ZCZC
BFF-34
INDIA-POLITICS-ELECTION
India ‘explosion’ scare for Nehru-Gandhi scion
NEW DELHI, Oct 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Rahul Gandhi, India’s opposition leader
and scion of the political Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, had an explosion scare after
balloons at a political road show burst into flames near his vehicle, police
said Sunday.
Gandhi, head of the main opposition Congress party, was leading the
campaign event in Madhya Pradesh state when the bunch of balloons held by one
political worker touched oil lamps held by another.
Leaders on top of the campaign vehicle including Gandhi, 48, can be seen
reeling back at the sudden ball of fire in a video that has gone viral on
social media.
“We have checked. There was no security breach or real scare for anyone. No
one received even minor injuries,” local police chief Amit Singh told AFP.
“The people carrying the celebratory campaign balloons and lamps as a mark of
respect for the leader are Congress party activists, and it was just a minor
accident,” Singh added.
The Nehru-Gandhi family has dominated Indian politics since independence
from Britain in 1947, when Jawaharlal Nehru became the country’s first prime
minister.
The dynasty has produced three prime ministers and a member of the family
has been in charge of the country for nearly 50 of the 71 years since
independence. In 1984, Nehru’s only daughter Indira Gandhi was assassinated
by her Sikh bodyguards when she was prime minister.
She had groomed her younger son Sanjay to be her political heir, but he was
killed in 1980 when the small plane he was piloting crashed.
Her eldest son Rajiv — father of Rahul — reluctantly took over her
political mantle, and served as prime minister from 1984 to 1989. He too was
assassinated in 1991.
Rahul is facing questions over his leadership after a string of electoral
setbacks for Congress since 2014.
But he hopes to silence his critics in five state votes in November and
December ahead of general elections due in 2019 when Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will run for a second term.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1615 hrs