Battle of the Bastions: Rae Bareli's tryst with Nehru-Gandhi family since 1952

In Janaury 1980, Indira Gandhi's return to the Prime Minister's Secretariat came with wins from both the seats she contested: Medak in the then-Andhra Pradesh state and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. 

Indira Gandhi decided to retain Medak and gave up Rae Bareli, a constituency that elected her to Lok Sabha twice — in 1967 and 1971 — and before that sent her husband Feroze Gandhi to parliament during the first General Election of free India (1952) and the one after that (1957). 

"We (Sanjay Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi, Akbar Ahmed and Indira Gandhi) were discussing who should be fielded from Rae Bareli in the by-election that was to take place there. The name of Mohammed Yunus surfaced," Neerja Chowdhury quotes veteran Uttar Pradesh politician Akbar 'Dumpy' Ahmed as saying in her book 'How Prime Ministers Decide'. 

Mohammed Yunus was known as a family loyalist, trusted by both Indira Gandhi and her son and political lieutenant Sanjay Gandhi. 

"But for some reason, Indira Gandhi was not up for fielding Yunus from Rae Bareli; she was 'absolutely clear' that it had to be someone from the family," Chowdhury writes further.

Also watch | Half way through India's big elections | Focus on Amethi, Raebareli in Phase 5

The family decided to throw Arun Nehru's hat in Rae Bareli's familial political waters. 

Arun Nehru's great-grandfather Nand Lal Nehru and Motilal Nehru were brothers. Arun Nehru represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha until 1989 with his "impeccable political lineage as the member of Nehru clan".

Arun Nehru was succeeded by Sheila Kaul in Rae Bareli who represented the constituency in Lok Sabha from 1989 to 1996.

Sheila Kaul was Jawaharlal Nehru's 'maami' or aunt. Kaul was married to Jawaharlal Nehru's mother Kamala Nehru's brother Kailas Nath Kaul. 

Arun Nehru (Rae Bareli MP, 1980-1984;1984-1989) and Sheila Kaul (Rae Bareli MP 1989-1991; 1991-1996) | Commons

After Sheila Kaul, Rae Bareli briefly sent the BJP's Ashok Singh during 1996 and 1998 General Elections. In 1999, Rae Bareli returned to the Congress party and elected Satish Sharma, a Rajiv Gandhi confidante. 

In 2004, when Sonia and Rajiv's son Rahul Gandhi decided to enter parliamentary politics, the mother switched from neighbouring familyborough of Amethi to Rae Bareli. Starting 2004, Sonia Gandhi represented Rae Bareli in Lok Sabha and pulled off four consecutive wins from the Congress bastion.

This time around, Sonia Gandhi has decided to leave Rae Bareli for a place in Rajya Sabha — the upper house of parliament — from Rajasthan. Instead, the Congress has fielded Rahul Gandhi, the fifth-generation scion of the party's Nehru-Gandhi family, who lost familyborough of Amethi to BJP's Smriti Irani in 2019, and this time around in 2024 decided to not return to what was once a family bastion. 

Also read | Battle of the Bastions: Smriti Irani, Amethi and the unmaking of a Gandhi family stronghold

"The element of legacy and the sense of association with the Nehru-Gandhi family since the first general election itself is quite strong in Rae Bareli," senior journalist Rasheed Kidwai told WION. 

"The collective support from Brahmin, Muslim and Dalit (BMD) communities that drifted away from Congress elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh, still remains with the party in Rae Bareli," Kidwai added.



Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi at a rally in Rae Bareli on May 17, 2024 | X/@RahulGandhi

Rae Bareli is set to vote on May 20, 2024 during the fifth phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Congress party's Rahul Gandhi is up against the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh and Bahujan Samaj Party's Thakur Prasad Yadav.

For all the latest developments related to Lok Sabha Elections 2024, stay tuned with WION, World Is One News.