In marriage-obsessed India where people are expected to wed young and produce progeny soon after, two single men are battling it out on the election trail for the prime minister's job.
On one side is fiery frontrunner Narendra Modi, 63, a white-bearded Hindu nationalist who likes to be seen as a modern-day "monk with a mission", according to biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
On the other is Rahul Gandhi, 43, the scion of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty who tops eligible bachelor lists and is known as the "reluctant prince" for his diffidence about assuming his family inheritance as leader of the ruling Congress party.
Modi, the hawkish conservative candidate for the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, tipped to oust the scandal-tainted Congress in the polls starting April 7, reportedly walked away from a marriage arranged when he was a child.
He has never commented on the relationship, but the woman, 62-year-old retired school teacher Jashodaben, said recently that she didn't "feel bad" that she has never been acknowledged.
"I know he is doing so due to destiny," she told the Indian Express in February.
Reports say the marriage was never consummated and Modi went on to rise through the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) Hindu group which frowns on marriage for its senior cadres.
Modi, a strict vegetarian who says he "actually enjoys loneliness", has made a virtue of his de facto single status, saying it will help him clean up India's rampant corruption.
"I've no familial ties. Who would I ever try to benefit through corruption?" he told a rally, claiming only those free of filial ties can end what opponents charge are years of corrupt rule by the Congress party.
And he wouldn't be the first single man as Indian PM.
Atal Behari Vajpayee, another BJP leader who served as premier from 1998 to 2004, said he never wed because he "did not get time".
Both Modi and Gandhi keep their private lives strictly under wraps -- so much so that according to a Google trends report, some of the most frequently searched questions are "Who is Modi's wife?" and "Who is Gandhi's girlfriend?"
Gandhi last year declared he did not want to wed, saying he feared he would "become status-quoist and want my children to take my place" and perpetuate his family's dominant political role.
But in words that revived hopes of ambitious mothers across India last month, he said he would wed "when I find the right girl". In the past, he has been linked to several foreign girlfriends.
Being Single No Handicap
But being single is no disadvantage in Indian politics, according to Subhash Agrawal who runs the think-tank India Focus.
"In the Hindu tradition, being an ascetic and renunciation (of worldly things) has always been respected," Agarwal told AFP.
Also from a voter viewpoint, not having a family "means there is much more chance the politician is honest -- he's no family to enrich".
In the unlikely event that the next prime minister is chosen from one of India's smaller regional parties, there are high chances of a fellow, but female, singleton being selected.
Two of the most influential ones -- Mamata Banerjee from West Bengal and Jayalalithaa Jayaram from southern Tamil Nadu -- have no acknowledged partners. A third female regional powerbroker, Mayawati, is also unmarried.
While both Modi and Gandhi have repeatedly expressed their support for the rights of women in male-dominated India, Modi has found himself under fire for his views on the other sex in the past.
In 2012, he branded the wife of a prominent Congress lawmaker, and successful businesswoman in her own right, his "50 crore (500-million rupee) girlfriend".
A recent scandal focused on allegations Modi's right-hand man used the state's intelligence agencies to spy on a woman with whom the politician was supposedly infatuated.
Lately Modi has sought to broaden his appeal among women, insisting there can be "no compromise attitude" on discrimination against them and they must be free to choose "their career and marriage".
The last 18 months have seen a nascent women's rights movement take form in India after the shocking fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in December 2012.
Feminists are keen to see the next government carry forward this momentum, but some are unsure of Modi's credentials.
"The BJP has never been particularly known for its progressive attitudes toward women and there's no reason to believe a Modi government would be good news for women," feminist publisher Urvashi Butalia told AFP.
AFP
Tue Apr 01 2014
Fadillah mahu diaspora Malaysia di Laos teroka sektor tenaga boleh baharu
Setiap negara anggota ASEAN kini sedang menumpukan usaha untuk meningkatkan penghasilan TBB dan tenaga bersih.
PRK Mahkota: BN berpotensi menang, tapi berapa besar majoriti?
Di atas kertas, peluang calon BN Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah untuk menang pada PRK Mahkota lebih cerah jika dibandingkan dengan lawannya.
KBS rancang hantar atlet pelapis ke lebih banyak kejohanan antarabangsa
KBS sedang berbincang dengan Kementerian Kewangan mengenai cara meningkatkan pembiayaan bagi sukan dan menggalakkan sektor korporat melabur.
