SHASHI THAROOR
The belief that members of political dynasties are uniquely suited to lead is woven deeply into the fabric of Indian governance, from village councils to the highest echelons of parliament. But when elected office is treated like a family heirloom, the quality of governance inevitably suffers.
NEW DELHI – For decades, one family has towered over Indian politics. The influence of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty – including independent India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and current opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – is bound up with the history of India’s struggle for freedom. But it has also cemented the idea that political leadership can be a birthright. This idea has penetrated Indian politics across every party, in every region, and at every level.
ŞEBNEM KALEMLI-ÖZCAN argues that bond-market participants and others are consciously choosing to ignore obvious policy risks.
While the Nehru-Gandhi family is associated with the Indian National Congress, dynastic succession prevails across the political spectrum. After the passing of Bijayananda (Biju) Patnaik – who was influential in the formation of the Janata Dal party – his son Naveen won his father’s vacant seat in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of parliament). Naveen subsequently founded the Biju Janata Dal, named in his father’s honor, and followed Biju’s footsteps in becoming Chief Minister of the state of Odisha, which he led for over two decades.
The Maharashtra-based Shiv Sena’s founder, Bal Thackeray, passed the leadership mantle to his son Uddhav, whose own son, Aditya, is waiting visibly in the wings. The same goes for Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, whose son, Akhilesh Yadav, later served in the same post; Akhilesh is now an MP and the president of the party. In Bihar state, the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party, Ram Vilas Paswan, was succeeded by his son, Chirag Paswan.
Beyond the Indian “heartland,” Jammu and Kashmir has been led by three generations of Abdullahs, with the principal opposition party dominated by two generations of Muftis. In Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal, long commanded by Parkash Singh Badal, has been taken over by his son, Sukhbir. Telangana is currently witnessing a battle for succession between the son and the daughter of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s founder, K. Chandrasekhara Rao. In Tamil Nadu, the late M. Karunanidhi’s family controls the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party, with his son, M.K. Stalin, now serving as Chief Minister and his grandson anointed as heir apparent.
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