TIMELINE - The making of Gandhi

dynasty
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Congress chieI Sonia Gandhi (L) and her son MP Rahul Gandhi watch the ICC
Cricket .
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Nehru-Gandhi Iamily political dynasty has no other equivalent
in the world, combining the birthright oI royalty with the tragic glamour oI the Kennedy clan.
A member oI the Iamily has been in charge oI India Ior more than two-thirds oI the period
since independence Irom Britain in 1947.
Here are highlights oI the Iamily's history.
1947 - Jawaharlal Nehru is elected by the Indian National Congress as the Iirst prime minister
oI independent India.
1964 - Nehru dies aIter 17 years as prime minister. His only child, Indira Gandhi, joins
cabinet
1966 - Indira Gandhi becomes the Iirst woman to hold prime minister's oIIice in India
1975 - Following public unrest aIter a high court Iinds Indira Gandhi guilty oI electoral
corruption, she declares a state oI emergency on June 25.
1977 - Indira Gandhi loses election to coalition led by Janata Party, comprising nearly all oI
Indira's opponents.
1980 - Indira Gandhi returns Ior her Iourth term as prime minister as Congress wins elections
with a landslide.
1984 - Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two oI her Sikh bodyguards aIter Indian army attacks
militants holed up in Golden Temple.
1984 - Following the death oI his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in 1980 and mother's
assassination, Rajiv Gandhi reluctantly takes the prime minister's job at the age oI 40.
1989 - A corruption scandal surrounding the BoIors arms deal taints image oI Rajiv Gandhi,
resulting in Congress's deIeat in the 1989 elections.
1991 - Still holding post oI Congress President, Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by Tamil Tiger
suicide bomber. He is survived by his widow Sonia and a son, Rahul, and daughter Priyanka.
1998 - Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia Gandhi elected as the president oI the struggling
Congress party.
1999 - Sonia Gandhi deIeated by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in general election.
2004 - Sonia Gandhi leads Congress to victory election. She appoints Iormer Iinance minister
Manmohan Singh as prime minister. Her oldest child Rahul Gandhi elected to parliament Ior
Iirst time.
2007 - Rahul Gandhi is appointed as a general secretary to the Congress party in charge oI
the Indian Youth Congress.
2009 - Under Sonia Gandhi's guidance, the Congress-led government is re-elected with
Manmohan Singh as prime minister.
2011 - Congress head Sonia Gandhi returns to New Delhi on September 8 aIter a month in
the United States where she underwent surgery Ior an undisclosed ailment