Breeding of family Politicians: Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Democracy to hereditary – a great reformation in Indian politics

Living examples of degeneration of democracy

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Neither Late Mohammad Razab Ali of the Communist Party of India nor Late Kattula Shantayya of the erstwhile Indian National Congress, the first two MLA s whom I had known while I was still a student in Khammam, brought any of their relatives in to politics. It was not the case with everyone. Jalagam Vengala Rao when vacated Khammam Jillaa Parisht Chairman Position or Parliament seat, it was only in favor of his brother Kondala Rao. Later he brought his son Prasada Rao in to politics followed by another son. This is not an isolated phenomenon in Indian Politics. Nor this is limited to only Congress Party alone. Family members of top political leaders take over the reign of the party early in life. They are groomed by the first generation politicians and are launched into the political scene by well planned strategic media campaign.

Democratic politics in India have become hereditary. Democracy itself has become hereditary. The lead given by Nehru-Gandhi family in National Politics has been very well taken by many in several states. Examples of Indian Hereditary Politicians are plenty. To quote from the recent past, several candidates in the race during the last general elections are just enough to mention a cross section of the cream of such gifted few. Congress contestant from Mumbai South Milind Deora is the son of Murli Deora Union Minister. Priya Dutt daughter of Sunil Dutt, Sameer Bhujbal nephew of Chhagan Bhujbal, Bhaskarrao Patil son-in-law of former chief minister SB Chavan and brother-in-law of Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan, Mukul Wasnik son of former AICC general secretary, Vijay Bahuguna son of former UP CM HN Bahuguna and brother of current UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna as well as first cousin of UK Chief Minister B C Khanduri and YS Jagan Mohan son of the then AP CM Rajashekhara Reddy are only few more examples. In fact three Assembly tickets and one MP ticket was allotted to one single family of a Minister in AP, Botcha Satyanarayana. Not only did he win from an Assembly constituency, his wife Jhansi Lakshmi won the Lok Sabha, his brother Appalanarasiah won from Gajapartinagaram and nephew Appalanaidu won from Nellimarla Assembly seats.

Sheila Dixit, the CM of Delhi for over a decade, who herself was a product of hereditary politics being the family member of Umashankar Dikshit, former Union Cabinet Minister, has already brought her son Sandeep Dikshit in to politics and made him a Member of Parliament from East Delhi Constituency. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CM of Haryana and four times parliament member from the state has brought his son Deependar Singh Hooda in to politics. He is now a Member of Parliament. Chaudhari Devi Lal, Hooda predecessor, also made his son Om Prakash Choutala as Haryana CM once. SP Leader Mulayam Sing Yadav family members are the key people in UP politics. His son Akhilesh Yadav won from two constituencies in last Loksabha elections. When he vacated a seat it was given to none other than the daughter in law of the family and she lost the election.

While Nehru-Gandhi family future heir in waiting Rahul Gandhi and his mother contested as Congress candidates, his cousin late Sanjay Gandhi’s son Varun Gandhi and Aunt Maneka Gandhi contested as BJP candidates. Dip Gogoi younger brother of CM Orissaa Tarun Gogoi, Manish Tewari, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Kumari Selja and Jyoti Mirdha granddaughter of Nathuram Mirdha are few more in the hereditary row. Congress national leader Motilal Vora’s son, former Union Minister Arvind Netam’s daughter, another leader Ajit Jogi wife is among them. In Rajasthan, Jagannath Pahadia, Sis Ram Ola, Nawal Kishore Sharma, Govind Singh Gurjar managed tickets for their sons in the last elections. While the Gandhis are regarded as India’s First Family, the regional lords have nurtured their ‘dynasties’ with loving care in their own arena.

The hereditary politics are not limited to congress alone. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar daughter Supriya Sule, Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa’s elder son Raghavendra, former PM Devegouda’s son H D Kumaraswamy of JD-S, Tamil Nadu CM Karunanidhi son M K Azhagiri, Murasoli Maran’s son Dayanidhi, former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma’s daughter Agatha are some of the non-congress heirs. Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi daughter is a Rajya Sabha member while his other son Stalin is the CM in waiting. In Jammu and Kashmir, Late Sheik Abdullah son Farooq Abdullah has already made his son Omar as CM. PDP’s Mufti and daughter Mehbooba play musical chairs with Omar to sit on the State throne. In Andhra, TDP supremo is busy grooming his brothers-in-laws, while his son is also in waiting list. In Maharashtra the Thackeray and the Pawar clans compete for power. Then we have progenies of Karunakaran, Bahuguna, Nandini Satpathy and Jagivan Ram. RJD Chief Laloo’s Rabri, JMM’s Mahato and widow of former Gujarat CM Chimanbhai Patel are best better half examples.

Political power moves from one generation to another. The hereditary politics are ruining the country’s future. In Dynastic politics known to Indians from time immemorial, kings and emperors groom their sons and daughters to ascend the throne. Innocent Indian citizen who may not understand the basic concept of democracy think that such hereditary succession to the throne is nothing unusual or unethical and hence what has been happening in politics is right. Right from the local self government to the national level, political dynasties are everywhere enjoying the fruits of power and prestige. Once patriarch succeeds in attaining political power, he lets his near and dear ones to come in the line, so that the power would not go outside the family lineage. The king maker parent and the emerging dynasties ensure that the door to the top slot is available to none but to the family members alone.

