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Nehru-Gandhi family
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Nehru-Gandhi family is an Indian political

family which has been dominant in the Indian National
Congress for most of India's early independent
history. 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, Sonia
Gandhi, is currently Congress President, while her
and Rajiv's son, Rahul Gandhi, is the youngest
member of the family to enter active politics when he
contested and won a seat in the lower house of the The family of Motilal Nehru, who is seated in the
Parliament of India in 2004. The Nehru-Gandhi center. Standing (L to R) Jawaharlal Nehru, Vijaya
family is not related to Indian independence leader Lakshmi Pandit, Krishna Hutheesing, Indira Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi. and Ranjit Pandit; Seated: Swaroop Rani, Motilal
Nehru and Kamala Nehru (circa 1927).

Contents
1 Family tree
2 Origins
3 Rise to power 1947-1991
4 The rise of Sonia Gandhi
5 Sanjay's legacy
6 Tradition
7 See also

Family tree
Motilal Nehru Swaruprani

Vijaya
Kamala Jawaharlal Ranjit Sitaram Krishna Gunottam
Lakshmi
Nehru Nehru Pandit Hutheesing Hutheesing
Pandit

Feroze Nayantara Harsha Ajit Helen

Indira Gandhi
Gandhi Sahgal Hutheesing Hutheesing Armstrong

Sanjay Maneka
Rajiv Gandhi Sonia Gandhi
Gandhi Gandhi

Priyanka
Rahul Gandhi Robert Vadra Varun Gandhi
Vadra

Origins
The Nehru family is of Kashmiri Brahmin descent. The name "Nehru" is derived from the Hindi "nehar",
meaning canal. Pandit Raj Kaul 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 . (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". 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 one of the most prominent
Indian nationalist leaders, in close alliance with the movement's spiritual leader, Mohandas Gandhi
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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
was 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 death in 1984. After she ordered an
invasion of the Sikh religion's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, on 6 June 1984 to flush out Bhindranwala
and his supporters, she was assassinated by two of her bodyguards on 31 October 1984; the remaining
bodyguards killed one of the assassins and captured the other. 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 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 Khan 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 held nationwide protests against a 'foreigner' ascending the Prime
Minister's post.

On May 18, 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.

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, 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 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. 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 government.

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Tradition
The Nehru-Gandhis are the most prominent example of the tradition of dynastic leadership in Asian
democratic countries.

Motilal Nehru->Jawaharlal Nehru->Indira Gandhi->Sanjay Gandhi==Rajiv Gandhi->Sonia Gandhi->Rahul

Gandhi

Other well-known examples in the region include:

(Bhutto family) Zulfikar Ali Bhutto->Benazir Bhutto->Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan

Solomon Bandaranaike->Sirimavo Bandaranaike->Chandrika Kumaratunga, Sri Lanka
Mujibur Rahman->Hasina Wazed and Ziaur Rahman->Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh
Sukarno->Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia
Diosdado Macapagal->Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Philippines

See also
Nehru Gandhi Family Tree (http://www.nehrufamily.com)
Political families of the world
Nehrus and Gandhis (http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/nehrus_gandhis.htm)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehru-Gandhi_family"

Categories: Indian National Congress | Nehru-Gandhi family | Allahabad | Political families

This page was last modified on 22 March 2009, at 19:25.

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