The Nehru–Gandhi family is an Indian political family that has occupied a prominent place in the politics of India. The involvement of the family has traditionally revolved around the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

, as various members have traditionally led the party. Three members of the family–

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

and

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

–have served as the

prime minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

, while several others have been members of the parliament. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' wrote in 2007, "The Nehru brand has no peer in the world — a member of the family has been in charge of India for 40 of the 60 years since independence. The allure of India's first family blends the right to rule of British monarchy with the tragic glamour of America's

Kennedy clan The O'Kennedy family (Irish language, Irish: ''Ó Cinnéide''), sometimes Kennedy, were an Irish royal dynasty, a sept of the Dál gCais, founded in the Middle Ages who were Kings of Ormond. Their founder was the nephew of High King of Ireland, ...

." The Gandhi surname came from Feroze Gandhi, a politician of

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

Parsi ancestry, who after joining the independence movement, changed the spelling of his surname from Ghandy to Gandhi, to match that of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

despite not being related biologically.: "Feroze Gandhi was also from the Nehrus' home town, Allahabad. A Parsi by faith, he at first spelt his surname 'Ghandy'. However, after he joined the national movement as a young man, he changed the spelling to bring it in line with that of Mahatma Gandhi." Indira Priyadarshini Nehru, daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, married Feroze Gandhi in 1942 and adopted his surname.

Family trees

Earliest record

*Raj Kaul (late 1600s to early 1700s) a Kashmiri Pandit. He is the earliest recorded ancestor of the Nehru family. He is believed to have moved from Kashmir to Delhi in 1716 AD. A '' Jagir'' with a house situated on the banks of a canal was granted to Raj Kaul, and, from the fact of this residence, 'Nehru' (from ''Nahar'', a canal) came to be attached to his name. ''Kaul'' was the original family name; this changed to Kaul-Nehru; and, in later years, Kaul was dropped out and the family name became only "Nehru". *During the early part of the 19th century, Gangadhar Nehru’s father, Lakshmi Narayan Nehru, worked as a scribe in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

First generation

* Gangadhar Nehru (1827–1861), a direct descendant of Raj Kaul. He was the last '' Kotwal'' of Delhi (equivalent to Chief of Police), prior to the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the for ...

. He was the father of freedom fighter Motilal Nehru and grandfather of

who was the first

, thus part of the Nehru family.

Second generation

*Bansi Dhar Nehru, Gangadhar's eldest son. He worked in the judicial department of the British Government and, after being appointed successively to various places, was partly cut off from the rest of the family. *Nandlal Nehru (1845–1887), older brother of Motilal Nehru. He was the Diwan (prime minister) of the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

of Khetri in Rajputana. * Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), patriarch of Nehru–Gandhi family. He was a lawyer and a prominent leader of the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal ...

. He also served as the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of Congress twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. *

Swarup Rani Nehru Swarup Rani Nehru (''née'' Thussu, 1868 – 10 January 1938) was the wife of the barrister and Indian National Congress leader Motilal Nehru and mother of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.She played a prominent role in India's ...

(1868–1938), played a prominent role in India's freedom movement in the 1920s–30s as an advocate of civil disobedience against the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

and its salt laws.

Third generation

(1889–1964), son of Motilal Nehru. He was the first

and was one of the most prominent leaders of the

. He had succeeded his father as president of the Congress in 1929. * Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (1900–1990), eldest daughter of Motilal Nehru. She was an Indian diplomat and politician who later became the president of the United Nations General Assembly. Married Ranjit Sitaram Pandit in 1921. * Krishna Nehru Hutheesing (1907–1967) was an Indian writer, the youngest sister of Jawaharlal Nehru and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, and part of the Nehru–Gandhi family. * Kamala Nehru (1899–1936), wife of Jawaharlal Nehru. She was a prominent social reformer and was an active member of the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

. * Brijlal Nehru (1884–1964), son of Nandlal Nehru and a nephew of Motilal Nehru. He was the Finance Minister of the

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

during the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh. * Rameshwari Nehru (1886–1966), wife of Brij Lal Nehru. She was a journalist and social worker who co-founded All India Women's Conference

