There is renewed speculation and interest in the Gandhi-Bachchan relationship in the wake of Sonia Gandhi coming out in support of Jaya Bachchan when the Rajya Sabha presiding officer allegedly made some disparaging remarks against the actress-turned-parliamentarian.
In the forecourt of the new parliament building, Jaya and Sonia were seen united, visibly upset and sharing a bonhomie. Was it political or personal? Or a combination of the two?
Like Gandhis, Bachchans have carefully created their political legacy. Bachchan patriarch Harvansh Rai Bachchan had bagged a Rajya Sabha term way back in 1966 due to his proximity with then prime minister Indira Gandhi. Next in line was the famous ‘Dostana’ between Rajiv Gandhi and Amitabh Bachchan when Rajiv was prime minister and Amitabh was a member of Parliament from Allahabad. Jaya joined Sonia Gandhi in parliament five years later in July 2004. She kept bagging re-nomination in the upper house five times. In April 2024, Sonia Gandhi joined her in the Rajya Sabha. The duo is likely to stay in the house till 2030.
Unlike Harivansh Rai (nominated member) or Amitabh (Congress), Jaya’s political journey has been with the Samajwadi Party, which has often been at the loggerheads with the Congress. In October 2004, speaking at Siddaur in Barakbanki district, Jaya had made a not-so veiled attack on Sonia-led Congress and said, “Mere devar Amar Singh sach mein Thakur hain, jo kehte hain woh karte hain. Aap Samajwadi Party ko vote dijiye, yeh log vade aur rishte nibhana jante hain. (My brother-in-law is a real Thakur; he does what he says. Please vote for the Samajwadi Party because these people know how to keep promises and relations).”
This was the time that the Gandhis were back in power and some of common friends thought it would mean that Bachchans would not be far behind but at that time, Sonia and Rahul made no pretence to hide their ire. The canker in the relationship, previously only known to a select few, now came out into the open. The media went into feverished speculation as to what had gone wrong with Dosti No 1.
Gandhis and Bachchan share a long, cherished and often chequered relationship. Their tale of friendship dates back to the Nehru-Gandhi family’s Anand Bhawan days. This was a time when Indira was still unmarried and Sarojini Naidu had introduced poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan and his Sikh wife Teji to Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter as “the poet and the poem”.
Amitabh was barely four when he was introduced to Rajiv, who was two then. There was a fancy dress party at the Bachchans’ Bank Road residence in Allahabad at which Rajiv was dressed up as a freedom fighter.
When Nehru moved to New Delhi’s Teen Murti Bhavan as India’s first Prime Minister, Rajiv and his brother Sanjay were often spotted playing with Bachchan siblings Amitabh and Ajitabh along with Adil Shaharyar, the son of Indira aide Mohammed Yunus, and Kabir Bedi.
While Rajiv and Sanjay were studying at Doon School, Amitabh and Ajitabh were at Nainital’s Sherwood. During the holidays in New Delhi, which fell around the same time, the boys met and swam every day at the pool of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Rajiv and Sanjay exposed Amitabh to avant garde cinema when European films were specially screened at Rashtrapati Bhavan for the Nehru-Gandhi family. Amitabh recalls attending with Rajiv and Sanjay the screening of films like Cranes are Flying and other Czech, Polish and Russian movies rich in anti-war message.
Indira’s close aide Yashpal Kapoor was extremely fond of Amitabh. Kapoor, more famous for toppling Opposition governments in states, is said to have tried getting Amitabh to Delhi’s prestigious St Stephen’s College. For some reason, Amitabh did not join, preferring to move to Kirorimal College (perhaps due to a better course option) but his younger brother Ajitabh studied economics at Stephen’s.
Amitabh’s first break in Bollywood was in K.A. Abbas’s Saat Hindustani, based on the liberation of Goa. Abbas was considered close to Indira, the then Prime Minister, and there were whispers that she had put in a word for the struggling actor. But Abbas stoutly denied having acted at Indira’s behest.
Harivansh Rai, later to become a Rajya Sabha member, was requisitioned in the foreign office by Nehru’s government while Teji was made director of the Film Finance Corporation in 1973. This was the time when Amitabh got married to Jaya. The guest list was extremely short but Sanjay was present, representing the Gandhis.
When Amitabh emerged as an actor, Rajiv would often visit him on the sets, extremely unobtrusive, waiting patiently till he completed a shot. Amitabh recalled: “His nature was that he would never misuse his family name. More often than not, Rajiv would not disclose his surname, fearing the distance it would create between him and the common man.”
Then came the Emergency. Amitabh, who was frequently seen in Sanjay’s company, faced media wrath for supporting it. On April 11, 1976, Delhi hosted a function called “Geeton Bhari Sham,” ostensibly to raise money for Sanjay and Rukhsana Sultana (actress Amrita Singh’s mother)’s controversial family planning programme. Both Amitabh and Jaya were present in the company of Sanjay.
It is a well-known fact that when Rajiv decided to marry Sonia, she had stayed with Bachchans before getting married. Several wedding rituals like Sonia’s mehndi ceremony were held at the Bachchan home. Sonia always retained her affection for Teji, who acted as her godmother and schooled her in Indian customs when she arrived in Delhi as Rajiv Gandhi’s fiancee in 1968 and was put up at the Bachchans’.
“I came to learn a lot from them. Teji aunty is my second… no, my third mother (after her own mother and mother-in-law Indira Gandhi),” Sonia had said in a 1985 interview. “Amit and Bunty (Ajitabh) are my brothers.”
When the Gandhis were out of power and the Janata government began to tighten screws on Indira, Bachchans reportedly distanced themselves from the Nehru-Gandhi family. Sanjay’s side of the family claims that when Indira was out of power, there was a proposal to invite the Bachchan clan at a public rally, but Teji reportedly declined, citing her son’s career. Sanjay was reportedly livid and relations between the two families snapped for the time being. Sanjay was also upset when, out of power, he arrived in Bombay but his friend Amitabh did not come to receive him, a task the actor used to greatly relish in happier times, it seems.
There were minor differences between Gandhis and Bachchans when actress Nargis was given the coveted Rajya Sabha nomination. Indira, whose proximity to Teji Bachchan was well established, chose Nargis as Rajya Sabha member in 1980. The move had reportedly upset Teji and this appeared in a snippet column of a magazine that was edited by Indira’s other bahu Maneka. But Indira had stoutly defended her decision insisting that Nargis had deserved the recognition much more than anyone else.
Cut to the post 1984 era when Rajiv took over as prime minister and Amitabh was an influential Congress MP. Following the Bofors uproar, Amitabh abruptly left politics, disillusioned. Superman was accused of being a middleman. Amitabh fought for his honour and won a protracted legal battle, but he could not sever his links with politics. Amitabh’s parting with Gandhis singularly contributed for Rajiv’s downfall as Allahabad Lok Sabha by-elections in 1987 gave a fragmented opposition a sense that together they can humble the Congress which was holding 413 MPs in 542-member Lok Sabha.
The ties could never recover fully. Then on May 21, 1991, Rajiv was killed at Sriperumbudur.
In 2024, the political realities seem to be scoring well. The sudden warmth between Sonia and Jaya appears to be more political than personal. The Gandhis are in the I.N.D.I. alliance with their good friend Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav and more importantly, the grand old party has done well. The Congress’ political fortunes are linked to the Samajwadi Party having a hold in Uttar Pradesh. The ‘renewed friendship’ is perhaps an acknowledgement of these stark political realities, with a lot to follow.
The author is a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. A well-known political analyst, he has written several books, including ‘24 Akbar Road’ and ‘Sonia: A Biography’. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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