Nehru- Feroze Gandhi family
The Nehru-Gandhi (नेहरू-गान्धी परिवार) family is a political dynasty in India, which has been dominant in the Indian National Congress for much of India's independent history. Three members of the family have been Prime Minister of India (out of which two have been assassinated). A fourth member of the family, Sonia Gandhi, is currrently Congress President.
Origins
The Nehru family is of Kashmiri Brahmin descent. The name "Nehru" is derived from the Hindi "nehar" meaning canal. Pandit Raj Kaul was the ancestor of Jawaharlal Nehru who moved to Delhi from Kashmir at the behest of the then Mughal emperor Farrukhsiar in the early 18th century. A "jagir" (estate) with a house on the banks of a canal was presented to Raj Kaul by the emperor, as it was the custom in those days to donate land to Brahmin scholars (Raj Kaul was a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit). Because of the canal, the family came to be known as Kaul-Nehrus. Later Kaul was dropped and the surname became "Nehru". Jawaharlal's grandfather, Ganga Dhar Nehru was the kotwal or constable of Delhi for some time. After the 1857 mutiny, the Nehru family moved to Allahabad, and settled there.
The family's political fortunes were founded by Motilal Nehru (1861-1931), who was a prominent lawyer and early activist in the Indian independence movement. Motilal was succeeded as President of the Congress by his son, Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), in 1929. Jawaharlal then became the most prominent Indian nationalist leader, in close alliance with the movement's spiritual leader, Mohandas Gandhi (not related to the Nehru-Gandhi family).
Rise to Power
In 1947 India became independent and Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister, holding this post until his death in 1964. Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (1900-1990) was also prominent in Congress politics and was an Indian diplomat, serving as President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1953.
Nehru promoted his only child, Indira Gandhi (1917-84) (acquired the surname/last name through her marriage to Feroze Gandhi) to his Cabinet, and in 1966, following the brief leadership of Lal Bahadur Shastri, she became Prime Minister, holding the position until her defeat in the 1977 elections. During her Prime Ministership she placed her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi (1946-80), in senior positions, and his alleged abuse of power was one of the reasons for the government's 1977 defeat. Sanjay was killed in a stunt plane crash in 1980.
Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980 and remained in office until her death in 1984. After she ordered an invasion of the Sikh religion's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, to attack militants, she was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. She was succeeded by her elder son,Rajiv Gandhi (1944-91), an airline pilot who was initially reluctant to enter politics, but was persuaded by the Congress that no-one else could lead it. He was defeated at elections in 1989, but was about to return to office when he was assassinated in 1991 by a suicide bomber, suspected to be linked to the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). He was survived by his widow Sonia, and two children, Rahul and Priyanka.
The Rise of Rajiv's Widow
Arun Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi's cousin, was Minister for Power and then Minister for Internal Security in Gandhi's government, but later defected to the rival Janata Dal.
After Rajiv Gandhi's death, the Congress was led by P. V. Narasimha Rao, who became Prime Minister. After his defeat in India's 1996 General Elections, the power in the Congress party shifted to Sitaram Kesri, an aging loyalist of Indira Gandhi. During this period, Sonia kept herself and her children out of the public limelight, not wanting them to face the fate of her husband and mother-in-law.
The party loyalists always wanted a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to lead the party, as its fortunes slipped in elections around the nation. Despite her reluctance, Sonia Gandhi was eventually persuaded to become active in the Congress Party, and she quickly became its center of power, forcing Kesri's resignation and allowing her uncontested assent to the party's Presidency in 1998.
The following period saw her becoming increasingly visible in politics (She is attributed to engineering the downfall of the Vajpayee government in 1999, in an unsuccessful attempt to install a Congress government). During India's 2004 General Elections, Sonia was projected the Congress's Prime Ministerial candidate, and the party and its allies emerged as the largest group in the Lok Sabha, with the Communist parties supporting the coalition from outside. Initially, every coalition partner and the Communist parties had accepted her as the Prime Minister. The opposition BJP and a number of Hindu Conservative groups which support it held nationwide protests against a 'foreigner' ascending the Prime Minister's post.
On May 18th, 2004, Sonia Gandhi declined the Prime Ministerial position, passing it on to Dr. Manmohan Singh. At these elections Rahul Gandhi was elected to the Parliament for the first time, representing a fifth generation of the family in politics from a traditional Gandhi stronghold, Amethi (Uttar Pradesh). Her daughter, Priyanka Vadra Gandhi, did not contest the elections, but campaigned for the party. Many Congress leaders and supporters have vocally promoted her future as the party's leader, but she has not accepted a life in active politics, so far.
Sanjay's Legacy
Sanjay Gandhi's widow Maneka and their son Varun were excluded from power in the Congress after Sanjay's death, and are now members of the BJP. Maneka fell out with her mother-in-law Indira, following Sanjay's death. She joined the opposition Janata Dal and became a Union Minister in the VP Singh Government which followed Rajiv Singh's electoral defeat in 1989. She continued to contest from Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, with a defeat in 1991 and victory in 1996. She left the Janata Dal, and during the 1998 and 1999 elections, contested as an Independent supported by the BJP. She supported the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre and became a Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment. During the 2004 General Elections, she formally joined the BJP along with her son, Varun Gandhi. Maneka won her seat again, but Varun did not meet the age requirement to contest, and spent his time campaigning. As of 2006, he is a member of the BJP's executive and expectations are that he will contest a bye-election to the Lok Sabha.
Tradition
The Nehru-Gandhis are the most prominent example of the tradition of dynastic leadership in Asian democratic countries. Nearly all of these dynasties involve male political leaders being succeeded by their widows or daughters, as was the case with Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, and then with Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. Other well-known examples in the region include:
- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto-Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan
- Solomon Bandaranaike-Sirimavo Bandaranaike-Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka
- Mujibur Rahman-Hasina Wazed and Ziaur Rahman-Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh
- Benigno Aquino-Corazon Aquino and Diosdado Macapagal-Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Philippines
- Sukarno-Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia
- Aung San-Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma