Nehru-Gandhi family: a dynasty in decline

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/a-dynasty-in-decline

....WHO'S WHO

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

He was India's first prime minister and a key figure in the independence movement from the British Raj.

During his tenure from 1947 to 1964, he shaped the foreign, economic and domestic policies of the newly independent South Asian country.

He and his wife Kamala Kaul had one daughter, Indira. He died of a heart attack in 1964 at age 74.

INDIRA GANDHI

She served as India's prime minister from 1966 to 1977, and from 1980 until her assassination in October 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards. She was 66.

Her tenure saw one of India's darkest periods, with the imposition of emergency rule from 1975 to 1977, during which she jailed opposition leaders and imposed media censorship. She and her husband Feroze Gandhi had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay.

RAJIV GANDHI

He was a pilot for state-owned Indian Airlines but entered politics after the death in 1980 of his younger brother Sanjay who had been groomed to take over from their mother. Rajiv became prime minister in 1984 after Indira's assassination and, at age 40, he was India's youngest prime minister.

He was assassinated in May 1991 by a suicide bomber from the Tamil Tigers.

He and his Italian-born wife Sonia Maino had two children, Rahul and Priyanka.

SONIA GANDHI, 71

She was known to be against her husband joining politics. Yet six years after his assassination, Mrs Gandhi, who learnt to speak Hindi, joined politics to protect the legacy of the family. She took over as president of the Indian National Congress in 1998 and was elected to Parliament in 1999.

She was Congress president for 19 years and led the party to victory in the 2004 and 2009 elections.

She rejected the position of prime minister due to controversy over her Italian roots, and instead chose Congress politician Manmohan Singh for the top post. But she remained the de facto head of the government. In 2014, after her party suffered its worst electoral result, she and her son Rahul accepted responsibility.

RAHUL GANDHI, 47

He worked briefly as a management consultant in London for three years and joined politics in 2004, contesting elections and winning the family seat of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh state.

Dubbed "the reluctant prince", he had for years shunned a leadership role in the party. He spoke about the pain that power had brought his family when he took over as vice-president of Congress in 2013. Mr Gandhi, a bachelor, succeeded his mother as party president earlier this month and will lead the party into the 2019 general elections.

PRIYANKA GANDHI,45

Often compared to her mother in looks and style, she is more outgoing and engaging than her reserved brother.

She has stayed away from politics except to help her brother and mother campaign in their constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli during elections. She is married to businessman Robert Vadra and they have two children, Rehan and Miraya.".....

(Analysis at link)