Political parties in India are close family structures that breed corruption. They ensure that no outsider of the family and insider in the party dares voice dissent. The control of political parties by families inevitably lead to several undesirable consequences, such as money power, muscle power and caste factors playing in the electoral process. Citizens who are more talented and have more enthusiasm to work for the public cause but with less family background, find it hard to compete in the elections, let alone make it to the assemblies and parliament. If this present trend of continues, Indian democracy will cease to be participatory and it will cease to be a way of empowering people.

Political competence neither comes by conventional education alone, nor by mere acquaintance or association or heritage as well. A competent political leader’s wife, son or daughter need not be equally competent. It can be welcomed, if political heirs are capable enough to provide quality leadership to the country but the overall experience shows that under the control of families over political power, the institution of democracy is ridiculed. It is an insult to the concept of democracy. It would not be possible to undo the political dynasties in Indian democracy without changing this mindset. Politics in India is a business and a family business too. If the present scenario is allowed to continue, each state will become “a princely state” ruled by the dynasties of political leaders who promote their own kith and kin. Even the regional heavyweights RJD, Samajwadi, DMK, National Conference, PDP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Telugu Desam, believe in brothers, sisters, in-laws, out-laws, sons, daughters, son in-laws and daughter in-laws.

Distressingly, the original promoter of this ancestry culture is none other than the Congress. Jawaharlal Nehru stepping in to the shoes of his father Motilal as AICC President before independence set the ball rolling and calculatedly laid the foundation of dynastic rule. He groomed daughter Indira, who in turn promoted Sanjay and later Rajiv. Just before and soon after the Emergency, Sanjay Gandhi rose in importance as Indira's advisor. Sanjay's influence with Indira and the government increased dramatically, although he was never in an official or elected position. Indira Gandhi and her Congress Party that was defeated by the Janata Party coalition returned to power in a landslide. Sanjay was elected to a parliamentary seat from Amethi in UP. Unfortunately he died in an accident. The rest is history. Rajiv was made PM and party leader. The lineage continued even after his death, though delayed for a while with Sonia occupying the uncrowned throne. On the way is now Rahul. Encouraged by this many have calculatedly promoted their wards. Kairon to Karunanidhi, Pant to Parmar, Devi Lal to Bhajan Lal, Charan Singh to Arjun Singh, Biju Patnaik to Deve Gowda, a never ending lineage.

No doubt democracy is the best form of governance. India is the largest democracy in the world. However Indian politicians, in their bid to remain in power permanently, have converted 'democracy' into 'hereditary democracy'. Conscious attempts are being made by the politicians, who are at the helm of affairs or holding power, to transfer power legitimately to their wards ignoring or simply overlooking the claim of other senior politicians in the same party, thereby making the existing party system as well as the democracy a laughing stock in the world. In the process, the party leaders show utter disregard for their loyal party men, their seniority, experience or even their talent or ability and all of them are being made subservient to the interests of their wards.

In India, probably with no exception, in almost all the national and regional parties, this tendency of promoting the wards in party politics prevail. Few of the wards of the political leaders have the requisite political background and exposure to enter politics on their own right. However, the most disturbing factor is with the blessing and support of the party leadership, they easily come to the forefront of party politics making other senior party men to suffer in silence.

The degeneration of democracy into 'hereditary democracy' is certainly a retrograde step in the evolution of democracy. In order to prevent such disturbing trends in democracy in India, something constructively needs to be done. If it cannot be prevented, then, the hereditary democracy too may deteriorate further, making the party system a casualty, posing a very big threat to very existence of democracy.

The living examples of degeneration of democracy, if it can be called so, are plenty in Andhra Pradesh. Barring Boorgula Ramakrishna Rao, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy and Bezavada Gopalaredy the first three Chief Ministers in this part of the country rest all helped their family members gaining political advantage and occupying important political positions. Brahmananda Reddy brought kasu Krishna Reddy; PV Narasimha Rao his two sons, one brother-in-law and couple of other cousins; Jalagam Vengala Rao his brother, both the sons; Marri Channa Reddy his son; Anjayya his wife; Bhavanam his wife; N Janardhan Reddy his wife; Kotla his son Surya Prakasha Reddy and of course Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy his brother and his son Jagan. Nadendla Bhaskara Rao’s son Manohar is already an MLA. NTR son, son-in-law is already in politics. His daughter is Union Minister. One son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu, on shifting party loyalties could become CM and his son is being groomed now. Telangana Rashtra Samithi Leader’s son, nephew are in to politics. Daughter is in waiting list. There are many more MPs, MLA s and ZP Chairmen who successfully put their kith and kin in active politics like PCC Chief D Srinivas and Minister Kanna Laxminarayana.

Interestingly Present Chief Minister Rosaiah is an exception on the lines of Neelam, Bezavada and Boorgula! On this count he needs to be congratulated.