The Nehru–Gandhi family is an Indian political family that has occupied a prominent place in the

politics of India Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary democratic secular republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the prime minister of India is t ...

. 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 Em ...

, 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 nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''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

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 Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

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 Gu ...

'' 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 The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...

with the tragic glamour of America's Kennedy clan." The Gandhi surname came from

Feroze Gandhi Feroze Gandhi (born Feroze Jehangir Ghandy;: "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 th ...

, 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 Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

ancestry, who after joining the

independence movement Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

, 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 The Kashmiri Pandits (also known as Kashmiri Brahmins) are a group of Kashmiri Hindus and a part of the larger Saraswat Brahmin community of India. They belong to the Pancha Gauda Brahmin group from the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region l ...

. 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 A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, start ...

'' 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 Southea ...

First generation

* Gangadhar Nehru (1827–1861), a direct descendant of Raj Kaul. He was the last ''

Kotwal The Kotwal also spelled as Cotwal, or Kotval was a title used in medieval India for the leader of a Kot or fort. Kotwals often controlled the fort of a major town or an area of smaller towns on behalf of another ruler. It was similar in functio ...

'' 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 fo ...

. He was the father of freedom fighter

Motilal Nehru Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist and politician belonging to the Indian National Congress. He also served as the Congress President twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. He was a patriarch of the Nehr ...

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 Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

Khetri Khetri Nagar is the town in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan in India. It is a part of the Shekhawati region. Khetri consists of two towns, "Khetri Town" founded by Raja Khet Singhji Nirwan and "Khetri Nagar" which is about 10 km away f ...

Rajputana Rājputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs", was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sindh in modern-day ...

. *

(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 Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. 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 ful ...

of Congress twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. * Swarup Rani Nehru (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 himsel ...

and its

salt laws Taxation of salt has occurred in India since the earliest times. However, this tax was greatly increased when the British East India Company began to establish its rule over provinces in India. In 1835, special taxes were imposed on Indian salt to ...

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 Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit ('' née'' Swarup Nehru; 18 August 1900 – 1 December 1990) was an Indian diplomat and politician who was the 6th Governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964 and 8th President of the United Nations General Assembly from 19 ...

(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 The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly. Election ...

. Married

Ranjit Sitaram Pandit Ranjit Sitaram Pandit (1893 – 14 January 1944) was an Indian barrister, politician, author and scholar from Rajkot in the Kathiawar region of British India. He is known for his role in the Indian non-cooperation movement, and for translatin ...

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 Kamala Nehru (''née'' Kaul; ; 1 August 1899 – 28 February 1936) was an Indian independence activist and the wife of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Her daughter Indira Gandhi was the first female Prime Minister of India ...

(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 Brijalal Nehru (5 May 1884 – 27 May 1964) was a noted civil servant and member of the Nehru family. He was the son of Pandit Nandlal Nehru (the elder brother of Motilal Nehru) and the cousin of Jawaharlal Nehru. Nandlal Nehru was Diwan of ...

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

of Jammu and Kashmir during the rule of Maharaja

Hari Singh Maharaja Sir Hari Singh (September 1895 – 26 April 1961) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state), Jammu and Kashmir. Hari Singh was the son of Amar Singh and Bhotiali Chib. In 1923, followi ...

. *

Rameshwari Nehru Rameshwari Nehru (née ''Rameshwari Raina''; 10 December 1886 – 8 November 1966) was a social worker of India. She worked for the upliftment of the poorer classes and of women. In 1902, she married Brijlal Nehru, a nephew of Motilal Nehru and ...

(1886–1966), wife of Brij Lal Nehru. She was a journalist and social worker who co-founded

All India Women's Conference The All India Women's Conference (AIWC) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Delhi. It was founded in 1927 by Margaret Cousins in order to improve educational efforts for women and children and has expanded its scope to also tackle ...

Fourth generation

* Indira Priyadarshini Nehru (later

) (1917–1984), only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. She became the first woman prime minister of India. *

(1912–1960), husband of Indira. He was a politician and journalist. *

Braj Kumar Nehru Braj Kumar Nehru MBE, ICS (4 September 1909 – 31 October 2001) was an Indian diplomat and Ambassador of India to the United States (1961–1968). He was the son of Brijlal Nehru and Rameshwari Nehru and first cousin once removed of Ind ...

(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,

Nayantara Sahgal Nayantara Sahgal (born 10 May 1927) is an Indian writer who writes in English. She is a member of the Nehru–Gandhi family, the second of the three daughters born to Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. She was awarded the 1986 S ...

(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 and diplomat. He served as the Foreign Secretary, 1952–1955, and later as India's ambassador to China and United Arab Republic (Egypt). During ...

(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 Arun Kumar Nehru (24 April 1944 – 25 July 2013) was an Indian politician and columnist. He was member of the 9th Lok Sabha from Bilhaur as a Janata Dal leader. Earlier, he was member of the 7th and 8th Lok Sabhas from Rae Bareli on an In ...

(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 Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...

(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 party ...

since 2004. *

Maneka Gandhi Maneka Sanjay Gandhi (also spelled Menaka; ''née'' Anand) (born 26 August 1956) is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist. She is a member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament and a member of ...

(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 Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. 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 Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president o ...

(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 Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (''née'' Gandhi; born 12 January 1972) is an Indian politician and the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee in charge of Uttar Pradesh. She is the daughter of former Prime minister of India Rajiv 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 Robert Vadra (born 18 April 1969) is an Indian businessman, entrepreneur and the husband of Priyanka Gandhi. He is the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi and the brother-in-law of Rahul Gandhi. Early life and family Robert Vadra was born to Rajendra a ...

, a businessman. *

Varun Gandhi Varun Gandhi (born 13 March 1980) is an Indian author, politician, and a third-term member of Parliament for Lok Sabha from the Pilibhit constituency. He is also member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and was inducted into Rajnath Singh's team ...

(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

Seventh generation

* Anasuya Gandhi (born 2020), daughter of

and Yamini Gandhi. * Raihan Vadra and Miraya Vadra—children of

and

Gallery

File:Motilal nehru.jpg,

File:Jnehru.jpg,

File:Kamala Nehru.jpg,

File:Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit.jpg,

File:Krishna Nehru Hutheesing.jpg,

Krishna Hutheesing Krishna Nehru Hutheesing (2 November 1907 – 9 November 1967) was an Indian writer, the youngest sister of Jawaharlal Nehru and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, and part of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Biography Born Krishna Nehru, in Mirganj, Allahaba ...

File:Indira Gandhi in 1967.jpg,

File:Rajiv Gandhi (1987).jpg,

File:Sanjay Gandhi cropped.jpg,

File:Sonia Gandhi (cropped).jpg, Sonia Gandhi File:Maneka-Gandhi.jpg,

File:Rahul Gandhi.jpg,

File:Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (6).jpg,

File:Varun Gandhi.jpg,

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