Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia was practically running the nation for a decade until 2014. Rahul Gandhi is a member of Parliament for over a decade but he never held a government office in his entire political career.

As expected, he took over the post of Congress Party President from his mother last year (Sonia Gandhi herself climbed to the top post of Congress President within 62 days of her joining the party as a primary member).

His comments on Prime Minister Modi and RSS make regular headlines and his tweets on social media are debated by Indian media every evening. Rahul Gandhi has regularly declared BJP and RSS as “Fascist forces” that threaten Indian democracy. Despite being regularly ridiculed for his lack of political acumen, rampant foreign holidays and ability to grasp street politics in India, Rahul Gandhi is projected as the only natural challenger to PM Modi in 2019.

But how much do Indians really know about Rahul Gandhi and his background?

Interestingly, the mainstream Indian media effectively conceals the other side of Rahul’s family. Those in public life are often met with strict and grating media scrutiny. PM Modi’s marital affairs were debated for months after his historic electoral win in 2014. Indians were made well aware of his family, relatives and the path to the leadership of India. This is done violating any consideration for their privacy. Surprisingly none of that was even done to Rahul. So lets’ talk about that.

Besides having three Prime Ministers in his family, Rahul Gandhi also had a World War II prisoner from Mussolini’s Fascist army in his family who was fighting under the flag of Nazi-Fascist forces.

Stefano Maino who is the maternal grandfather of Rahul Gandhi is an unheard name for Indians. In 1998, Outlook Magazine published a rare interview with Stefano Maino –Father of Sonia Gandhi.

Stefano Maino and Paola Maino — Parents of Sonia Gandhi

In this interview, the father of Sonia Gandhi declared his “unwavering loyalty to Mussolini and Italy’s ‘admirable’ fascist past.” Stefano Maino was later captured as Prisoner of War during WWII. He was kept in a Soviet Prison and where Sonia Gandhi regularly visited him in Russian cities of Vladimir and Suzdal.

A screenshot from the WikiLeaks cable No.06NEWDELHI5495_a (accessible at https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06NEWDELHI5495_a.html)

Rahul Gandhi who does not mince words when hitting against BJP and RSS for their “fascist ideology”, is yet to utter one word on family’s deep Fascist connection. Perhaps this was a major reason why Sonia Gandhi has avoided open media interactions in her political life. But the issue also puts lights on the sheer hypocrisy of Congress leadership when they use terms like Fascism without acknowledging its role and influence in their own family circles.

The issue gets more interesting if one has to link the association between Russia and Sonia Gandhi. Sonia is a fluent Russian speaker who is always welcomed by the Russian government. Her two sisters — Nadia and Anushka were given Russian names. As UPA chairman, she made frequent “secret” trips (including her first foreign trip) to Russia on private jets of Indian corporate houses.

Even recently Sonia Gandhi battling health problems made a trip to Russia that was hardly covered by the Indian media. Soviet authorities and KGB wielded much influence on Congress party during Indira regime. It has been claimed that 40% of Indira Gandhi’s parliamentarians receiving political contributions from Moscow. None in the Indian media ever inquired how come daughter of an Italian World War II PoW made up to the inner circle of Indian PM’s son in London and ended up dating and later marrying him. Could this be possible unless she was gained from a powerful backing?

So perhaps, next time Congress President Rahul Gandhi decides to label another Indian political party as Fascist, he should first search the library of his grandfather Maino to find a copy of “Fascist Manifesto” and get himself a lesson on his family’s own Fascist past.