{"id":39339,"date":"2024-05-18T06:41:13","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T06:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=39339"},"modified":"2024-05-18T06:45:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T06:45:56","slug":"indias-biggest-election-prize-can-the-gandhi-family-survive-modi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=39339","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s biggest election prize: Can the Gandhi family survive Modi?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Al Jazeera:   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Amethi\/Rae Bareli, India<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>\u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Irfan*, a tea stall owner, is convinced that change is afoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere has not been much traffic on this road from Rae Bareli to Amethi ever since the Congress lost power in 2014,\u201d he says, referring to two towns and a party that for decades have been synonymous with one family \u2013 the Nehru-Gandhis, or as they are more commonly known, the Gandhis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first family of Indian politics has ruled the country for almost half of its journey since independence in 1947, with three generations of prime ministers: Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi, and grandson Rajiv Gandhi. And through ups and downs, when the Congress has been in power and out of it, Amethi and Rae Bareli, separated by 62km (38 miles), have for the most part stood by the family. They\u2019ve served as safe constituencies for India\u2019s grand old party in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which is India\u2019s largest electoral prize: with 80 seats out of the nation\u2019s total of 543 in the lower house of parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2019, that tradition received a dramatic jolt when the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/3\/19\/indias-rahul-gandhi-ends-unity-march-with-huge-election-rally-in-mumbai\">Congress leader Rahul Gandhi<\/a>&nbsp;\u2013 son of Rajiv \u2013 lost Amethi by 55,000 votes to Smriti Irani, a feisty minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which has been in power nationally since 2014. Rahul\u2019s mother and former Congress chief, Sonia Gandhi, retained Rae Bareli for the party, the only seat it won in Uttar Pradesh as the BJP swept the nation, winning 303 seats overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, five years later, the towns are a tense microcosm of the national battle between the BJP and opposition Congress; between Modi and the Gandhis. Rahul is replacing his 77-year-old mother from Rae Bareli this time. BJP\u2019s Irani is seeking reelection from Amethi. Each of them is expected to face tough competition from the other\u2019s party. Amethi and Rae Bareli vote on May 20 in India\u2019s giant election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At stake are more than two seats: If the BJP wins Rae Bareli and retains Amethi, it will effectively have wiped out the Gandhi family and the Congress from Uttar Pradesh. Conversely, say opposition leaders, a Congress win in both seats could seed anti-BJP momentum in a state that often decides who rules nationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Irfan, from his vantage point of Tiloi town near Amethi and Rae Bareli, believes the political winds are blowing in the direction of the Congress. \u201cStorm is building in both the cities, which will impact the entire state,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet, storms can be unpredictable \u2013 and Amethi and Rae Bareli know that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Al Jazeera: Amethi\/Rae Bareli, India\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Irfan*, a tea stall owner, is convinced that change is afoot. \u201cThere has not been much traffic on this road from Rae Bareli to Amethi ever since the Congress lost power in 2014,\u201d he says, referring to two towns and a party that for decades have been synonymous with one family \u2013 the Nehru-Gandhis, or as they are more commonly known, the Gandhis. The first family of Indian politics has ruled the country for almost half of its journey since independence in 1947, with three generations of prime ministers: Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi, and&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39341,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39339\/revisions\/39341"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}