The Rise and Fall of the Most Powerful Political Family in History

An 80-year dynasty, king slayers, god-like riches, wars with other countries and empires. A queen slain by her bodyguards, the leader of a state being blown up by rebels, one million people being killed after 1,000-year-old cities are razed to the ground. Assassinations, conspiracy theories, nepotism, non-meritocracy, an unquenchable thirst for power, an unyielding appetite for destruction, sudden, shocking, head-spinning deaths, and a merry-go-round of faces on the throne.

• Fake names – Gandy or Gendry
• One million deaths. One thousand year old Cities razed to the ground
• Indira Gandhi and Cersei Lannister: Queens of Mean
• The destruction of the Sept of Baelor/ Golden Temple
• Refusal to relinquish power
• The identical betrayal and deaths of two queens

You would be forgiven for thinking this is from one of the longest-running and most successful TV series ever, Game of Thrones (GoT), or season 2 of the smash-hit TV series of HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon (HotD). But these are real events from the history of the world’s longest-running, most successful, and most powerful political dynasty in history, the House of Nehru-Gandhi.

GoT spanned 12 years, the House of Nehru-Gandhi, which I will abbreviate to HotG for this article, spanned 75 years. The patriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi family was the first prime minister of India, and his great-grandson, the heir to the family, is running in the current Indian elections. The largest and most expensive election ever, with the largest number of voters in history at almost one billion!

The only country in the world to have a member of the family run for or be head of state from the birth of the country to the current day. India is Westeros. Nehru or Targaryen, Lannister, or Gandhi. We look at the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and their similarities to the GoT families.

Three members of the Nehru-Gandhi family fulfilled Cersei’s prophecy, that “When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die, there is no middle ground.”

In the same way Queen Cersei destroyed the Sept of Baelor, India’s queen also destroyed the global centre of a religious faith with everyone inside.

Rahul Gandhi, heir to billions, unprecedented access to the hallowed corridors of power being his birthright, has just suffered his political death. Or has he… Game of Thrones characters do have a habit of coming back from the dead.

A must-read for fans of the dethroning of kings, the rise and fall of billionaire, power-hungry families, the riches-to-rags story of the most entitled and privileged man on the planet, who was defeated in a Davidian battle by a train station tea seller who grew up in stark poverty or just fans of Game of Thrones, who want their appetite whetted in anticipation of the new series, or just rewatching the original masterpiece.

A sword-like incisive look at the corruption, manipulation, nepotism, and lust for supremacy, as well as a slicing analysis into the minds of the world’s most ruthless political dynasty.

How a house of dragons, built on years of lies, betrayal, and deceit, toppled down like a house of cards.

You have watched the TV show, now read the real thing. This is a surreal look at the resemblances, similarities, and parallels between the Game of Thrones characters and events and the life of the Nehru-Gandhis. The house of Nehru-Gandhi has enough intrigue, mystery, and Machiavellian machinations to fill eight seasons of Game of Thrones and in Indira Gandhi… one fire-breathing dragon!

BY MARC SIMONETTI/PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE.THE IRON THRONE. Image, Vanity Fair.

SPOILER ALERT!

If you still haven’t watched GoT, WHY?! It’s absolutely incredible! I get the first episode is bleak, but stick with it and then hold on tight for the roller coaster ride of emotions you’ll put your mind and body through.

For those of you who haven’t watched GoT, there are major spoiler alerts throughout this article for GoT seasons 1-8 and House of the Dragon season 1. But if you have watched it… enjoy!

By the way, for any Nehru-Gandhi fans, I waited till the election was over before writing it. Now that the largest election in history, with almost one billion voters is over, it’s just a bit of fun. So please don’t troll me! This isn’t a hatchet job on them.

I can’t help it if a rich, omnipotent, controlling, dominant Indian family that will do anything to stay in power, just happens to share lots of coincidences and similarities with rich, omnipotent, controlling GoT characters and families that will do anything to stay in power!

To summarise:
Jawaharlal Nehru had one daughter, Indira Gandhi.
Indira had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay.
Queen Cersei Lannister had two sons, Joffrey and Tommen.
Rajiv has two children and one son, Rahul Gandhi. Those are the basics.
Please see below for more details.

According to Reuters, “The Nehru-Gandhi family political dynasty has no other equivalent in the world, combining the birthright of royalty with the tragic glamour of the Kennedy clan. A member of the family has overseen India for more than two-thirds of the period since independence from Britain in 1947.”

Jawaharlal Nehru was worth $20million in 1947, which is approximately $1.3 billion today, adjusted for inflation. Sonia Gandhi (Ex-prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s wife) and her two children Priyanka and Rahul are worth approximately $2 billion each, although Rahul himself claims a very meagre fortune of just $6million. So, they won’t enter the top 20 of any global family rich list. However, Listverse and Highbrow both include them in their top 10 most powerful families of all time, amongst such distinguished luminaries as the Caesars, the Medicis, the Ming dynasty and above the Rothschilds.

