Nehru-Gandhi family: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Nehru-Gandhi family is a political dynasty in India, which has been dominant in the Indian National Congress for most of its history. Three members of the family have been Prime Minister of India, and two of these have been assassinated. A fourth member of the family, Sonia Gandhi, is President of the Congress and was Leader of the Opposition from 1999-2004.

The Nehru family is of Kashmiri Brahmin descent. Its political fortunes were founded by Motilal Nehru (1861-1931), 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 (who was not related to the Nehru-Gandhi family).

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) (who acquired this surname 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 glider crash in 1980.

Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980 and remained in office until her assassination in 1984. 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. He was survived by his widow Sonia Gandhi, and two children, Rahul and Priyanka.

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 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

After Rajiv Gandhi's death, the Congress was led by P. V. Narasimha Rao, but the party loyalists always wanted a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to lead the party. Despite her reluctance, Sonia was eventually persuaded to accept the leadership in 1998. Despite the fact that she is not of Indian birth, Sonia was eventually accepted by the Congress's traditional base among the rural poor and won the May 2004 elections. However, she later declined the Prime Ministerial position, passing it on to 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.

Sanjay Gandhi's widow Maneka Gandhi and their son Varun Gandhi were excluded from power in the Congress after Sanjay's death, and are now members of the BJP.

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 are the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto-Benazir Bhutto family in Pakistan, the Solomon Bandaranaike-Sirimavo Bandaranaike-Chandrika Kumaratunga family in Sri Lanka, the Mujibur Rahman-Hasina Wazed and Ziaur Rahman-Khaleda Zia families in Bangladesh, the Benigno Aquino-Corazon Aquino and the Diosdado Macapagal-Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo families in the Philippines, the Sukarno-Megawati Sukarnoputri family in Indonesia, and the Aung San-Aung San Suu Kyi family in Burma.

See also: Political families of the world