The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has milked the ‘Gandhi’ name to the hilt. In fact, one could reason that the Dynasty’s rise to prominence was largely based on them claiming the Mahatma Gandhi legacy through their surname. With that history, it came as a surprise when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in her debut election rally, made a startling admission that after the decades she claims to have been in politics, this was the first time she had visited the Sabarmati Ashram.

In her Gandhinagar speech, Priyanka Gandhi admitted that it was the first time she was visiting Gujarat, and also the first time she had visited Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram.

While praising the calm she felt when she sat under the trees and heard the bhajans being played in the Ashram. She said she almost cried thinking about those who sacrificed everything for India’s freedom.

It is, however, intriguing that it took Priyanka Gandhi decades to get to a point where she brought herself to visit the Sabarmati Ashram considering her family has long claimed the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and even cashed in on it politically.

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When Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined Congress formally, amidst criticism of her having achieved nothing in the political sphere, Congress defended her by saying that though she has just about joined Congress officially, she has been working in the political sphere for decades. If one is to accept Congress’ arguments on face value, one is bound to ask why Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took decades to visit the Ashram whose legacy her family monopolises.

The monopolising of the name was such, that there is a theory about how the family assumed the name ‘Gandhi’. Compared to the others from the Dynasty, there is very little known about Feroze Gandhi.

An article in The Week says:

“There are many theories about his Gandhi surname. The most popular one says that Feroze was born to Faredoon Jehangir Ghandy and Ratimai, who lived in Mumbai. In his prime, Feroze was drawn to India’s independence movement. He soon got inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and changed the spelling of his surname from ‘Ghandy’ to ‘Gandhi’. Apparently, Feroze considered himself a Parsi. At the same time, he was not religious”.

If this theory is true, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has cashed in on the Gandhi surname even though it was an assumed one and not their real name. It is thus shocking that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited the Ashram for the first time just when the country is heading into 2019 general elections.

The members of the Dynasty engaging in theatrics just for elections is not something new. Recently, an old, undated clip had surfaced that showed Rahul Gandhi performing puja. When asked by an NDTV journalist what he was praying for, Rahul Gandhi nonchalantly said that he didn’t know and he was only there because he was asked. It is evident that the Gandhi family believes in keeping up pretences to please their electorate and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra seems to be following those footsteps to the letter.