Rule of dynasty, never mind!

Cartoon from DiNNamani Newpaper January 23, 2013

It is often cited that in many countries and of course in India, the rule of dynasty is played to the hilt. So, why is only the Nehru-Gandhi family targeted when across states of India, the rule dynasty is prevalent? The answer is of course quite simple: except for a very short spell, they seem to be leading our country ever since independence.

The Nehrus are originally Kashmiri Brahmins, but their genealogy is now a pot pouri of many caste and communities from India and abroad. Hence, there is no reason to believe that the ‘purity’ of the original genes has remained, which the others may claim, in other dynastic families in India. Yet, the striking resemblance of the dynastic rule of the Nehru-Gandhi family, urges us to believe that it is similar to the Mughal period in India.

If we believe that the young, often compared to the Amul baby, Rahul Gandhi is pitched to be a Prime Ministerial candidate in the 2014 elections. If this is the case, we must look at one factor, that has gone unnoticed so far, in Indian politics, that being, the Prime Minister of the country, from the Nehru-Gandhi lineage have mostly been undergraduates, if not Metric pass only. In many cases, there is a controversy on the matter and even the RTI (Right to Information) body fails to do justice to questions about the academic qualifications of a few in the family.

Let us look at the qualifications of the esteemed PMs of the family. Nehru had been to Cambridge but did not finally get the degree, although his father, Motilal Nehru was a Barrister who was much favoured by the British. His only daughter, Indira Gandhi, too went to Cambridge and joined the Trinity College, but was a miserable failure there and had to return empty handed, making her then, only a Metric pass. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, studied Engineering at Cambridge, but it is doubtful whether he finally came home with a Degree. He joined the airline services and flew aircrafts until his mother’s assignation in the hands of her own bodyguards. His wife, Sonia Gandhi, who took up the sceptre after the assignation of her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, is only a High School pass, although she went through some English learning course at Cambridge where she worked both as a salesperson and coffee shop waitress, until she caught Rajiv Gandhi’s eyes and a marriage with India’s so called first family, changed her life completely. It is a known fact that when she filed in her ticket for Ameethi, which was her mother-in-law’s captive ground of procuring votes without ever doing any work there for the people, Dr Subramaniam Swamy had challenged the candidature in Court. Please read below the links that lead to the facts on this case and others as well. Her children Rahul Gandhi though contested, appears to have a M.Phil from Cambridge, breaking the dreadful precedent of his ancestors of leading a country, without any education worth speaking about. Sonia Gandhi’s daughter, Priyanka Vadra (ne Gandhi) has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, in which she majored. Indeed, she has shown more promise in both emotional and spiritual quotient. She is the one, who finally made peace with her past with the jailed and convicted to be hanged assassin of her father, Rajiv Gandhi, by going to meet her and forgiving her, for her acts, thereby releasing herself from the burden of anger and guilt. She follows the path of Buddhism and Vipassana as taught by S N Goenka. In fact, it is worth mentioning here that it is after she met the jailed Nalini Sriharan, Sonia Gandhi intervened to convert the death sentence to life imprisonment, for the sake of Nalini’s 5 year old daughter (Readers are encouraged to look at links below for all data above).

So, this piece does try to look at facts, as they are – educational qualification has never been the forte of the Gandhi-Nehru family, until they came to the present generation. However, starting from the generation with Sonia Gandhi, the emotional quotient has shown an upswing and if Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is to be considered as someone who might finally followed in her grandmother’s footsteps, India would have gained by spiritual quotient too in Prime Ministers in India, although her grandmother too was in the habit of keeping the company of spiritual leaders, for reasons entirely different. She liked them as crowd pullers for which she paid with her life, finally.

In the last words of the emotional speech made by Rahul Gandhi in Jaipur,(see link below) only recently, after he was selected Vice President of the Congress Party, he recounted that many people congratulated him, but his mother cried in the privacy of his room. She had indeed in her heart a burden of many memories, good and bad, attached to the role her son would play in the 2014 elections. If he passes the test, then the dynasty would go on with business as usual, although he will still fail miserably to compete with the qualifications and experience of our outgoing Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh. We can only hope that he will perform better in implementation. Dr Manmohan Singh sleeps on a peaceful, guiltless pillow each night, for lack of intent to act, on many issues based on the fact that his hands are securely tied by the dictates and the orders coming from ‘The Top’. The young Rahul will have to show more mettle by way of action, even if he continues to exercise his vocal cords.

To start with, he can push hard on a subject he has kept a deathlike silence on, the horrific rape and subsequent death of Jyoti, Nirbhaya on 16^th December, 2012. He can work towards looking at the Justice Varma Report and recommendation made by him and his team and affect change in Laws ASAP. He could make the revolution he so easily talks of by putting protection of rights of women, first on his agenda for a new India.

Let us see if his discourse on positive politics has women in India, from all sections, in mind. Or is it baby blabber, goo-gooo, gaaa, gaaa et cetera.

References:

Indira Gandhi passed her Matric from Pune University and then went to Shantiniketan, West Bengal. She received her college education at Somerville College, Oxford (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Educational_qualification_of_Indira_Gandhi)

Rajiv Gandhi studied for Engineering but left without a Degree ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Gandhi#Education)

Sonia Gandhi did not study beyond High School ( http://knowsoniagandhi.blogspot.in/2009/04/educational-qualification-of-sonia.html)

Rahul Gandhi M.Phil from Trinity College, Cambridge, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahul_Gandhi#Early_life_and_career)

Priyanka Gandhi holds BA (hons) degree in psychology and follows the Vipassana as taught by SN Goekna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priyanka_Vadra)

Priyanka meets Nalini Sriharan (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-04-15/india/27761825_1_nalini-sriharan-priyanka-vadra-rti-application0)

Speech by Rahul Gandhi at Jaipur: (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/Speech-by-Rahul-Gandhi-at-AICC-Chintan-Shivir-in-Jaipur-2013/videoshow/18111265.cms)