Features
Rahul Gandhi – Next PM of India?
French elections
Suddenly, President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved parliament and declared that France will hold its elections on 30 June and 7 July, just a few weeks before the Paris Olympics. The announcement from the Elysee Palace came soon after the EU elections were over. Macron said he had heard the message for holding elections. “France needs a clear majority in serenity and harmony,” he said, adding that he could not resign himself to the far-right’s progress everywhere in the continent. He will continue as Prez since he has barely completed two years of his five-year tenure. It was seven years before change in 2002 to five years and only two consecutive terms are allowed.
Two Fridays ago, Cassandra lauded Britain for giving such a short time for electioneering – just around 44 days. France has done better – elections to be held in a little over two weeks of the declaration of dissolution of Parliament. Contrast this with our protracted electioneering, where everything else comes to a standstill. There is a noticeable further slackening of work in government offices.
Heartening trend in India
At least heartening to yours truly – Cassandra. And what is it, pray, you may well ask. The evident decline of popularity of the Bharatiya Janata Party – BJP and Narendra Modi himself; and more parliamentary seats being won by the Indian National Congress Party and the rising popularity of Rahul Rajiv Gandhi.
Why Cass’ distaste for the BJP? Simply stated it is obviously very religious slanted, Hindu orientated, and also intolerant of other religions in India. Modi has been termed Islamaphobic.
One dynasty that can be admired is the Nehru-Gandhi family that has occupied a very prominent place in the politics of India and members were in the forefront of the struggle for Independence from British colonial rule. A forebear was involved with the inauguration of the Indian National Congress, also shortened to read National Congress and even Congress. I quote: “… was founded on 28 December 1885 in Bombay. It was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa.”
Cass’ thoughts immediately ran to our country and its dynasties and so-called dynasties, self-created newly prominent families due to political power gained and also bought. Yes, the Senanayakes of Botale and the Bandaranaikes are dynastic. However, the Indian Nehrus are incomparable and truly genuinely elite.
Various members of the Nehru-Gandhi family have occupied prominent positions in the party and country. Jawaharlal Nehru, 4th generation, was the most illustrious, closely followed by his daughter Indira Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi is of the 6th generation and indications now are that he will be India’s next Prime Minister, or so Cass hopes. One little incident consolidated her admiration for this young man. She was on pilgrimage in India about ten years ago when the rumour spread that young Rahul Gandhi was on board the same train. When it steamed into New Delhi, her party descended but waited to see the young politician. Expected an entourage surrounding and guarding him. Quietly walked Rahul in national clothes with just two persons beside him. He smiled warmly at the Sri Lankan women lined up to see him!
The Guardian in 2007 noted: “The Nehru brand has no peer in the world – a member of the family has been in charge of India for 40 of the 60 years since Independence. The allure of India’s first family blends the right to rule of the British monarchy and the tragic glamour of America’s Kennedy’s.” Cass would add – the Nehru Gandhi dynasty is even longer lived than the House of Windsor per se (not the British royal family which has a long history) and far superior to the Kennedys, with which family tragedies were shared. John F and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated as were Indira Gandhi and Rajiv but these two, much more tragically. Indira died at the hands of the Sikh personal body guards whom she trusted and did not want replaced after the Golden Temple invasion by Indian troops. Charismatic, handsome Rajiv killed by an LTTE suicide bomber as he bent to receive her namaste.
Kashmiri Brahmin Family
This outstanding family traces its origin to Ray Kaul (late 1600s to early 1700s), a Kashmiri Pandit, who moved from Kashmir to Delhi in 1716. “A Jagir with a house on the banks of a canal was granted to Raj Kaul, and from the fact of the residence, Nehru (from Nahar for canal) came to be attached to his name. Kaul, the original family name, changed to Kaul-Nehru and in later years Kaul was dropped, which then changed to Kamal Nehru, who was a clerk in the East India Co., in Delhi. Gangadhar Nehru (1827-1867) was the father of third generation Motilal Nehru (1861-1931), who is considered the patriarch of the family. He, a lawyer, was a leader in the Indian independence movement and twice President of the Indian National Congress (INC) in Amritsar (1919) and in Calcutta (1928). After the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919, he is said to have written “My blood is boiling.”
With his wife Swarap Rani Nehru (1868-1938), he had son Jawaharlal (1889-1964), and two daughters Vijaya Lakshmi and Krishna. The son married Kamala (1899-1936); Vijaya Lakshmi, diplomat, politician and president of the UN General Assembly married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit in 1921. Krishna Nehru Hutheesing was a writer. Jawaharlal had one daughter, Indira (1917-1984), who married Feroze Gandhi and had two sons – Rajiv (1944-1991), and Sanjay (1946-1980).
We have read much about this 4th and 5th generations of the family. Nayantara Segal, second of three daughters of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was in Galle at a GLF and spoke more particularly about her cousin Indira along with Katherine Frank, whose very long Indira: the life of Indira Nehru Gandhi, makes for fascinating reading. Sheela Reddy’s fictionalised biography of Ali Jinnah’s Parsi wife – Ruttie Petit – is a heart-string puller as it lays bare the tragic life of this beautiful woman, who died at 29. Ruttie was almost a protégée of Sarojini Naidu, whose eldest daughter was a great friend. Within the pages of this biography is given the fact that this daughter of Sarojini Naidu had hopes of widowed Jawaharlal Nehru marrying her, dashed when she heard of the great friendship/romance the PM of India forged with Lady Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last Viceroy of India – Lord Louis Mountbatten.
And, so, we come to the present generation of the Nehru Gandhi dynasty. Daughter Priyanka of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi was supposed to be the better politician by temperament and personality. She is the General Secretary of the Congress Party. However, she did not contest in the recent elections. Wednesday June 19 The Island announces the welcome news that she will contest Wayanad in Kerala, which is being relinquished by Rahul Gandhi, who won two seats: this and his Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi, born on June 19, 1970, has led, with his mother, the INC and served as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, voted to Parliament from two seats in 2019. From 2004 to 2019, he represented the constituency of Amethi, UP. He is the President of unions such as the National Students Union and trustee of two Rajiv Gandhi Trusts. Born in Delhi, he spent his childhood between Delhi and Dehradun, having his secondary education in The Doon School in Dehradun. He commenced his undergraduate degree at St Stephen’s College, New Delhi, before moving to Harvard University in 1990. The following year, due to security threats consequent to the assassination of his father, he was moved to Rollins College in Florida; he completed his degree in 1994. The following year he obtained his MPhil from Cambridge. Returning to India he founded Backops Services Pvt Ltd, a technology outsourcing firm based in Mumbai. Then he moved to politics full time.
Cass and many others who admire this Nehru–Gandhi family, which is so intimately and intricately entwined with the recent history of India, have great hopes that the mantle of power, the premiership, will move to Rahul Gandhi’s shoulders in 2029.