After Modi's big win, is the Gandhi family dynasty over in India?

By Annie Gowen and Rama Lakshmi, Saturday, May 17, 4:57 PM

NEW DELHI — On Friday, as opposition leader Narendra Modi swept to victory and fireworks exploded throughout the capital, the mood at the governing Congress party headquarters was grim.

Late in the afternoon, the mother and son who lead India’s oldest political dynasty finally emerged to speak to supporters and journalists.

“There’s a lot for us to think about,” said a chastened Rahul Gandhi, the party’s heir apparent and chief campaigner. “As vice president of the party, I hold myself responsible for what has happened.”

But then, as he stepped aside to let his mother speak, he smiled — some observers thought with relief. The Twitterverse took note.

Gandhi, whose lineage includes three prime ministers, had been groomed for India’s top job for a decade. But his evident ambivalence about the prospect was among the drivers of the Indian National Congress party’s worst drubbing in its history, analysts said. The party won just 44 seats in the 543-seat lower house of Parliament, while Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party took 282 in a landslide.

Even before the Gandhis departed without taking questions, the postmortem had begun: The Congress party was out of touch with voters, analysts said. Its leaders were corrupt and inefficient. And unlike the canny chief minister preparing for his triumphant arrival in the capital, they had missed India’s moment. Even its own members, still dazed by the enormity of defeat, could see that.