Nehru–Gandhi family
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nehru–Gandhi family or Nehru - Feroze Gandhi family is an Indian political
family which has been dominant in the Indian National Congress for most of India's
history since independence. It is to be noted that they do not belong to the Mahatma
Gandhi's family, though the fortuitous coincidence of their sharing a last name with
the fabled founding father has only served to further cement their position as his
political heirs in the popular imagination of most Indians.
Three members of the family (Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi
and her son Rajiv Gandhi) have been Prime Minister of India, two of whom (Indira
and Rajiv Gandhi) have been assassinated. A fourth member of the family, Rajiv's
widow Sonia Gandhi, is currently Congress President. Rajiv and Sonia's son, Rahul
Gandhi, is a member of Parliament and General Secretary of the Congress Party. Two
other family members, Maneka Gandhi, and her son Varun Gandhi, are current
members of Parliament, but they belong to Congress's main rival the BJP.
Incomplete family tree
Origins
Nehrus originally from Kashmir, settled in
Delhi in the beginning of 18th century, where
Motilal
Nehru's
grandfather,
Lakshmi
Narayan, became the first lawyer (Vakil) of
the East India Company at the Mughal
Imperial Court of Delhi. His son Gangadhar,
was a police officer in Delhi in 1857, and
during the Mutiny, when the British troops
began shelling their way into the city, he fled
to Agra along with his wife Jeorani and four
children. He died here four years later, and three months after his death, his youngest
son Motilal was born. [1][2]
The Nehru family has connection with Allahabad city of present day Uttar Pradesh
state of India. In Allahabad, Jawaharlal Nehru was born, this is the Constituency he
represented in Parliament, and where childhood of Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi
and grandchildren Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi was spent. However Nehru's father
Motilal Nehru was of Kashmiri Brahmin descent. The name "Nehru" is derived from
the Hindi "nehar", meaning canal, when the Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiar had allotted
the land adjacent to a canal or "nehr" to Raj Kaul who originated from Kashmir.[3]
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 one of the most prominent Indian nationalist leaders,
in close alliance with the movement's spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi.
Rise to power 1947-1991
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. She became a diplomat, serving as
ambassador to the USSR, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and later as
President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1953.
Nehru encouraged his only child, Indira Gandhi (1917–84) to be active in Congress
politics. She entered the Cabinet in 1964 when Lal Bahadur Shastri became Prime
Minister upon Nehru's death. Then in 1966, following the death of Lal Bahadur
Shastri, she became Prime Minister, holding the position until her defeat in the 1977
elections. During her Prime Ministership her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi (1946–80),
wielded enormous political influence without holding any accountable government
office. His alleged abuse of power is cited as one of the reasons for the government's
1977 defeat. Sanjay died in a plane crash in 1980.
Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980 and remained in office until her assassination
in 1984. The Indian state of Punjab had been in turmoil, with a section of the
predominantly Sikh population demanding independence. Many youths had
radicalized and adopted militant means to attain their demand for an independent
state (which they called Khalistan). Gandhi ordered the army to storm the Sikh
religion's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, on 6 June 1984, to flush out radical leader
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters. The army operation, titled Operation
Blue Star, resulted in heavy exchange of fire and extensive damage to the temple,
including the sanctum sanctorum (Akal Takht. This caused widespread anger among
the Sikh community. Gandhi was killed by two of her Sikh bodyguards on 31 October
1984; the remaining bodyguards killed one of the assassins and captured the other.
Her sudden death triggered anti-Sikh riots in many parts of India.
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 assassinated in 1991 by a
suicide bomber, suspected to be linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
In 1987, he had authorized an Indian Peace Keeping Force to be sent to Sri Lanka to
fight the LTTE. He was survived by his widow Sonia, and two children, Rahul and
Priyanka.
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 Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP). Maneka fell out with her mother-in-law Indira, following Sanjay's death, and
was even thrown out of her home. She joined the opposition Janata Dal and became a
Union Minister in the VP Singh Government which followed Rajiv Gandhi'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 BJPled 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.
In October 2006 Varun Gandhi was tipped to contest the by-elections to the Lok Sabha
parliamentary Constituency of Vidisha (the vacancy was necessitated by the
resignation of the incumbent, Mr. Shivraj Singh Chauhan who was elected as the
Madhya Pradesh chief minister). Varun Gandhi could not succeed in getting
nomination from the BJP national executive and instead the party nominated Mr.
Rampal Singh a minister in the Madhya Pradesh. In 2009 Lok Sabha election, Varun
Gandhi elected as a MP from Pilibhit seat of Uttar Pradesh.
The rise of Sonia Gandhi
Arun Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi's cousin, was Minister for Power and then Minister for
Internal Security in Rajiv 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- Feroz 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 ascent 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 held nationwide protests against a 'foreigner' ascending the Prime
Minister's post.
On 18 May 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,
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.
See also
Political families of the world
References
External links
Nehru and Indira Gandhi
The making of the Gandhi dynasty at The Guardian
Nehrus and Gandhis
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