CNN
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He has about 2,500 kilometers to move till his adventure is whole. But the great-grandson of India’s first high minister seems made up our minds.
Dressed head-to-toe in white, Rahul Gandhi is strolling 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) throughout India to satisfy citizens and revive hobby within the Indian National Congress, a as soon as robust political celebration now suffering to win votes.
Each leg is documented on reside feeds and social media, however Gandhi is now not the celebration chief – and gained’t be taking his fans to the following nationwide election in 2024.
That might be right down to both Shashi Tharoor or Mallikarjun Kharge, certainly one of whom might be appointed to the highest position on Wednesday, marking the primary time in additional than two decades that the celebration has been led by way of any person rather than a Gandhi.
That a Gandhi isn’t going to be the face of India’s oldest political unit is sort of unthinkable to many – a member of the circle of relatives has been in control of it for 40 out of its 75 years of independence, and concerned within the management for far of the opposite 35 years.
But analysts say as the rustic shifts into a brand new technology, driving on a wave of right-wing, nationalist politics, the circle of relatives and the Congress has little importance within the nation’s political provide, pushed partly by way of a large number of corruption scandals and mismanagement inside the celebration.
“The Gandhis today are completely dwarfed and overshadowed by Narendra Modi,” mentioned New Delhi-based political commentator Arathi R. Jerath.
“It’s hard to predict the future, but for a family that ruled much of independent India, it is unlikely we will see a Gandhi leader of the country again.”
As an impressive political dynasty, some have likened the Gandhis to the Kennedys, having for many years in moderation navigated a sequence of private tragedies along a difficult energy balancing act.
The circle of relatives doesn’t take its identify from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the rustic’s famed independence chief.
Instead, they’re the descendants of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was once instrumental within the nation’s independence motion from British rule and in 1947 changed into its first high minister. Nehru’s daughter Indira followed the Gandhi identify via her marriage to Feroze Gandhi, any other celebration member unrelated to its chief.
Indira would later prevail her father, earlier than handing the management to her son, Rajiv. Later, his spouse, Sonia Gandhi, and son, Rahul, would take over.
Nehru dominated for 17 years after independence from British rule, ushering India into a brand new technology after its bloody partition, that ended in the advent of Pakistan, brought about the deaths of two million folks and uprooted an estimated 15 million extra.
Nehru united the impoverished country by way of planting the seeds for many years of monetary, social and political construction.
“He was part of the freedom struggle, and so he wanted to ensure that India reach her potential and grow,” Jerath mentioned. “He wanted to lead his people into a brave new world.”
Throughout his time in energy Nehru promoted democracy and secularism, invested in science and generation, constructed main tutorial institutes, and promoted gender equality within the deeply patriarchal nation.
When he died whilst in administrative center on May 28, 1964, tributes poured in from everywhere the arena. Two years later, his daughter, Indira Gandhi (who followed her husband’s closing identify), would fill his sneakers as the rustic’s first – and up to now best – feminine high minister.
Groomed for the location from an early age, Indira Gandhi was once thought to be an astute, strong-willed, and to a couple, autocratic chief.
She was once elected high minister from 1966 to 1977, and once more in 1980. But her years in administrative center have been marked with each private tragedy – her son Sanjay died in a while into her 2d stint – and turbulence, owing, partly, to a battle with Pakistan, droughts, famine and an financial disaster.
Faced with rising discontent, Indira Gandhi proclaimed a arguable state of emergency in India for 21 months in 1975 – postponing elementary liberties, enforcing press censorship and imprisoning opposition contributors.
Her years in energy got here to a sad climax when, on October 31, 1984, she was once shot lifeless at her house in New Delhi by way of her Sikh bodyguards, 4 months after she ordered Indian troops to typhoon the Golden Temple – certainly one of Sikhism’s holiest shrines – to flush out separatists.
“The mood of the nation changed following the assassination,” mentioned Rasheed Kidwai, writer of “Sonia, A Biography” and visiting Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation. “But the tragic part of it is, it has a law of diminishing returns. These days, not a lot of our young children know of the sacrifices and tough decisions that were made by her.”
