A media report by Bharat Samachar claimed that film actor Abhishek Bachchan, may join politics.
It claimed that Abhishek Bachchan may contest the upcoming general elections from Prayagraj, formerly known as Allahabad, in Uttar Pradesh. It claimed he would be contesting from Samajwadi Party ticket. At the time of this report, there is no confirmation or denial on this.
However, if it is indeed true, it will not be the first time the Bachchans would try their luck in politics. In fact, the family has held close ties with the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Harivanshrai Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan’s father, worked in the Foreign Ministry as a Hindi Officer. Apparently, Jawahrlal Nehru held him in high regards. His wife, Teji Bachchan became a close friend of Indira Gandhi and when they moved to Delhi, Teji Bachchan used to participate in lot of social work with help of her friend Indira.
Before joining film industry, Amitabh Bachchan was a friend of Rajiv Gandhi and his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi. In fact, Rajiv Gandhi met Amitabh Bachchan when former was 2 and latter 4 at Allahabad. In their childhood, during school vacations, the Gandhi and the Bachchan kids would swim in the swimming pool of Rashtrapati Bhawan, the official residence of the President of India. Interestingly, none of the Gandhis were ever the President of India, so one wonders how they got the special privilege. Though, in all honesty, one does not wonder about special privileges to Gandhis.
It has been widely reported in media that when Sonia Gandhi first came to India before her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi, it was Amitabh Bachchan who received her at the Palam Airport in Delhi on 13 January 1968.

She spent 48 days at the Bachchans’ house in Delhi before the wedding ceremony took place. When Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were kids (officially), they referred to Amitabh Bachchan as ‘mamun’, Awadhi term for maternal uncle.
In 1984, when Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, eyewitnesses have said that Amitabh Bachchan gave provocative speeches against the Sikh community. A 2011 article by Times of India reports that Jagdish Kaur, one of the prime witnesses of 1984 anti-Sikh riots had lamented that no FIR was registered against Amitabh Bachchan for provoking killing of Sikhs.

Kaur said that the Doordarshan had live telecast the speech where Bachchan was seen shouting ‘khoon ka badla khoon’ on Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
Rajiv Gandhi had also justified the anti-Sikh riots and said that when a big tree falls, the earth shakes.
So deep was their friendship that on insistence of Rajiv Gandhi, he joined politics and contested the 1984 elections. These were held soon after Indira Gandhi’s assassination and in a huge sympathy wave, Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister after Congress won 414 seats. One of those seats were won by Amitabh Bachchan who contested from Allahabad (now Prayagraj).
The friendship was so close that Amitabh Bachchan and his family were also among the special guests on INS Viraat, the Indian Navy warship used by the Gandhi family as personal taxi in the late 80s.
India Today issue date 31 January 1998 mentions how a holidaying group consisting of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi’s mother, her brother and a maternal uncle took the INS Viraat to go to the Lakshadweep. Also joining them were Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, their two children, Abhishek and Shweta and Amitabh Bachchan’s niece.
Privileges, eh?
In late 80s when Bofors scandal broke, it was alleged that both, Rajiv Gandhi and Amitabh Bachchan, amongst others, received kickbacks. Eventually, Amitabh Bachchan started distancing himself from Rajiv Gandhi to not have his image tarnished further. Three years later, he quit active politics when a newspaper reported Bachchan’s alleged involvement. Years later, the Supreme Court gave him a clean chit in this regard.
It is said that in 1991 when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, Amitabh Bachchan flew down from London and arranged for funeral.

Here, the Gandhi family expected Amitabh Bachchan may join Congress again and assist Sonia Gandhi, widow of his childhood friend. But he remained non-committal and the Gandhis were now upset. Years later, when Amitabh Bachchan was in financial soup when ABCL (Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited) ran into severe debt, the Gandhis did not offer to bail him out.
It was Amar Singh, of Samajwadi Party who came to Amitabh Bachchan’s rescue. This got the two very close. Later, Jaya Bachchan joined Samajwadi Party and became a Rajya Sabha member from the party.

Later, Jaya Bachchan once publicly expressed her disappointment in the Gandhis for not standing by them and ‘betraying them’.
In an interview, Jaya had said, “Those who brought us into politics left us midway. They left us when we were in a crisis. They are known to betray people.”
Upset, Rahul Gandhi said, “The Bachchans are lying. Why are they levelling the charge now after so many years? Amitabh was introduced to politics two decades ago. They have changed loyalties. Those who know the Gandhi family know we’ve never betrayed anyone. People know better about who betrayed whom. People also know who their loyalties are with.”
Amitabh Bachchan, too, chimed in and called out the highhandedness of Gandhis. “They (the Gandhi family) are the rajas (rulers), and we (the Bachchans) are runk (subjects). Any continuation of the relationship depends on the rulers’ mood. Now, they accuse my family of lying,” he had said.
And now, Amitabh Bachchan’s son is likely to join politics when Rahul Gandhi continues to be a disqualified MP after being convicted in defamation case.
What happens next, time will tell. For now, it seems Pappu is getting a Bunty to compete with.