Dynasty clings to declining power after vote
The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has defined Indian politics for nearly a century faces more than a humiliating election defeat.
The landslide victory for opposition leader Narendra Modi that seemed certain on Friday as votes were counted could condemn the family to political oblivion.
Often described as a mixture of a royal family with the tragic glamour of the Kennedys, the dynasty gave India its first prime minister, the empire-beating barrister Jawaharlal Nehru.
His daughter, Indira Gandhi, and grandson, Rajiv, both held the post subsequently, and both were assassinated.
By some measures, the family was in decline long before the parliamentary election; it has not won a majority in decades.
Shy scion Rahul Gandhi's bid to keep the Congress party in power for a third consecutive term was called lackluster even by allies, and his speeches at rallies up and down the country in recent months were a far cry from Nehru's legendary rhetoric.
Compare that with Modi's electrifying campaign, during which he repeatedly derided Rahul, 43, and his mother Sonia for keeping India poor, and the house of Gandhi looks vulnerable.
Few would write off the clan completely. Sonia, the power behind the prime ministerial throne occupied by Manmohan Singh, delivered the Congress party its worst result to date in 1999. She then led the party to victory in the next two elections, and a year ago Forbes ranked her as the world's ninth-most-powerful woman.
Nonetheless, leaders of both Gandhi's Congress party and Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party said they believed Modi would seek to loosen the dynasty's grip on India if he wins.
"He will defang them politically. Look at what he did in Gujarat: he has just reduced the Congress to a non-player," said Kanchan Gupta, member of the BJP's national executive committee.
Reuters
(China Daily 05/17/2014 page7)
