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The political dynasty is not confined to India and Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. The entire Indian Sub- Continent, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangla Desh is under the spell of this dynastic rule reflecting a cultural nature where family ties play a significant role. It has become like a musical Gharana so common in our culture. In fact, we find that this Gharana concept in India is not only limited to the music and movie industry but in politics as well. It appears that the Gharana in the original musical fields which produced some rare gems of artists who earned the respect by their years of hard worked reeyaaz combined with god gifted talent is fading with time while political families Gharana is rising at an alarming rate.

For many, politics has always been part of their life and they firmly believe that joining politics was very natural to continue a family tradition. If we start from the top, mere mention of ‘political dynasty’ magically evokes the image of the Nehru-Gandhi family, and to some it appears as a big plot to rule India. The Nehru-Gandhi Gharana story has become an industry where many journalists and writers have made money out of it by writing many books. However, that is nothing new as some people would like to declare it as ‘contagious virus’ started with Nehru dynasty. The list of other political Gharana is not new or accidental as almost all leaders have tried in bequeathing power to their kin. Over the past years, more and more political progeny have entered the electoral fray and the political power houses of India. Recently, when asked about charges of nepotism, RJD big boss Laloo Prasad Yadav arrogantly but very rightly shot back: “Yeh ghar ghar ki kahani hai” (This is the story of every family). Indeed it is story of almost each political family irrespective of major political parties and we find truth in his blunt statement. If we look this phenomenon in various states, politicians have groomed their successive generations without any shame or expressing any guilt in denying equal opportunity to others:

The current Chief Minister of J&K, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has his daughter PDP President Mehbuba Mufti in standby position to get the throne. Earlier Sheikh Abdullah had passed on his crown of chief minister-ship to his son Farooq Abdullah and following the same tradition Farooq Abdullah passed the baton to his son Omar Abdullah as National Conference party’s political heir of the J&K state. Down south, in Tamilnadu after AIDMK Chief Minister MGR’s death, both of his wives struggled to gain the control of chief minister’s office and as if to prove Darwin’s theory of “the strongest contender survives”, Jaylalitha firmly took the prize left by her dead husband. The current leader of opposition in Tamilnadu, DMK chief Karunanidhi has his son Stalin standing behind him to take control of the power whenever required. In the neighboring state, Andhra Pradesh, Telgu Desam Party President Chandrababu Naidu emerged as a leader by a political coup d’etat in palace of his father-in-law Chief Minister NT Rama Rao and also thwarted hopes of his mother-in-law Laksmi Parvathi from her ‘right to rule’ the state after NT Rama Rao’s death. Thus another Jaylalitha in Andhra Pradesh never emerged to enjoy the power. The RJD Chief Minister Laloo Yadav in Bihar virtually forced his loving wife Rabri Devi out of the kitchen and installed to be a permanent caretaker proxy Chief Minister as he flitted between jail stint and court cases in the multi-million crore rupees fodder scam. At the same time Rabri Devi also openly invited her brothers Sadhu and Subhash Yadav to share the power to keep every thing in the family. In neighboring UP, the current Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is grooming his son Akhilesh as well as two brothers as their own Gharana in Samajwadi Party. In newly carved Jharkhand state, JMM Chief Shibu Soren is counting days to hold the office of the chief minister finds comfort in his two sons company in his own political party. The Chief Minister of Delhi Sheela Dixit coming from the Congress party is not behind in making sure to keep the Gharana as she has her son Sandeep Dixit behind her. Likewise, BJP’s Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje coming from her own royal lineage believing in her birthright to keep the royalty rule the state, has her son Dushyant Singh waiting for the crown. Haryana has all major political party leaders like Bhajan Lal to Bansi Lal with their own lals (sons) as well as sons-in-law ever ready to grab the chair whenever needed. Similarly, in Punjab Prakash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Dhindsa have their scions in the political arena. In Karnataka, Janata Dal (S) supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda wields the political power along with his two sons H D Revanna and H D Kumaraswamy, whereas in Kerela, Karunakaran is also not taking a chance to stay behind in keeping the Gharana as daughter Padmaja Venugopal and son Muraleedharan are there to keep the tradition. The Siv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has had much to say against dynastic succession in the Congress (I), but he has no qualms about practicing it in his own party. In this Gharana business, his son Uddav Thackeray is the Executive President of Shiv Sena and, Bal Thackeray’s nephew Raj Thackeray is a permanent fixture behind him to keep the tradition uninterrupted. There are many more political Gharanas singing the political family tunes like sons of other political leaders of past like- Madhavrao Scindia (Jyotiraditya Scindia), Rajesh Pilot (Sachin Pilot), Murli Deora (Miland Deora), Charan Singh (Arjun Sigh), Arjun Singh (Ajay Sigh) and many more to add to the list of who is who.

What is the reason behind this political Gharana? Is it simple reason to believe that politics has become like a family business and like any business it involves financial exchange? Maybe this financial control is only possible if one is looked after by their own family to avoid the risk of betrayal and to provide a sense of security. Or is it our cultural destiny making it like almost natural order to follow the Gharana concept in the political arena as well similar to the art of music and movies? Can we afford to close our eyes to the need to review our national obsession in nepotism? One hopes that our fundamental values-democratic commitments, tolerance- will survive and our nation will benefit more in scope if we totally reject of Gharana based politics. We must consolidate these basic democratic foundations- which always seem endangered with domination of dynastic rule here, as elsewhere, within a rigorous constitutional framework. Maybe in future a revolving door will be closed for the people who believe in their birthrights to rule after their family vacate the office for them and one hopes that another and better door will open for the future political leaders with greater sensitivity to others.

Raj Shekhar

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