Varun Gandhi may have been touted as the BJP’s own Gandhi, but the young leader is always conscious of his dadi’s legacy. A favourite of RSS chief K S Sudarshan and the Vajpayee-Advani duo, Varun always made it clear that he would not utter a word against his family, “even if they happened to be his rivals”. At home with Max Weber and Branislaw Malinowski as he is with India’s own Ashis Nandy and Andre Béteille (the young leader majored in social anthropology), Varun is said to be working on his own youth agenda. He’s already addressed a few well-attended rallies around Pilibhit. The new Lok Sabha could then see an interesting mix of the BJP’s Varun and Maneka Gandhi and the Congress’s Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. While Rahul’s will sooner or later set the Congress’s youth agenda, it remains to be seen how the BJP uses Varun’s Vision Young India.
