SANJAY GANDHI

December 14, 1946

Why does Sanjay Gandhi belong on this list? Well it is not because of any positive achievements, that’s for sure. It is because of his lasting legacy,

one that still pollutes Indian politics. Sanjay was the oafish younger son of Indira Gandhi. He was good at nothing except for repairing cars. This led his fond mother to give him the licence to produce a small car for India. The car was never made but, in the interim, after the Emergency was declared, Sanjay Gandhi decided he would become Crown Prince instead. With no political experience at all, he became head of the Youth Congress and effective number two to his mother. Ministers quaked in his presence, his gunda-like supporters ruled Delhi and all media (controlled by the government during the Emergency) hailed him as the King to come. He forced through a brutish sterilisation programme and destroyed entire localities as part of his beautification drive. When Mrs Gandhi lost the election, his thuggish followers disrupted the commissions of inquiry that were investigating Emergency excesses. And when Mrs Gandhi returned to power in 1980, Sanjay was the clear successor. But it was not to be. He died in a plane crash a few months later. His legacies endure: the cult of dynasty and gundagiri at the highest levels.