Indira Gandhi’s son, Rajiv, took over from her after her demise.
Known because the “unwilling” high minister who by no means sought after the process, Rajiv Gandhi changed into the youngest chief on the age of 40. But he served lower than a decade, shedding the 1989 basic election following a corruption scandal, and was once assassinated two years later by way of the Sri Lankan separatist crew, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
During his tenure, he signed peace accords with rebel teams in states the place spiritual tensions have been top, and is credited for growing India’s science and generation sectors, giving him the moniker “Father of Information and Technology.”
With no Gandhi on the helm, and the emergence of the BJP within the Nineteen Nineties, the Congress struggled. In the years that adopted, India’s management swung between events.
It wasn’t till Rajiv’s Italian-born widow, Sonia, took over as chief of the Congress in 1998 that they made a political comeback.
It wasn’t till Rajiv’s Italian-born widow, Sonia, took over as chief of the Congress in 1998, that they made a political comeback. Six years later, she led the celebration to victory within the basic election – however stopped wanting taking the highest place and as a substitute appointed economist Manmohan Singh as high minister.
But with the ascendance of a brand new wave of right-wing politics, their celebration now lurks within the political desolate tract, analysts say. In 2014, Modi was once elected high minister with a roaring majority.
“(The Gandhis) exude the tragic glamor of the Kennedys,” mentioned Jerath, the political commentator. “This was a family that built India’s education, health care and technology institutions. Their legacy is still felt today.”
On July 3, 2019, following a humiliating and crushing defeat within the Indian basic election, Rahul Gandhi publicly resigned as chief of the Congress.
Modi’s BJP had simply gained a historical majority within the decrease area of parliament, cementing the antithesis to Gandhi’s Congress as essentially the most ambitious political power in Indian politics in a long time.
“Modi has perfected the narrative that the Gandhis are the liberal elite, the dynasty that shouldn’t be in power,” mentioned Kidwai, the writer. “And as the country shifts towards the right, his politics are proving tremendously popular.”
The BJP has its roots in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a appropriate wing-Hindu crew which might be adherents of Hindutva ideology – to make India the land of the Hindus.
Nearly 80% of the rustic’s 1.3 billion individuals are Hindus, and analysts say Modi’s populist politics attraction to the hundreds.
“India is changing. As democracy has deepened, we have seen the rise of a new class of people – and this class really is not schooled in the Nehruvian principles of democracy,” Jerath mentioned. “They are willing to buy into Hindutva politics of the Modi-led BJP. And this is something that this generation of the Gandhis have not been able to counter.”
Moreover, analysts level to a long time of infighting and mismanagement inside the Congress celebration, that experience weakened its place within the nation. Rahul and Sonia Gandhi have additionally been accused of corruption – allegations they deny.
The 2d time period of the closing Congress high minister to control India was once riddled with allegations of corruption and bribery scandals working into tens of thousands and thousands of greenbacks.
Modi’s humble beginnings because the son of a tea dealer, as opposed to the Gandhis’ privileged and Western-influenced upbringing, additionally makes him extra relatable to an rising middle-class inhabitants, Jerath mentioned. Nehru, like Rajiv and Rahul, was once trained at Trinity College, Cambridge. His daughter, Indira, at Oxford University.
“Rahul Gandhi kept looking for success but it was rather elusive,” Kidwai mentioned. “That’s why he’s taken on a different role and gone on this campaign across the country.”
As Rahul Gandhi continues on his adventure to unite the rustic, he might achieve rebuilding the picture of the Congress. But it sort of feels not going he’s going to ever turn out to be high minister of the rustic, like his father, grandmother and great-grandfather earlier than him. He by no means married and has no youngsters. His sister, Priyanka, additionally a member of the celebration, has two babies – however it’s unclear if they’re going to ever foray into political existence.
All eyes might be at the subsequent chief, as he makes an attempt to get sufficient votes to unseat Modi in 2024.
“Modi certainly has a grip on power,” Jerath mentioned. “But if the Congress can get their act together, then we may just see a comeback.”
