How will Rahul Gandhi choose his bride?
Rahul Gandhi will be 41 years old in June 2011. Next to nothing is known about his love life, other than a Spanish girlfriend he once publicly named as Veronique Cartelli.In marriage, there's "more at stake" for the heir of the Congress party throne than there is for Britain's future king, writes Paul Beckett in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.
For one, writes Beckett, "[T]he relevancy of the British monarchy has been declining steadily for even longer than the British Empire, so not surprisingly the wedding of the one-after-the-next-king-of-England is heavy on pomp and light on geopolitical significance. Many of us will be dead by the time this fine young couple ascends to their rightful place atop the thrones of the King and Queen of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and British Dominions Beyond the Seas, if there are any left by then."
"The future of Britain does not depend on how good a king William is," he writes.
"Mr. Gandhi has no such luxuries. Soon enough, no doubt, he will be India’s prime minister ... [he] will govern ... almost one fifth of the world’s population. And given the powers vested in the office, he has the potential to be the steward of a new phase in India’s development that will see it fulfill its potential. Or he can succumb to the rampant corruption, cronyism and trough-feeding that afflict so many of his counterparts in the political realm and which drag India down."
Even though Rahul's late father Rajiv married an Italian woman named Sonia, his son "might see that he has the chance of selecting a bride who will boost his own political future in a way that is more reminiscent of the monarchs of old," Beckett writes.
What marital alliance should Rahul Gandhi make? An Islamic bride? A devout Hindu bride? A bride from a neighboring country or a far-fetched foreigner?
