Dynasty flounders 30 years after Gandhi killing

When Indira Gandhi was gunned down by her bodyguards on Oct 31, 1984, the instant elevation of her son Rajiv to the post of prime minister appeared to confirm her family's status as India's natural-born rulers.

But three decades on from the assassination of India's "Iron Lady", even members of her Congress party are beginning to question whether they may now have to look beyond the Nehru-Gandhi clan for survival.

After a crushing defeat in May's general election, things hit a new low this month when the Congress party trailed in third place, in two state polls with Rahul Gandhi - the dynasty's latest scion - having all but disappeared from view.

"Indira Gandhi was the real architect of the Congress party's expansion. She had the ability to directly speak to the masses across India and get votes," said Rasheed Kidwai, who has written several books on the party.

"For the first time, instead of the party depending on the family, the family depends on it for its survival," he said.

The center-left Congress party has ruled India for more than 50 of the 67 years since independence, while a member of the family has been at the helm of the party for all but a handful of those years.

Indira Gandhi's father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India's first prime minister, from 1947 to 1964. Two years after his death, Indira Gandhi became the leader from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 before a grieving Rajiv Gandhi then took up the mantle.

Such was the sympathy toward Rajiv that the Congress party recorded its best-ever showing in elections soon after he took office, reinforcing the notion that the family was destined to rule the country.

After Rajiv was assassinated in a Tamil suicide attack in 1991, the Congress party turned to his Italian-born widow, Sonia, who led the party back to power in a shock 2004 election victory.

She declined to become prime minister, installing the mild-mannered Manmohan Singh instead, but was seen as the power behind the throne until May's defeat after a lackluster campaign led by her son Rahul.

While few within the Congress party speak out against the family, analysts say there can be no illusions about the scale of its troubles.'

'Defeated, directionless'

"It is defeated and directionless with a serious leadership crisis," said Zoya Hasan, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

While Rajiv and Sonia were reluctant leaders, both showed an aptitude for politics that their daughter Priyanka seems to have inherited.

Although Priyanka is seen as an alternative leader, she says she is dedicated to raising her children and is hampered by controversy over her husband's property business dealings.

Rahul has shown no such aptitude and likened power to "poison" before being persuaded to become the Congress party's election frontman.

His mother remains president of the party.

Since May, Rahul has been barely seen in public and has left Sonia to rally the party.

Hasan said it had been a mistake to think the Gandhi magic could be handed down endlessly, adding: "I think the whole transition from Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi went horribly wrong."

For years, it seemed almost unthinkable that anyone but a Gandhi could lead the Congress party.

But asked recently if someone from outside the family could lead the party, former finance minister P. Chidambaram told NDTV: "I think so, ... some day, yes."

Singh, who fell out with Sonia after being sacked in 2005, sees little chance of any immediate Congress revival.

"Its fortunes are very low and have nowhere to go but up, but at this time I don't see it happening," he said.

(China Daily 10/31/2014 page11)