Florine Roche
Jan 21: In the charged political atmosphere of Delhi assembly elections the issue of dynastic politics is once again making headlines as top BJP leaders are vying for tickets (at the time of writing this article) for their kith and kin in the forthcoming assembly elections. This has put the BJP on the wrong foot because Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong opponent of dynastic politics and had promised to put an end to family rule in Indian politics.
It is true that when we talk about dynastic politics in India the first name that comes into our mind is that of the Nehru-Gandhi family. The Nehru-Gandhi family has been the custodian of Indian politics for nearly 40 to 50 years since independence and there are indications that it will continue for some more time.
However, a look at India’s political spectrum clearly shows that family rule is no more the exclusive preserve of the Congress. We have to face the reality where every other political party in India except to some extent the cadre based Marxist, is afflicted with this dynastic succession in politics. One cannot say for sure that other political parties took Indira Gandhi’s dynastic politics as a role model or it just happened because of the human greed for power and wealth. Power automatically begets wealth and vice versa.
Interestingly, it is not just India but many developing democracies of South Asia and in some dictatorship ruled countries have proved to be fertile grounds for the growth and flourish of elected dynastic politics. In fact Corruption, nepotism and family’s dynastic rule are said to be three major reasons for the defeat of Mahinda Rajpaksa in the recently concluded Presidential elections in Sri Lanka. During his 10 year rule it is said that over 40 top government positions were in the hands of his family friends. One of his brothers was defence secretary, another was speaker of the parliament, a nephew was the Chief Minister of a Province and another brother-in-law was heading Sri Lankan Airlines as its chairman. He has also groomed his son to be his successor. In Nepal we have the Koirala family, Bangladesh has Begum Khalida Zia and Sheik Hasina, Myanmar has Aung San Suu Kyi, Bhutto family in Pakistan, Bhandarnaike family in Lanka - perfect examples of flourishing dynastic political families.
There also have been republic dynasties with North Korea leading the way when President Km II Sung who ruled for 49 years. He was succeeded by his son Kim Jong II in 1994 after his father’s death. In doing so this family became the communist party’s first political dynasty. Even big brother USA is not free from political dynasties which are common in local and state politics. Bush, Gore and Clinton families are prominent dynastic families ruling the roost in US. Philippines, Indonesia and some African countries also have been under the control of dynastic families.
Since it is a general trend worldwide India need not take umbrage about its dynastic politics encompassing every political party be it at national, regional and local politics. Apart from the much vilified Nehru-Gandhi family our elected democracy is loaded with political families whose forefathers, grandparents, grandmothers, fathers, mothers, in-laws, brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, sons-in-law, uncles, aunts, cousins, sons, daughters and even grandchildren making politics as a family business. Dynastic politics is here to stay and flourish in democratic India, whether we like it or not.
Let us a look at the political spectrum of four southern states. In Tamil Nadu the DMK, which once represented Dravidian nationalism, has become the sole property of Karunanidhi family. All the major regional parties in Seemandhra and Telengana have family rules. Chandrababu Naidu carries on the mantle of NTR, Jagan Reddy continue YSR family politics and in the newly formed Telengana state Chandrashekar Rao has already put a firm foundation for dynastic politics. Chandrashekar’s son K T Rama Rao is a cabinet minister. His daughter is a MP and his nephew is also a cabinet minister. Soon his daughter will also be given some important position in cabinet. In Karnataka Deve Gowda exploited his ‘son of the soil’ image for the benefit of his own family and his son former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy is now heading the JD(S). Former CM Yeddyurappa’s son is already in politics.
In UP it is Mulayam Yadav family which continues the tradition of family rule. The incident of Rabri Devi’s transformation from kitchen to Chief Minister’s gaddi in Bihar is clearly etched in public memory. Orissa continues the tradition of Patnaik family rule. Rajasthan has Scindia family sitting pretty running the affairs of the state for a long time. In Madhya Pradesh the Scindia family’s hold is still strong. In Maharashtra the Shiva Sena is firmly under the grip of Bal Thackeray‘s son Udhav and now Udhav’s son is slowly making his debut as a politician. Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya is already in active politics. In Kashmir for the Abdulla family the only career is politics and PDP is ruled by Mufti Mohammed family. More than the cadre-based national political parties it is the regional parties in India where dynastic politics is under the stranglehold of one or two families.
It is unfortunate that instead of moving away from family rule and make the political process more democratic India is inching towards family politics rather than moving away from it. Though Narendra Modi staunchly criticised the Congress for its dependence on Nehru Gandhi family, he is unable to curtain this trend in his own party. Instead dynastic politics has become even more rampant. For the BJP winning the seats seems more imperative than the idea of sticking to its poll promises. Following the death of Gopinath Munde the BJP fielded his daughter Prita in Maharashtra and she scripted history by winning the by-poll Beed by a record margin of 7 lakh votes. Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam Mahajan has also been elected as a MP in the recent general elections.
And now Delhi once again witnessed such a trend in the BJP which has always shown an accusing finger at others especially the Congress. While the compulsion of winning the Delhi assembly is heavier on the BJP than its rivals, it faced this onslaught in the form of BJP heavyweights vying to get tickets for their kith and kin. With the BJP citing age as a factor for denying tickets, many veterans tried to continue the legacy by securing seats for their children. Frontrunners for the tickets in Delhi were Harish Khurana, son of former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana ans Sahib Singh Verma’s son Azad Singh. Vijay Goel, Ramesh Bidhuri and Manoj Tiwari, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, also tried all means to secure tickets for their family members.
These politicians defend themselves saying if a doctor’s son/daughter can become a doctor and an engineer’s son/daughter becomes an engineer what is wrong in a politician becoming a politician? Agreed! This was true especially earlier when the choices were limited. The same logic does not hold true now. Today doctor’s and engineer’s children are exploring fields other than that of their parents or grandparents. They have been able to make a name for themselves by their own efforts in their chosen fields. Dynastic politics is also a great impediment for common people who find it difficult to make political foray without the power of three ‘M’s namely money, muscle and materials- get an opening in politics. Of course, the Aam Aadmi Party has been an exception in this direction where even a commoner could think of getting into politics.
Dynastic politics in India has blossomed mainly because of the exposure such family members get being in politics. Due to high connections and the power of time, money and resources, these family members have an upper hand as against others who don’t have such an advantage. Political lineage and money power helps gaining the initial entry into the field.
Political lineage alone should not be the criterion for electing leaders in a democracy. It is also the responsibility of the electorate to choose a candidate having credentials and talent other than just a family pedigree.