Kekurangan penerbangan ke dan dari Labuan disebabkan 'faktor muatan' - Hasbi
Walaupun MoT berkuasa luluskan penerbangan baharu atau tambahan atas permintaan, keputusan akhir terletak pada syarikat penerbangan komersial.
Malaysia mampu jadi hab perkhidmatan serantau untuk firma global - Tengku Zafrul
MITI komited untuk terus memupuk bakat, mengukuhkan hubungan dagangan selain memastikan Malaysia kekal sebagai peneraju hab pembuatan dan perkhidmatan.
LTdL: Beberapa jalan di Negeri Sembilan, Pulau Pinang ditutup
Beberapa laluan di daerah Nilai, Seremban dan Rembau ditutup secara berperingkat susulan perlumbaan basikal Le Tour de Langkawi (LTdL) 2024.
Durian segar Malaysia boleh dinikmati pengguna China dalam tempoh 36 jam
Bagi golongan pengguna China, durian segar lebih sedap dan rasanya lebih halus berbanding dengan durian sejuk beku.
Pasangan panda gergasi tiba di Hong Kong
Sepasang panda gergasi yang dihadiahkan oleh kerajaan pusat kepada Wilayah Pentadbiran Khas Hong Kong (HKSAR) China tiba di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Hong Kong pada pagi Khamis.
Ribuan berkabung, beri penghormatan akhir untuk mangsa kebakaran
Orang ramai berkumpul di hadapan barisan keranda putih pada Khamis semasa upacara peringatan untuk 21 kanak-kanak yang meninggal dunia dalam kebakaran sekolah asrama di Kenya awal bulan ini.
Korea Selatan bakal laksanakan RUU larang deepfake,hukuman maksimum
Penggubal Undang-Undang Korea Selatan pada Khamis telah meluluskan Rang Undang-Undang (RUU) yang menjenayahkan pemilikan atau menonton rakaman deepfake lucah, termasuk hukuman penjara dan denda.
Pemimpin Asia Selatan ucap tahniah kepada presiden baharu Sri Lanka
Pemimpin Asia Selatan mengucapkan tahniah kepada Anura Kumara Dissanayake atas pemilihannya sebagai presiden baharu Sri Lanka pada Ahad.
Modi seru hormati undang-undang maritim antarabangsa
Perdana Menteri India Narendra Modi pada Rabu menyeru agar perjanjian maritim antarabangsa - Konvensyen Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu mengenai Undang-Undang Laut (UNCLOS) - dihormati.
MoU baharu atasi masalah ketidaktelusan, eksploitasi pengambilan pekerja - Steven Sim
Steven Sim menjelaskan pemeteraian MoU mengenai pengambilan pekerja asing dari India bukan bertujuan untuk menambah kemasukan.
Apa signifikan lawatan Perdana Menteri ke India?
Lawatan rasmi Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim ke India pada dari 19 hingga 21 Ogos lalu membawa hasil yang signifikan bagi Malaysia.
Lawatan PM Anwar ke India jana potensi perdagangan RM8 bilion, pelaburan RM4.5 bilion
Lawatan rasmi Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim ke India berjaya meraih potensi perdagangan dan pelaburan masing-masing RM8 bilion dan RM4.5 bilion.
India sokong penyertaan Malaysia dalam BRICS - PM Anwar
India menyokong penyertaan Malaysia dalam blok ekonomi BRICS, kata Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
PM Anwar bertemu tiga syarikat gergasi India
Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim mengadakan pertemuan dengan tiga syarikat gergasi korporat India iaitu Tata Group, Emami Agro Tech Limited dan HCL Technologies, pada Selasa.
India bakal tubuh kursi Tiruvalluvar di Universiti Malaya - Modi
India bakal menubuhkan kursi Tiruvalluvar di Universiti Malaya (UM) dalam masa terdekat, kata Perdana Menteri India, Narendra Modi.
Pengerusi ASEAN 2025: ASEAN akan cari sinergi baharu
Ia bagi memastikan ASEAN terus jadi platform berimpak tinggi bagi memacu kerjasama serantau dan meningkatkan kesejahteraan negara-negara anggota.
Malaysia-India tingkat hubungan perkongsian strategik
Malaysia dan India bersetuju untuk meningkatkan hubungan Perkongsian Strategik Dipertingkatkan (ESP) kedua-dua negara kepada Perkongsian Strategik Komprehensif (CSP).