Every Indian, whether it be a teenager or an octogenarian, is aware of the Nehru-Gandhi name and its relevance and connection to Indian politics. However, the awareness towards this lineage of politicians is more due to how they presented themselves and worked overtime to ensure that their name, not their deeds, stayed immortal.
Right from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, the mistakes and actions of these leaders that did the country harm have been largely kept away from the limelight and public knowledge. The ill-designed Indus Water Treaty and the Emergency, the purposeful debilitation of the army before the 1962 war and the letting go of more than two dozen terrorists in 2010 without any return assurance from Pakistan…there have been dozens of instances where Indian interests were side-lined that aren’t yet in the knowhow of people in the detail as they should be.
The remembrance of the family is to a great extent a forced one, a deliberate and elaborate effort made by them and an extremely thoroughly coordinated ecosystem to thrust the family’s memories on our ancestors, on us and on our coming generations.
For those who aren’t aware the following facts relating to the schemes, institutions and other landmarks named after India’s most popular and glorified political family will act in significant measure to explain how the Nehru-Gandhi family tried to eponymously ‘immortalise’ itself.
Central government schemes (17):
This included naming schemes primarily after Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. From the Ministry of Power to the Ministry of Urban Development, from pension schemes to employment schemes, there was probably no category of government functioning that remained untouched from the ‘naming ritual’.
State government schemes (49):
One of the schemes is INDIRAMMA (yes, you read it right!) which stands for ‘Integrated Novel Development in Rural Areas and Model Municipal Areas’. I wonder how much thought and time must have gone into arranging the scheme name into that abbreviation (hopefully not more than the effort that went into its implementation).
Sports/Tournaments/Trophies (26):
Rajiv Gandhi dominates this list. From kabaddi tournaments to road races, from boat races to judo championships, nothing was left out. However, the boundaries of outlandishness were crossed with this – ‘Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Jhopadpatti Football Tournament’!
Universities/Education Institutes (99):
IIMs and IITs, law colleges and pharmaceutical universities…the family enjoys a pan-education pan-India presence. Although, what made them stop at 99? I’m sure that had someone reminded them of this fact he/she would have been given some award as a gesture of gratitude!
Peaks and Geographical Landmarks (4):
Not only was the southernmost point of the country renamed ‘Indira Point’ but even Rajiv Gandhi has a peak in the Himalayas named after him: Mount Rajiv! Seems like the Gandhis not only had their eyes on man-made entities but even on natural ones.
Awards (41):
Irony dies a violent death when an award for promoting communal harmony, national integration and peace – the ‘National Sadbhavana Award’ – is named after Rajiv Gandhi, the same man who had infamously quipped after the 1984 Sikh genocide: “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.”
Roads/Buildings/Places (70):
Indira Gandhi Square, Rajiv Chowk, Nehru Nagar (to name a few). Looks like the Gandhis were truly connected to the ground! (This number 70 doesn’t include the thousands of roads named after them.)
Stadia (17)
Airports/Ports/Aviation Academies (9)
Power Plants (4)
Scholarship/Fellowship (17)
National Parks/Sanctuaries/Museums (17)
Hospitals/Medical Institutions (37)
Institutions/Chairs/Festivals (35)
The total comes to a mind-boggling 442 events, buildings, awards and what not! This shows that not only were these people self-obsessed but also that the people around them were sycophants of the highest order as they believed in keeping the top leadership pleased by naming things after them.
The need of the Nehru-Gandhi family to do so was a simple one: they bred a deep, consuming sense of insecurity. They weren’t sure of the positive impacts of their works while in power. They feared that once they were out of power people would forget them as they had touched very few hearts through their positive deeds. They had to find a way to ensure people remembered them and they found it in the act of naming various entities after themselves so that people were constantly reminded of them. Despite decades of sycophancy and self-serving politics, the heartening thing is that we are finally out of that phase, both politically and as a people.
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