In terms of political families, they are in a league of their own. Overall, when you include wealth, politics, power and the influence they have had over the world’s largest democracy from independence, they are the most powerful political family in history, if not the most powerful of all time.

In 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru became the first prime minister of India, lasting 17 years, the same length of rule as King Robert Baratheon. Nehru rode into power on the backs of the dragons that were Mahatma Gandhi, Indian freedom fighters, non-violent discipline and enduring strength of the people of India.

Game of Thrones (GoT) has seven kingdoms. India had five hundred royal kingdoms that became one.

The seven kingdoms have a wall at their most northern point, separating the kingdoms from the White Walkers who are trying to destroy it and the wildling raiders that enter the north, attacking and abducting residents living on the other side.

India also has a Wall at its most northern point: the Line of Control, dividing India between Pakistan and China, also having the same purpose. Just like in GoT, there have been multiple breaches and wars from both sides across the wall.

India also has a natural icy wall at it’s Northern most point that has prevented invasions for centuries, called the Himalayas.

The Iron Throne was forged in Delhi, India’s King’s Landing.

Image. Vanity Fair. BY TED NASMITH/PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE. THE RED KEEP AT KING’S LANDING

Quartz says, “Nehru became the head of a dynasty that ruled India directly as Prime Minister for 40 years and indirectly as head of the ruling party, the Congress, for 65 years.” The Nehru-Gandhis took the Gandhi name when Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, married a man who did not have the surname Gandhi. Like the master of whisperers, Varys, the origin of Indira’s husband is also shrouded in mystery.

And like Cersei Lannister, Indira’s relationship with her husband is built on a lie.

Fake Names – Gandy or Gendry

“Never Forget What You Are, The Rest Of The World Will Not.” – Tyrion Lannister

Robert Baratheon’s illegitimate son went by the name Gendry to hide his relation to the former king and to keep him safe from assassins. So it is actually his name, but not his real name. There are many conspiracy theories surrounding HotG. One of the most famous, or infamous, is that they shouldn’t even be called Gandhis. They have no relation to the most successful civil rights activist of all time, Mahatma Gandhi.

Jawaharlal Nehru’s daughter married Feroze Gandhi. Theories at this point tend to diverge. Some Indians think Feroze was Muslim due to his name being Feroze Khan, the marriage taking place in a mosque in London, and that his identity was hidden by the Nehrus. Others believe, which is the slightly more prevalent theory, that he is Parsi and his name or his aunt’s was Ghandy or Gandy, which was changed to Gandhi to utilise the star power of the mahatma. Either way, his name wasn’t Gandhi and Indira should have remained Indira Nehru or Indira Ghandy.

The foundation of the family was built on a lie and various authors and journalists have questioned the real freedom of the press over the last 77 years and as to how this lie was perpetuated and maintained.

One Million Deaths. One Thousand-Year-Old Cities Razed to the Ground

“If You Think This Has A Happy Ending, You Haven’t Been Paying Attention.”

Damaged caused by Dany and her dragon or religious and communal riots?

This discussion, like GoT, has taken a sudden and ultra-violent twist for this similarity, but I will return to more light-hearted pastures straight after. Light-hearted for GoT standards anyway.

Jawaharlal Nehru became Prime Minister, after India defeated the ruthless, cunning, and violent Queen Victoria of Britain.

Dany Targaryen became the queen after defeating the ruthless, cunning, and violent Queen Cersei Lannister of Westeros.

Nehru is often blamed for allowing the partition of India and for the largest mass migration in history, Muslims travelling to Pakistan and Hindus staying or moving to India. The subsequent migration resulted in not just one, but many cities razed to the ground and almost two million deaths.

Kings Landing…or a city in India after Partition in 1947

Dany, blaming Queen Cersei for the loss of her dragon Viserion and best friend Missandei, razed King’s Landing to the ground with everyone in it. The estimated kill count (when including the city outskirts) is anything from 100,000 to one million.

A stark landscape. Standing in the remains and aftermath of a destruction of a city.

Indira Gandhi and Cersei Lannister: Queens of Mean

“I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.” – Daenerys Targaryen

One was nicknamed the “Iron lady”, one’s ultimate life goal was to sit atop the iron throne.

Cersei Lannister

Before going into the comparison between specific events between Game of Thrones (GoT), House of the Dragon (HotD), and House of the Nehru-Gandhis (HotG), I’d like to point out the similarities, as per the Medium, between unofficial Westeros queen Cersei Lannister and India’s unofficial former queen, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Similarities Between Indira Gandhi and Cersei Lannister

“All my life men like you have sneered at me, and all my life I’ve been knocking men like you into the dust.” – Brienne of Tarth

Indira Gandhi. Referred to by author Y Kumar as the “The Dragon Beside Me.”

