Saturday, May 30, 2009

Is Indian Democracy an anagram for Nepotism?

Whenever elections are held in India there is a huge hullabaloo about how diverse the population is, the representation of all sections of society etc.
But if you look deeper within, the biggest common thread across parties from the mountains of Kashmir to the shores of Tamil Nadu, from the ghats of Maharashtra to the mines of Bihar is that democracy within parties is a farce. Most parties are family run organizations seeking primarily to enhance their family's control over areas of Government.
As my fellow blogger Hindu Fundamentalist pointed out here, when M.K. Stalin took control over the State Government of TN, Chindu just stood by and cautiously applauded the transition from Mu Ka to his son.
However in Sunday's Chindu Open Page, one Narasiah has the guts to question the political scene,
But, unfortunately, we have inherited a democracy that is no lesser than a monarchy, where the sons automatically become the next power in the event of the incumbent ceasing to be so due to natural causes!...Our politicians are seeking cabinet posts for their offspring in the name of democracy and want to establish a dynastic rule. So how can we call our election a true democratic affair?

He stops short of naming names, but I will name a few names here of people who got into (and stayed) positions of power using nepotism:
  • Nehru family - Congress - Indira, Rajiv, Sanjay, Sonia and Rahul (Maneka and Varun are with the BJP and hence omitted).
  • DMK- Stalin, Azhagiri, Kanimozhi using the letters M.K. in front of their names.
  • Karnataka- Deve Gowda's son H.D. Kumaraswamy
  • Friends of Rajiv and their sons - Rajesh Pilot, Sachin Pilot, the Scindias.
  • Bihar - Lalu and Rabri Devi
  • J&K - the Abdullahs and the Mufti families
Before we start asking for changes in democracy at the National level, isn't it prudent to ask for democracy within the parties?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes...I could fimd the Indian Democracy an anagram for nepotism.
It is the Gandhis who are still now carrying out the hierarchy system of heirs succedinng their father's position bu the only difference is here it is a Political view. In case of Gandhi family quiet well versed ,panache, knowledgable and all the adjectives follow them..but it some times flips off..Quiet well aware of the political profits many politicians allow/force their
predeccesor to succed them !!!!! But I think they should start thinking in the way of DEMOCRACY,INDIA and not MONARCHY,FAMILY,MONEY,FAME.....
Even the youngsters drag into politics aware of their money power and fame they sometimes become one of those leeches types who suck the blood of the tiring hardworking people and leave them wandering.

Anonymous said...

Why did you leave out Maharastra? What is Shiva Sena doing?

What is Yeddy doing in Karanataka?