Book
The Dynasty. The Story of the Nehru–Gandhi Family
Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Москва, 2015, 488 p.
The book “The Dynasty. The Story of the Nehru–Gandhi Family” is the first of the two volumes dealing with this subject. It narrates the story of the founding father of this dynasty Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), who was a prominent lawyer and an active political leader. He made a large contribution to the cause of the Indian struggle for independence. He was also a close friend and associate of Mahatma Gandhi. A man of great personality and character, Motilal Nehru strongly influenced his son Jawaharlal (1889–1964). The latter along with Mahatma Gandhi led India to independence and became its first prime-minister.
Jawaharlal Nehru was a man of broad knowledge and intelligence, with a strong will and passion for independence of his country. His life’s work was aimed at building a new India on the principles of democracy and social justice. He played a significant role in the development and strengthening of parliamentary democracy in India. He was a founding member of Non-aligned movement, which exercised significant influence in his lifetime and beyond, and helped promote the image of India as a future great global power. The author of this book examines the most important problems of political history of India during the liberation struggle against British colonial rule and the establishment of independent India until the middle of 1960s. The next second Volume of “The Dynasty” deals with the descendants of the Nehru Family, who became prime-ministers of India. After Nehru, it was his daughter Indira Gandhi. After her assassination in 1984, her son Rajiv became prime-minister. In 1991 he was killed by a terrorist. In seven years, his widow Sonia Gandhi was elected president of the Congress. During her 14 years in power, she has never been elected to this post by a regular All-India party session. Sonia Gandhi used her position as Congress president to promote her son Rahul to the highest posts in the party. But in the parliamentary elections in 2014 Congress suffered a debacle at the hands of the opposition. The political power of both Nehru–Gandhi dynasty members has been interrupted, possibly, for a very long time.