The parallels between Indira Gandhi and Cersei Lannister began with their parents:

Both were born of illustrious lineages.

Both lost their mothers at an early age.

Both their fathers were respected leaders and statesmen.

Both grew up during chaotic, stormy transitional times when the old masters (British and Targaryen) were defeated by the new (Indians and Baratheons).

Both families benefited immensely from this transition.

Nehru became No. 1, India’s first Prime Minister.

Tywin Lannister became No. 2, (Hand to the King) and got a king as his son-in-law.

Both their families spawned a rich, powerful dynasty that had a major impact on the political scenes of their respective worlds.

Nehru-Gandhi has bequeathed two male and one female Prime Minister.

Lannister-Baratheon has bequeathed two kings and one queen.

Indira Gandhi had two sons: Rajiv and Sanjay.

Cersei also had two sons: Joffrey and Tommen.

Both were doting mothers to their sons, who were the stars of their mothers’ lives, being groomed as their mothers’ heirs, despite neither of them having the experience, knowledge, or temperament.

Both mums had their favourites: Sanjay for Indira and Joffrey for Cersei, who, according to the Medium, “turned out to be megalomaniacs and sociopaths.” Maybe they were just pampered, entitled, privileged brats. Maybe why both lacked any consideration about the consequences of their actions on people.

The Destruction of the Sept of Baelor / Golden Temple of Amritsar

“Winter is Coming” – Eddard Stark

Even by GoT standards, this was shocking. Queen Cersei Lannister, trumping her own levels of pure evil, blew up the Sept of Baelor, a cathedral, and the religious epicentre of Westeros, after her authority was questioned and a rebellion against her, killing everyone inside. A move which set in motion the events that led to her ultimate demise.

The destruction of the Sept of Baelor. Image: Prosepago.com

Sound familiar? In 1966, India’s “queen”, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, became Prime Minister after her father died. The glass ceiling is still out of reach for many countries including America, but it was shattered by Indian women 58 years ago. And she became Prime Minister only two years after she was elected, what a quick political rise, how amazing and not remotely nepotistic.

But it is not Indira or her ascendency we are discussing here, or the beginning; it is the decision, like Cersei’s, that resulted in her meeting her end.

In 1984, after her authority was questioned and a rebellion against her, Indira ordered troops to enter the Golden Temple of Amritsar in India, the religious epicentre of Sikhism worldwide and the holiest spot for Sikhs in the entire world. The temple and everyone inside were destroyed. The destruction led to Indira’s downfall as she was executed by her own Sikh bodyguards as revenge.

The aftermath of the Golden Temple. Image: Times of India.

Unlike the Sept of Baelor, though, the Golden Temple of Amritsar, due to financial donations from Sikhs worldwide, was rebuilt, larger and superior, using the purest form of gold, with a current value of $56 million. The Golden temple emerged like a phoenix from the flames of the gunfire and bombs that burnt it to the ground.

Refusal to relinquish Power

“Power is power.” – Cersei Lannister

Even after defeat, Cersei refuses to give up power.

Political enemies were jailed, constitutional rights were suspended, and the news media were subject to censorship.

Although these are accusations levelled against current Prime Minister Modi, it’s actually what Indira did from 1975 to 1977. When Indira Gandhi was convicted by the Indian Supreme Court of corruption and feared being removed as Prime Minister, she fought back and declared a state of emergency, moving India’s democracy towards an autocracy.

Pinup-style art of Dany Targaryen, Sansa Stark and Cersei Lannister from Russian Artist Andrew Tarusov that went viral.

The Identical Betrayal and Deaths of Two Queens

“So we fight and die or we submit and die. I know my choice.” – Cersei Lannister

Daenerys Targaryen : The First of Her Name, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals, Khalisee of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons. What about, Destroyer of cities, mass murderer? The many titles, changing faces and evolution of Dany Targaryen

There’s another queen Indira shares parallels with. Another example of a shocking death between two “queens” was Daenerys Targaryen and Indira Gandhi.

Dany died after becoming queen and defeating all her rivals.

Indira became “queen” or Prime Minister again in 1980 after losing the previous election. Indira had also defeated all her rivals.

There were concerns that both queens had become too powerful.

Dany died because she let the man she trusted close enough to betray her.

Indira died because she let the men she trusted close enough to betray her.

Dany was killed by the man she thought would protect her.

Indira was killed by the men she thought would protect her.

You’ve read about the mothers, if your thirst hasn’t been quenched, then read:

Part 2 – The Sons