One has to use a variety of spellings to get to this: Vadra, Wadhera, Vadhera…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Vadra
Robert Vadra (also spelled Wadhera) son of Rajinder (a Punjabi) and Maureen Vadra (a European Christian). Robert grew up largely influenced by his mother, and is a baptized Catholic. Robert, a worker in a garage, married Priyanka Gandhi, the daughter of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi on February 18, 1998. It was reported that the Sacred Heart Cathedral at Delhi did not permit a Christian marriage [citation needed] since Priyanka was not baptized[ citation needed], they were married in a Hindu ceremony. He converted to Hinduism at this time.[ citation needed] They have two children.
He had one brother Richard Vadra who was found dead in mysterious circumstances in September 2003 at his Vasant Vihar residence, and his sister Michelle died in a car accident in 2001.
Robert's family belongs to Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh . Robert's father Rajinder has claimed to be a supporter of the Congress Party, however Rajinder's older brother Om Prakash had donated his property to a trust in Moradabad, some members of which are affiliated with RSS.
Luxuries
He, alongwith other V VIPs like HH the Dalai Lama and the Chief Justice of India, has been exempted from frisking at airports though he has also carried a pistol to the Indian Parliament. [1] The list of such V VIPs was compiled and forwarded to the concerned authorities by the government led by his mother-in-law Sonia Gandhi (Edvige Antonia Albina Maino). Others on the list include the President, the Prime Minister, former PMs and presidents and SPG protectees. [2] Even the Service Chiefs (of the Army,Navy,Airforce Staff) and the Chief Justice of India do not enjoy such luxuries. The exemption for the Dalai Lama too has been questioned.
He has been allotted a plush Government bungalow in Lutyens' Delhi which is a display of shameless nepotism.
[ edit]
External links
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020108/nation.htm#15
http://ia.rediff.com/news/feb/19wed.htm
The Rediff Interview with Rajinder Vadra
This Indian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it
Excerpts from http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/interview/0,9754,612444,00.html "We're not underdogs"
TIME: Priyanka, are you getting into politics too?
Priyanka Vadra: I'm quite happy doing what I'm doing. Looking after women's programs and health programs and education programs in Amethi. I'm happy doing that kind of thing.
She too is dragged out into the crowd.
TIME: [To Robert Vadra, Priyanka's husband] do you ever get used to this?
Robert Vadra: It's love, it's unconditional love.
Capt. Satish Sharma [friend of Rajiv Gandhi, who is driving today]: I worked with Rahul's dad, and I've never seen the sort of response Rahul gets from the crowd. Never.
TIME: Don't you need to get away from this sometimes?
Robert Vadra: It can get a bit much. I mean, it's good, it's love, but sometimes when people come up in the street and ask for autographs...
TIME: Where do you go?
Robert Vadra: Out of India. Phuket. Plus I travel for business, so my family comes out to me sometimes.
See Robert Vadra, jewellery exporter marrying Priyanka.
http://www.rediff.com/news/feb/19wed.htm
No security checks: After Dalai Lama, Robert Vadra only one named in VIP list
Author: Sourav Sanyal
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: November 13, 2005
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=81873&headline=No~security~checks~at~airports~for~Sonia's~Son-in-law
So far, Nobel Laureate, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is the only "individual" named in the list of "VVIPs/VIPs" who don't have to go through a security check at domestic airports across the country.
Now there is a new name to that list: Shri Robert Vadra.
Son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Vadra's name was added to the list on September 28 in a circular issued nationwide by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The list mentions that Vadra is exempted from security checks "while travelling with SPG (Special Protection Group) protectees."
As husband of Priyanka Gandhi, who is an SPG protectee like her mother and brother Rahul, Vadra does get SPG protection when he travels with either of them. But no other spouse or family member of any SPG protectee has been so named in the list. Vadra is the 23rd entry in the list, the other 22 identify positions and categories including President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, former PMs, Speaker, CJI, Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, CMs, Ambassadors and all SPG protectees.
Why is he the only spouse named in the list? BCAS Commissioner S R Mehra declined to comment despite a faxed questionnaire sent five days ago.
