On Valentine’s Day today, the Love Story of Famous Indians- Politicians and Cricketers

Devendra Fadnavis- Amruta

Devendra is currently the Chief Minister of Maharashtra while Amruta is a professional banker and works in Mumabi in a large Private Bank. Their love story is a little different as they decided to get married just after an hour of meeting at a friend’s place. Their friend Shailesh Joglekar has said in an interview that Devendra and Amruta met at his home for the first time and decided to get married after meeting for an hour.

So who made the first move?

If reports are to be believed it was Devendra who first proposed to Amruta and she agreed. Devendra and Amruta got married in 2005.They have a 8 year old daughter, Divija

Akhilesh and Dimple

Akhilesh and Dimple come from vastly different backgrounds. While Akhilesh comes from a political family Dimple’s father was a Colonel in the Indian Army.

Akhilesh and Dimple met through a common friend. Akhilesh had returned after completing his Masters in Environment Engineering from Australia while Dimple was pursuing a Commerce course from Lucknow University.

Dimple’s parents agreed to her choice and were happy as long as their daughter was happy but it is said that Akhilesh’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav was against the match. Akhilesh had to work hard to get the approval of his father for the marriage

They got married on 24th November 1999 and have 3 children Arjun, Tina and Aditi.

Gaurav Gogoi and Elizabeth

The love story of Gaurav and Elizabeth is also interesting. They met in 2010 in New York while pusrusing internship at the Sanctions Committee at the UN Secratariat.Elizabeth is a Britsh citizen and a graduate of the prestigious London School of Economics while Gaurav’s father, Tarun Gogoi, is a well known politician in Assam and a former Chief Minister of the hill state. After their marriage Gaurav and Elizabeth now stay in Delhi.

Sachin and Sara

Sachin and Sara have a very filmy love story. Sachin and Sara both hail from a politically strong family. Moreover, they make an interesting and beautiful combination of a Muslim woman, and a Hindu man.

Sachin Pilot is the son of Late Rajesh Pilot who was a Union Minister and veteran Congress leader. Sara Pilot is the daughter of National Conference’s Chairman Farooq Abdullah and sister of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

It was in London that Sara and Sachin met each other for the first time. Sachin’s father and Sarah’s father were both close friends and therefore they knew about each other’s family although they had never met before.

During the period Sachin was doing his MBA, Sara and Sachin became close friends. With time their friendship became more intense and blossomed into love.

But considering the cultural background they came from, it was certainly not easy to put forward the proposal of marriage to their parents.

Sachin belongs to a Rajasthani Gujjar family and Sara hailed from a conservative Muslim family. They knew that their marriage could not be possible with consent of their families.

But after much reluctance, Sachin told his mother about Sara. All his family members refused. But Sachin, eventually won the battle. He somehow managed to convince them.

But in Sara’s case, it was a more difficult challenge. Her father refused to give his consent to the relationship. He had social and political compulsions in front of him.

Sachin and Sara had to take a decision. They were left with two choices – One, they could just part ways and let their family decide their fate. Two, they could follow their heart, be brave and tie the knot.

Faith has the strength to even move mountains. Sara and Sachin had faith in their love for each other. So in the month of January, 2004, the love birds tied the knot in a very simple and quiet wedding. Not many people were invited. Media was not permitted to attend the marriage ceremony.

But the most somber part of this event was that the Abdullah family boycotted the wedding. Sara hoped against dread that her family would turn up.

Time healed Abdullah’s resentment and he too reconciled with his daughter. Forgetting the past, father daughter and brother were united once again.

Omar accepted Sachin as his brother – in – law with open arms. The couple has been blessed with two sons – Aaran and Vehan.

Sachin entered into politics only few months after marriage. Sara on the other hand is working with the UN for Women development.

Milind and Pooja

Milind and Pooja got to know each other at a photoshoot in 2004. They dated for a few years and got married in 2008.

Milind is the son of veteran Congress politician from Mumbai, Murli Deora while Pooja is the daughter of filmmaker Manmohan Shetty .She heads the film production company “Walk Water Media” and is the daughter of film producer Manmohan Shetty, former Adlabs chairman.

Arvind and Sunita

Arvind and Sunita were batch mates in the Indian Revenue Services academy in Nagpur. Arvind was a soft spoken and simple man, qualities that drew her towards him. Arvind’s honesty towards his work and his passion to bring about change in the country did the trick as Sunita started liking him. They first became good friends. They took a lot of time before expressing their love to each other. They got engaged in August 1994. Finally in November 1994, they got married.

In 1995 they moved Delhi after completing their training. Soon they were blessed with a baby girl named Harshita. In 2001, Pulkit was born.

Because of the support of Sunita, Arvind mustered the courage to leave a set career to pursue his dreams for his country. He successfully led the movement for the Right to Information act. Government failed to deliver its promise of the Lokpal Bill, which forced him to join politics.

Navjot Sidhu and Navjot Kaur

Navjot Singh Sidhu tied the knot with Dr. Navjot Kaur, (yes, a doctor) somewhere in the mid-1980s. Navjot Kaur Sidhu was doing her MBBS course when they first met. In an interview, Sidhu shared that he fell in love with Navjot Kaur the very first time he saw her and decided to pursue her. He would deliberately wait for her at a restaurant opposite to Navjot Kaur’s house. Navjot managed to strike a friendship with Navjot Kaur but it took him months to convince her to marry him. Eventually, his namesake lady-love agreed to tie the knot. It was a traditional Sikh wedding, and was most probably held at Patiala, which is the Sidhu family’s native place. The couple have been blessed with two children, a son named Karan, and a daughter named Rabia.

Shikhar Dhawan and Ayesha Mukherjee

Theirs a unique love story spread across two continents

Ayesha is an Anglo-Indian as her father is Indian and mother is of English descent. She was born in India, but her family soon moved to Australia. She is a trained kickboxer and a sports fanatic. Ayesha is fluent in Bengali and English and enjoys cooking Indian food. And, she was once married to an Australian businessman but got divorced.

Cricketer Harbhajan Singh was a mutual friend between Shikhar and Ayesha on Facebook. Shikhar came across Ayesha’s profile and was bowled over by her looks instantly. He sent her a friend request which she accepted. Long Facebook conversations led to a budding friendship. The couple got engaged back in 2009, but Shikhar insisted on waiting for a while before they tied the knot. He first wanted to establish himself as a successful cricketer of the Indian cricket team. Finally, the couple got hitched in 2012 in a traditional Sikh wedding . Ayesha is almost ten years older than Shikhar, and already had two daughters from her previous broken marriage. There were many questions that were raised on their union. But, Shikhar Dhawan’s mother was very supportive of this match. In 2014, Ayesha gave birth to a baby boy, Zoravar Dhawan, completing the family portrait of the Dhawans.