahul both were home-schooled. Later she joined the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Delhi. obtaining a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, and later a master's degree in Buddhist studies in 2010. After being asked to vacate the government accommodation at Lodhi estate, Priyanka Vadra shifted to Gurugram.

Personal life

In 1997, Gandhi married Robert Vadra, a Delhi-based businessman. They couple have two children. The wedding took place at the Gandhi home, 10 Janpath, on 18 February 1997 in a Hindu ceremony. Priyanka Vadra is also an amateur radio operator, carrying the call sign of VU2PGY.

Political career

Gandhi Vadra at an election rally

Gandhi (right) and brother Rahul (left), in an election rally

Gandhi had regularly visited her mother's and brother's constituencies of Rae Bareilly and Amethi where she dealt with the people directly. In the 2004 Indian general election, she was her mother's campaign manager and helped supervise her brother Rahul Gandhi's campaign. In the 2007 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, while Rahul Gandhi managed the statewide campaign, she focused on the ten seats in the Amethi Rae Bareilly region, spending two weeks there trying to quell considerable infighting within the party workers over seat allocations.

Active politics and AICC General Secretary

On 23 January 2019, Priyanka Gandhi officially entered politics, being appointed the Congress' General Secretary in charge of the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh. She was appointed General Secretary in charge of the entire Uttar Pradesh on 11 September 2020. In October 2021, Gandhi was detained by police, who cited a ban on gatherings, while on her way to Agra to meet the family members of a man who allegedly died in police custody.

2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election

Priyanka Gandhi launched Congress party's Uttar Pradesh poll campaign from Barabanki on 23 October 2021. Congress party fought the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election under the leadership of Gandhi, losing comprehensively.

Early years

Even though Gandhi Vadra resisted her direct involvement in politics in the years prior to her official entry in to politics in 2019, she played active roles in election campaign for her mother and brother in general and assembly election. She visited her mother's and brother's constituencies of Rae Bareilly and Amethi regularly where she dealt with the people directly, a role that made her a popular figure in the constituency with mass support, and led to the election slogan in Amethi, "Amethi ka Danka, Bitiya Priyanka" (the clarion call from Amethi is for Priyanka [to stand elections]. She successfully established her reputation as a good organiser, and level-headed.

Priyanka Gandhi is believed to be her mother's "chief advisor on political matters" and has said that she wrote speeches for her mother's first campaign. in the Indian general election, in 2004, she was her mother's campaign manager and helped supervise her brother Rahul Gandhi's campaign.

In the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, 2007, while Rahul Gandhi managed the statewide campaign, she focused on the ten seats in the Amethi Rae Bareilly region, spending two weeks there trying to quell considerable infighting within the party workers over seat allocations.

Formal entry into politics

On 23 January 2019, Priyank Gandhi formally entered politics after being appointed as the AICC General Secretary in charge of the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and then as the General Secretary in charge of the entire Uttar Pradesh on 11 September 2020 preceding 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. During the period, she dived into several issues as an opposition leader and led many protests again the BJP which rules the state as well as the union government, walking shoulder to shoulder with those protesting against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, farmers protesting against three farms law on the borders of Delhi, the family of Hathras rape victim and the families of farmers killed by a speeding SUV allegedly driven by a Union minister’s son in UP.

In October 2021, Gandhi was detained twice by the UP police. The first detention followed her visit to Lakhimpur Kheri in western UP where eight people were killed following clashes between protesting farmers and the convey of Union Minister Ajay Misra's son. She and several other party leaders were detained at a PAC guest house in Sitapur, which was being used as a temporary jail to keep them for over 50 hrs. The second detention tool place in the district of Agra where the UP Police detained her citing a ban on gatherings, while on her way to Agra to meet the family members of a man who allegedly died in police custody.

2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections

In January 2022, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra launched the Congress's manifesto for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election along with her brother Rahul Gandhi. The manifesto was focused on youth and women empowerment along with development for the state, and also promised 40% of tickets to women in upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

Pivoting majority on women empowerment and participation in politics, she kickstarted the "Ladki hoon, Lad Sakti hoon campaign in the state. On the day of International Women's day, she launched a rally in the state’s capital Lucknow] which, laced with several promises and hopes, saw participation of women from all over the state.

Despite all her attempts to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh and bring reforms to the polity of the state, the Congress Party faced a defeat in the assembly elections; winning 2 out of the 403 assembly seats.

Post-2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections

The joint defeat in four other states along with UP led the Congress party to brainstorm and bring in organisational and functional changes that reflected in her political journey.

Accepting the defeat in UP, during her first visit to the state after the elections, she talked of revamping the party and urged the party workers not to give up; signalling her determination to continue with her plans for the state.

On 5 August 2022, she took part in Congress’s ‘Mehangai Par Halla Bol’ protest against price-rise and inflation and was detained by the Delhi police.

She is also said to have played an active role in the Congress presidential election.

2022 Himachal Pradesh elections

In December 2022, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led the Congress Party to victory over the rival Bhartiya Janta Party in the 2022 Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election. She spearheaded the campaign with Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel, Congress leader Sachin Pilot and leaders and workers from Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee.

On 14 October 2022, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held the first of five rallies in Solan towards a better tomorrow for the state of Himachal Pradesh - the Parivartan Pratigya Rally that ensured Congress Party’s victory in the state.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra began her journey with divine blessings from Maa Shoolini Temple in Solan district where she paid her obeisance.

Starting 31 October with a visit to the Bhootnath temple of Mandi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra promised to curb unemployment and inflation as part of 10 pre-poll promises free electricity (up to 300 units), restoration of the old pension system, and ₹680 crores as a start-up fund as part of its promises.

Her third rally took place in the Kangra district, where Priyanka Gandhi along with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, on 4 November, paid obeisance at the Jwala Devi Temple before addressing a rally at Gandhi Ground of Nagrota Bagwan.

Priyanka Gandhi's public address in Kangra was based on the issue faced by the youth, farmers, and women, inflation, unemployment, and OPS.

On 7 November in Una district, addressing a political rally at Kangar in Haroli, she urged people to continue the tradition of changing governments after every five years and attack BJP's "double-engine government" questioning what they had done for the state in the last five years.

In her fifth and last rally in Sirmaur on 10 November, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra concluded her campaign by promising 10 guarantees that built the backbone of the whole campaign. A month following the campaigning and polls in the state, the Congress Party finally made government with Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu pledging as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh on 11 December 2022.

See also

• List of political families
• Nehru-Gandhi family