On November 10, when The Sunday Express contacted his office, Deputy Commissioner R D Gupta said: "We have no official reply. BCAS just took out the order as advised by the Ministry. Please talk to MCA Under Secretary L Haokip for clarification," he said. When contacted by this newspaper Haokip refused to comment.
http://www.hvk.org/articles/1105/103.html
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Nation
No security checks for VIP Robert Vadra
Sourav Sanyal
New Delhi, November 12: So far, Nobel Laureate, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, is the only "individual" named in the list of "VVIPs/VIPs" who don't have to go through a security check at domestic airports across the country.
Now there is a new name to that list: Shri Robert Vadra.
Son-in-law of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Vadra's name was added to the list on September 28 in a circular issued nationwide by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The list mentions that Vadra is exempted from security checks "while travelling with SPG (Special Protection Group) protectees."
As husband of Priyanka Gandhi, who is an SPG protectee like her mother and brother Rahul, Vadra does get SPG protection when he travels with either of them. But no other spouse or family member of any SPG protectee has been so named in the list. Vadra is the 23rd entry in the list, the other 22 identify positions and categories including President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, former PMs, Speaker, CJI, Leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, CMs, Ambassadors and all SPG protectees.
Why is he the only spouse named in the list? BCAS Commissioner S R Mehra declined to comment despite a faxed questionnaire sent five days ago.
On November 10, when The Sunday Express contacted his office, Deputy Commissioner R D Gupta said: "We have no official reply. BCAS just took out the order as advised by the Ministry. Please talk to MCA Under Secretary L Haokip for clarification," he said. When contacted by this newspaper Haokip refused to comment.
URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=58245
aug 29th, 2006
all well and good for a pakistani to laud india's 'simplicity'. of course, the ministerial motorcades are a fact of life in india, too, and so are the high-handed 'sideys' of vvips shoving people around.
but what takes the cake is this: there are a few people who are exempt from security checks at airports. i happened to see this list posted at an airport some time ago, and it astonished me.
1. president
2. prime minister
3. supreme court chief justice
4. other high officers
....
14. robert vadhera
can you imagine, robert vadhera is the *only* person who is named by name in this list. all others have this facility by virtue of their position. but robert vadhera is exempt.
and who is robert vadhera? a nonentity, who just happens to have married into the dynasty. in case you were wondering who he is, he is married to priyanka bianca maino gandhi.
i wonder if someone can explain this bit of bizarreness to me.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shahryar
An obsession with opulence ![]()
Kamila Hyat
The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor
There was an astonishing piece of news recently from India. No, the small news item, buried within the inner columns of most newspapers, did not concern miraculously sweetened sea water, or any other such event. The item reported on the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brother had arrived at his official residence in a smoke-belching New Delhi rickshaw, and unassumingly told security men on duty at the gates that he wished to see his brother.
... deleted
4 comments:
Aaah - the sweet pleasure of being -- as the secularists would have it "the Rashtra's Jamaai Raja "i.e. son-in-law of the nation(for those not from the gangetic north).
What more proof is required that these half-white breeds and their half-white spouses treat the country like a feudatory inheritance.
No security checks for us - we are already carrying the half-white man's burden of civilising these brutes!!!!
The thing of most concern from KapiDhwaja's post above is the potential that Gwadar will have for meeting
1- Energy deficits
2- Trade links
Can anyone docubt that each dollar of the revenue earned from there will be used for bullets (and inspite fo the Commies Pakistani nautanki about AbuGhraib - not on butter, or culture but Bullets) - to be fired at India. What I cannot understand is why we keeping sending peacekeepers to the boondocks like the Congo and other assorted Saharan countries. Lets send troops into Afghanistan for instance - to keep the peace in Kandahar keeping the war in Balochistan (all denied of course)... and by the way - so much for our "Strategic Partners" .. arming Pakis with the means to throttle our interests.
Sending troops to Afghanistan will be opposed tooth & nail by the secularists & communists as it might offend the tender sensitivities of muslims. Even if they do, a single Afghan death is enough to start a riot here.
The 'Foreign Hand' thesis of foreign policy visits Pakistan!
Sweet irony indeed. If indeed there is such a foreign hand, may it continue to 'bless' the Balochi people in their legitimate quest for self-determination. Vijaywee Bhava!
Post a Comment