Fourth generation

* Indira Priyadarshini Nehru (later

) (1917–1984), only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. She became the first woman prime minister of India. * Feroze Gandhi (1912–1960), husband of Indira. He was a politician and journalist. * Braj Kumar Nehru (1909–2001), son of Brijlal Nehru. He served as the Indian diplomat and ambassador to the United States and as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He later served as Governor of several Indian states and was an adviser to his cousin Indira Gandhi. *Magdolna Nehru (1908–2017), nicknamed Fori, wife of Braj Kumar Nehru. *Balwant Kumar Nehru (1916–1996), son of Brijlal Nehru and brother of Braj Kumar Nehru. Engineer and corporate manager who rose to become the deputy chairman of ITC and the president of the All-India Management Association. *Sarup Nehru, wife of Balwant Kumar Nehru. *Harsha Hutheesing (1935–1991) and Ajit Hutheesing (1936–2017), sons of Krishna Nehru Hutheesing and Raja Hutheesing *Chandralekha Mehta, the eldest of the three daughters born to Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit * Nayantara Sahgal (born 10 May 1927), the second of the three daughters born to Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit *Rita Dar, the youngest of the three daughters born to Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit *

Ratan Kumar Nehru Ratan Kumar Nehru, or R.K. Nehru, (10 October 1902 – 2 April 1981) was an Indian civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather th ...

(1902–1981), civil servant and diplomat, son of Mohanlal Nehru, grandson of Nandlal Nehru.

Fifth generation

Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi

* Arun Nehru (1944–2013), great grandson of Nandlal Nehru. He was a politician and union minister during the 1980s. *

(1944–1991), eldest son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi. He became the 6th prime minister of India after Indira's death. * Sanjay Gandhi (1946–1980), second son of Indira. He was also one of the most trusted lieutenants of his mother during the 1970s and was widely expected to succeed his mother as prime minister of India, but met with an untimely death in a plane crash. * Sonia Gandhi (née Maino 1946), widow of Rajiv Gandhi. She was born in Italy and took Indian citizenship, 11 years after marrying

. She was the president of the

from 1998 to 2017 and has served as the Chairperson of the

United Progressive Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single pa ...

since 2004. * Maneka Gandhi (née Anand 1956), widow of Sanjay Gandhi. She is a noted environmentalist and animal welfare activist. She is a prominent member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

. She has served as a cabinet minister in four government. She also served as the Indian Union Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development in the BJP led Government of 2014–19. *Subhadra Nehru, wife of Arun Nehru. *Sunil Nehru (born 1946), eldest son of Balwant Kumar Nehru. Engineer and corporate strategist, senior company executive at Max India, adventurer, scuba diver, and ardent trekker. *Neena Nehru (born 1946 née Neena Heble), wife of Sunil Nehru. Artist, poet, architect. *Nikhil Nehru (born 1948), second son of Balwant Kumar Nehru. He had a stellar career in advertising, rising to become the president of McCann-Erickson and Chairman of Results International Group, India. *Samhita Nehru, wife of Nikhil Nehru. *Vikram Nehru (born 1952), third son of Balwant Kumar Nehru. Entered the field of international development with a career at the World Bank. Became the World Bank's Chief Economist and Director for Poverty Reduction, Economic Management, Private and Financial Sector Development for East Asia and the Pacific. Subsequently, became the Chair in Southeast Asian Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. and then Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Sixth generation

* Rahul Gandhi (born 1970), son of

and Sonia Gandhi. He was the president of the Congress party from 2017 and 2019, and was a member of Parliament from Amethi, UP from 2004 to 2019. He was the Chairman of the Congress coordination panel for 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He is currently the MP from Wayanad, Kerala in the Lok Sabha. * Priyanka Gandhi (born 1972), daughter of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. She is the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress. Priyanka is married to Robert Vadra, a businessman. * Varun Gandhi (born 1980), son of Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi. He is a member of the

, National Executive and the youngest National Secretary in the history of the party. He is a member of 2014 Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament of India, representing the Sultanpur constituency. * Yamini Gandhi, wife of Varun Gandhi.

Seventh generation

* Anasuya Gandhi (born 2020), daughter of Varun Gandhi and Yamini Gandhi. * Raihan Vadra and Miraya Vadra—children of Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra.

Gallery

File:Motilal nehru.jpg, Motilal Nehru File:Jnehru.jpg,

File:Kamala Nehru.jpg, Kamala Nehru File:Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.jpg, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit File:Krishna Nehru Hutheesing.jpg, Krishna Hutheesing File:Indira Gandhi in 1967.jpg,

File:Rajiv Gandhi (1987).jpg,

File:Sanjay Gandhi cropped.jpg, Sanjay Gandhi File:Sonia Gandhi (cropped).jpg, Sonia Gandhi File:Maneka-Gandhi.jpg, Maneka Gandhi File:Rahul Gandhi.jpg, Rahul Gandhi File:Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (6).jpg, Priyanka Gandhi File:Varun Gandhi.jpg, Varun Gandhi

References

External links

The making of the Ghandhi dynasty
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nehru-Ghandy Family Indian National Congress People from Allahabad Indian families Parsi people Hindu families Political families of India History of Allahabad