Sonia Gandhi's legacy

On 2 February 1971, Indira Gandhi sent P.N. Haksar- who, as Principal Secretary, had masterminded her lurch to the left which enabled her to win a landslide victory in the following month- an extraordinary note

‘You know that I am neither morbid nor superstitious but I do think that one should be prepared. The thought of something happening to me has haunted me—not so much now, as during the last tour—and I am genuinely worried about the children. I have nothing to leave them except very few shares which I am told are hardly worth anything. There is some little jewelry, which I had divided into two parts for the two prospective daughters-in-law. Then there are some household goods, carpets, pictures, etc. It is for the boys to decide. I personally would like everything to be as evenly divided as possible, except that Rajiv has a job but Sanjay doesn’t and is also involved in an expensive venture. He is so much like I was at his age— rough edges and all—that my heart aches for the suffering he may have to bear. The problem is where they will live and how… I can only hope and trust for the best. But I should like the boys and some to feel that they are not quite alone, that they do have someone to lean on.’

The expensive venture Sanjay Gandhi was involved in was the Maruti affordable car project- which the Press relabeled 'Maa rothi' (mother cries) because Mrs. Gandhi was distressed by Sanjay's thuggish manner of intimidating officials in order to have everything his own way.  

Still, if it had been properly managed, it should have been profitable and more than sufficient to give both Sanjay and Sonia (the other shareholder in the management company) a very good income. However, Sanjay's sights were already set on entering Politics and thus the project languished. In any case, once Mrs Gandhi lost power, it would have been crushed by the new Government.

Thus, Indira Gandhi came to see that the only way to ensure the affluence of her children and grandchildren was to create a dynastic political party. However, there was a steep price to be paid. Sanjay was the first to die- but that was probably an accident. Then she herself, and a few short years later her elder son Rajiv, were both assassinated as part of 'blow-back' from inept political meddling with extremist groups. Meanwhile, Mrs. Gandhi's younger daughter in law, Menaka, had fallen out with her and joined the Opposition. She is now a minister in Modi's cabinet and her son, Varun, too is a BJP member of parliament.

The other daughter-in-law, Sonia, has had a remarkable run as Congress President. She appointed Narasimha Rao who was responsible for liberalisation but, otherwise, must be regarded a political failure. It is likely that his vacillation opened the door for the emergence of the BJP as- what it has now become- the default national party. Still, Sonia- taking control of the party and fielding her son Rahul as the Crown Prince- was able to preside over two successive administrations headed by Manmohan Singh- whose personal reputation remains unsullied and who is probably correct in predicting that History will judge him kindly. During this period, it is likely that the the dynasty has secured its financial future and, since this has probably been done through real estate deals rather than anything involving a foreign power, the Indian voter is perfectly content that this should have happened. After all, there are plenty of other political families which have made a lot of money and who flaunt their riches in a vulgar manner.

However, this financial security is something of a two edged sword. The dynasty no longer has to hold office in order to protect its affluence. It could easily linger on as a bit player. Indeed, at the time of the last election, it was noteworthy that Congress did not put up a P.M candidate. It seemed they were giving Narendra Modi a walkover because they believed only he could fix the economy and thus protect every one's ill gotten gains. In a sense, we have come full circle. In the old days, the opposition needed the dynasty to step in and keep things on an even keel using their band of loyalist technocrats- people like Manmohan Singh. Now, the BJP is seen as providing the ideological cement that can hold the country together under increasingly adverse and polarising economic conditions- in particular for the farmers and informal sector workers.

With hindsight we can see that Indira Gandhi was wrong to look to her caste-fellow, Haksar, as a potential steward for the family's finances. Rather, it was Sonia- her Italian daughter-in-law- who secured the dynasty's financial security- not just that, but also their physical security from assassination by keeping arms-length distance from anything controversial involving terrorism. 

I think she has won her own place in the hearts of Indian people because she has been an ideal 'pativrata' wife and 'bahu' daughter in law as well as a doting mother, bringing forward her son. It is noteworthy that her son is projecting a soft image- for example by hugging the Prime Minister- rather than using threatening language- as his cousin, Varun, did a few years ago. This is in keeping with Sonia's legacy of lady like behaviour and a conciliatory attitude.