Raihan and Miraya: Know more about the youngest scions of Gandhi-Nehru family

So, when Priyanka Gandhi’s son and daughter recently emerged in the limelight to vote during the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha in Delhi, the media glare was focussed on them. Thrilled to get a rare glimpse of the blue-blooded siblings from the country's most high-profile political family, reporters and photographers flocked to them for bytes.

Come out and vote

The siblings were self-conscious but not camera shy. They seemed happy to share their message to other young voters like them. But if people were expecting  fiery, political insights to tumble out, they were disappointed as the siblings politely asked youngsters not to be "idle" and come out and vote.

The younger sibling, the 21-year-old Miraya Vadra, also happens to be a first-time voter. Miraya, who according to a Congress leader will take to politics like duck to water, and "become a leader like her great-grandmother Indira Gandhi", urged young people to come out and vote.

Miraya was first publicly seen in a big way in December 2022 when she joined her uncle and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while he was on his first edition of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Rajasthan.

Save the Constitution

Priyanka's elder son, Raihan Rajiv, 23, who is a wildlife photographer and installation artist, observed in a more self-assured way that this is an “important election”. He encouraged all the youth to come out and vote and "save the Constitution" and bring out a “positive change”.

What are his concerns about the country, he was quizzed by a persistent reporter. To which, the young scion, who has studied in the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, replied in a scripted fashion that he was troubled by “unemployment”.

What do we know of Raihan R Vadra and Miraya Vadra?

Raihan is a visual and installation artist, who has been interviewed before not on his political views but for his art exhibitions. Raihan has made it clear that he is not affected by his indomitable political legacy and stressed that he was like any normal guy.

He told The Telegraph in an interview once, “My life is pretty normal. I watch a lot of football and take a lot of photographs. I get stressed out by my university and the same things that people my age feel.”

There is no pressure about belonging to the family that the BJP loves to target, it seems. He credits that largely to his parents and to Doon school in Dehradun, where he had studied. Raihan, who came under the radar of politicians and the BJP in particular for using his maternal grandfather’s surname Raihan Rajiv Vadra, said that he never had any pressure but even if he had, "Doon knocked it out of him".

Earlier, he was in Shri Ram (The Shri Ram School) in Delhi and it was no different there too, he claimed in his interviews.

In February 2023, BJP leader Amit Malviya dragged Raihan into a controversy when he asked if Priyanka Vadra’s son Rehan can write his name as Rehan Rajiv Gandhi (in an attempt to usurp the legacy of his maternal grandfather) then why does no one in the family use Nehru surname? “Ashamed?”, he wanted to know.

Passionate about photography

Raihan, however, who had lived in London for three years studying (politics), has been free living in his own space. His parents have allowed him to be free and even in Delhi, he said in his interview that he tries to be in his own space as much as he can. 

Passionate about photography, he picked up his mother’s old cameras (she was into photography like her father Rajiv Gandhi) and started to shoot. As a teenager, he spent a lot of time in the jungles and would go on night trips to Ranthambore (Rajasthan) and to Corbett (Jim Corbett National Park), Uttarakhand

So, he nurtured a dream to be a wildlife photographer, which he pursued. For him, nature allowed him to be free.

Today, Vadra junior has held three exhibitions that used installations, visual art, sound and lighting to explore concepts like 'control, choice and comparison'. The exhibitions have been held in Delhi and his shots of tigers at Ranthambore have dominated exhibitions. His exhibitions have been covered extensively in the media.

He ran a podcast about football (The Eighteen Yards Podcast) and is part of an artist community. While his Instagram page is filled with his wildlife photographs, his X page carries a lot of reposted tweets on his uncle, Rahul Gandhi, and seems more political in nature. For example, he has tweeted about the 2015 protest that Cannes festival awardee Payal Kapadia had engaged in against FTII chairman Gajendra Chauhan. And how she had to face disciplinary action for not attending classes and her grant was cancelled also.

"Rahul Gandhi Ji went to FTII to show his solidarity with students and assured them all the possible support. In 2024, Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine Aa Light’ won the Grand prix at the Cannes Film Festival in France", read his reposted tweet.

Miraya Vadra

Miraya Vadra recently was in the news when an unidentified person called Anoop Verma uploaded a "misleading and baseless post" about her.

The Himachal Pradesh Police registered an FIR against an unidentified person for uploading a “misleading and baseless” post that Miraya Vadra, the daughter of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and businessman Robert Vadra, had property worth ₹3000 crore.

In June 2022, Miraya celebrated her 20th birthday in Maldives with her mother Priyanka. She has done an instructor-level diving course and is sportive.

Former Congress MP Janardan Pujari had in 2017 forecasted that Miraya will become a political leader like her grandmother Indira Gandhi. He said he once asked a fortune-teller about Miraya’s future to which the latter said: “She might one day become a leader like no one else.”

Miraya studied at Delhi’s Shri Ram School and her mother Priyanka had been a very hands-on parent.

Though, Miraya used to come in a motorcade of three cars, her bullet- proof Safari in the middle to school, she seemed like a normal kid, said her classmates, according to a media report. Her security was always a concern for her family. But once on the school’s campus, she could interact freely with others and was friendly, according to her classmates.