Nepotism in Politics-Is it a fair practice?
As we all know our society's mindset to expect from one's son to become like his dad. For example, a son of a Doctor would be considered being a doctor, Chartered Accountant son would be considered being a CA and the same would be considered for a son of a Lawyer or an Actor. However, a Politician's son would grow with all the attitude to be a Politician. Being a kid of a politician, they have clear intentions to follow the same path which their dad has created. They have been fed the thought of being a politician in their childhood.
Politics is not a profession or skill-based job. It is practiced business in India and most of the countries, which can be inherited to the family or near and dear ones of a politician. No need for having experience or good knowledge about law and political science.
Politics is luxuriant and nepotism is rampant in India. When it comes to giving tickets for elections, it usually goes to famous last names or established politicians dear and near ones or if someone has good relationships with the party leaders.
We can see at the national level there are two major parties in India, i.e. Bhartiya Janta Party and Congress. Congress or NCP is the party that has been reigned by one single family from the day of Independence. As Jawahar Lal Nehru and Jinnah, both wanted to rule on Independent India. That did lead to the partition of India, that is how Pakistan was created out of Bharat/Hindustan. Mr. Nehru was the first Prime Minister of freed-India.
The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is leading the Congress party since then. After NehruJi, it was Indira Gandhi followed by her son Rajiv Gandhi. Ultimately there was a huge crisis when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1988 and no family member ready to succeed right away. After a few years, Sonia was made to take over as Leader of Congress to unite the party. She could not be sworn as the Prime minister because of foreign birth, but she still controlled the power with dummyPrime Minister. Now, Rahul Gandhi has taken over the throne of the party. If he is no longer the leader of the Congress party for some 'obvious' reasons, Priyanka Vadra is going to be the leader. She is already is working as an active member of the party and mainly using the last name of Gandhi.
If this chain is not broken then the next generation of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty would claim to be the leaders at the Party. The power of the congress party would remain within the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Besides this, at the state level, each state has its own parties and mostly the ruling party is running by a single dynasty. Mayawati and Yadav's from Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. After Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav took charge of SP and benefits are flowing within the family.
In the same manner, Leader of Janta Dal Lalu Prasad Yadav became Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990 for the first time and it ended in 2004 after charges of corruption. When Lalu Ji was in Jail his wife Rabdi Devi was ruling the party and Bihar.
Before becoming territories of India Jammu and Kashmir was a Muslim majority state which was treated itself as a separate state from India. It had its own Flag and constitution which was given under Section 370 of Indian Penal Code. Sheikh Abdullah was the founder of All Jammu & Kashmir National Conference right after Independence and Partition of India. Later its was renamed Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He was the second Prime Minister of J&K and urged a self-ruled government. After his death in 1982, his son Farooq Abdullah was the successor of the party and became Chief Minister in 1984 for the first time. J&K was ruled by either the family or it was going under Govern's rule. In 1996 Farooq Abdullah became Chief Minister for the fifth time for full 6 years term. in 1999 National Conference joined National Democratic Alliance led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji and his son Omar Abdullah was subsequently appointed as union minister of Jammu & Kashmir.
Let's move on to Maharastra, Bal Saheb Thackeray was a great leader who found Shiv Sena. This party was at its peak during Bal Thackeray and he became Maratha Hero for all the followers. After him, his son Uddhav Bal Thackeray became the party leader but he never got a chance to be a Chief Minister of Maharastra but he was reigning the party since then. Just like other politicians child, Aditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray and grandson of Bal Thackery, recently debuted in politics and he has become a Member of Parliament from Worli Constituency.
Madhya Pradesh has one more family tree in the political ground, Rajmata of Gwalior, Vijaya Raje Scindia, wife of Maharaja Jiwaji Rao Scindia was a prominent Indian Personality in politics. Her son Madhav Rao Scindia chose the same path of the politics. He was an active politician and minister from Indian National Congress. He died in a plane crash in 2001. The family is still growing on the political ground, as Madhav Rao’s son Jyotiraditya Scindia has been Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha from Guna Constituency.
Vasundra Raje, the wife of Rana Hemant Singh, Maharaja of Dholpur (Jat royal family of Jodhpur), the daughter of Maharaja Jiwaji Rao and Vijaya Raje, and the sister of Madhav Rao Scindia, is a National Vice-President of BJP. She has served twice as Chief Minister of Rajasthan for the term of 2003-2008 and 2013-2018. She was the first woman to have the post. Yashodhara Raje another sibling of Vasundhara Raje and Madhav Rao was a cabinet minister in Rajasthan during Raje's term. The whole family is quite associated with politics and the bloodline knows how to reign of the region.
Karnataka's political breed is as strong as others. H D Deve Gowda was the 11th Prime Minister of India from Janta Dal (JD) with the support of Congress. He was the established politician and 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Later on, he became the National Leader of JD(S), i.e Janta Dal(Secular). His both sons H D Kumarswamy and H D Revanna are in politics. Kumarswamy was a former Chief Minister of Karnataka. JD(s) is been infamous for Nepotism in Politics. There are more than three MLAs in family, Congress was supporting Kumarswamy to promote his wife Anitha Kumarswamy for the last election within the alliance of JD(S) and Congress. The party always gives preference to the immediate family of Kumarswamy just because of the bloodline despite having more experienced and intellectual candidates in the party.
Congress had been pro in giving preference to the family and promoting dynasty in politics.
they say family politics is their winning formula, But BJP leaders say its killing of Democracy.
There are many examples of Nepotism in Politics including Mallikarjun Kharge who is promoting his son Priyank.
And, Rajesh Pilot who belonged to Indian National Congress, now his son Sachin Pilot has joined Indian National Congress and serving as Deputy Chief Minister of India. Sara Pilot, Wife of Sachin pilot and daughter of Farooq Abdullah.
Nepotism is dangerous to Democracy. It can destroy a healthy competition and wreck a chance of having experienced and more knowledgable candidates who can give a long run to Democracy. Let's take an example of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh where Karunanidhi, K Chandrashekhar, and Amar Singh's family took over the governance from Gram Panchayat to the Parliament.
Nepotism killed new abilities. One day it will take India back to princely states ruled by a monarchy. Big examples are Pakistan and Bangladesh of the hight of being in power and make people think they are different from rest. So, they should demand a separate nation. As we see few states have already been divided into small states because of few leaders and their blind followers. Leaders are inclined to self-enrichments, they don't bother about the nation.
Nevertheless, Nepotism is like a virus that is hard to cure completely. It is not only the problem of Politics, but it has also spread its wings to media and Bollywood too. We don't say it always gives a negative impact unless you take it as a healthy challenge.
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