Dynasty in Politics

The Preamble of  The  Constitution of India states ...

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN, SOCIALIST, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this 26th day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

• Equality of status and of opportunity means all men are equal and can aspire for any political positions irrespective of caste, creed, color, or any thing which includes the so much talked about 'dynasty'. There is no way 'dynasts' can be relegated as 'untouchables' in independent India.
• It is no body's job to install or pave way for the ascending of aspiring common man occupy such positions. If the process has become so much cumbersome and expensive it is not the fault of 'dynasts'. It is our own political and social problem.
• Can we debar effective communicators like Modi, KCR etc paving way for so called aspiring common man? If 'dynasts' have some inherent advantages of their fore fathers and money that is their good luck. Everybody looks forward standing on the shoulders of their parents & grandparents. Nothing wrong in that.
• These days, money is playing decisive role in politics and it is due to failure of government, institutions and people themselves. Not the failure of constitution. Education, awareness and independent media are the keys.
• Social justice is not a goal or a dead end. In a good society there would be many above the thin line of 'Social Justice' and few below. The other way round like in India is worrisome. It is the responsibility of underprivileged to work hard and alleviate themselves and also the duty of Society and Government to extend helping hand to accelerate the same.
• Representative & Constitution based Democracy is neither perfect nor foolproof but is the least worst forms of Democracy. There is no such thing called ideal democracy.
• Extreme democracy, as practiced in 'small & rich' Switzerland too has many aberrations.
• The beauty of Indian democracy is that very often erring famous people encounter defeat and were sent into oblivion indicates its inherent strength and resilience. But that should not be a limiting factor in eradicating most of the ills the of society, if not all.
• As long as our economic policies aids corruption & capitalism in the name of 'rewarding the talent' and in reality rewards the rich, educated and perverted who will continue to become richer while poor will remain poorer resulting in Gini coefficient increasing beyond limits and eventually could result in social unrest and destruction of the nation.
• In a democracy 'Elected Executive' stands tallest of all. If institutions proactively doesn't control erring executive, at every step, democracy dies and authoritarianism erupts. The real power is with that person who control Money, Police & Military i.e. The Executive. Institutions have no jurisdiction over them. Where ever 'Elected Super Boss' subverts constitution and institutions, dictatorships have ruled those nations. It is imperative for people to elect good person to positions of power. People can't elect rogues to rule them and expect institutions to control him with checks and balances. Life doesn't work that way. 
• Every undebated and nontransparent decision of Executive & Legislature must be subjected to judicial scrutiny prior to its implementation.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” ― James Madison

Why do people vote for 'dynasts'? That is because familiarity of that family with the people and people enjoyed some benefits of their generosity in the past. Why do parties rally behind dynasts with in the party? That is because of their belief in their charisma to hold the party together. Without Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi at the helm of Congress party, it would disintegrate. As long as so called 'dynasts' have popular mandate, it is perfectly in order. What is wrong in standing on the shoulders of forefathers and looking forward? Which everybody does. Some years ago an ageing cricket batsman was asked when he would retire paving way for young aspirants. He said that he wouldn't do any such thing and it is for the young new cricketer to work hard and prove better than him and displace him. That answers the concept of merit, the underpin of democracy.

Rahul Gandhi's plain speak at Berkeley

Rahul Gandhi’s candour and aggression at Berkeley unsettled the BJP and pepped up the Congress. The 47-year-old Congress scion himself the foremost dynast in Indian polity and his party lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections primarily because of the stigma of corruption. It was a scenario that Rahul Gandhi seemed to speak in a mature way, not running away from the realities of India and the Congress.

• BJP leaders cracked jokes about his going to Berkeley but it kicked up a political storm back home.
• He attacked the Modi government and said he was ready to become Congress president and the prime minister candidate for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. 
• He was also upfront on dynastic politics.
• He condemned the anti-Sikh riots unequivocally.
• What can destroy our momentum is the opposite energy: hatred, anger and violence and the politics of polarisation which has raised its ugly head in India today ... Rahul said.
• Rahul attacked the PM for taking ad hoc decisions in a reckless and dangerous manner. Demonetisation, a completely self-inflicted wound, caused approximately 2% loss in India’s GDP,” he said.
• He said 30,000 new youngsters were joining the job market every day, and, the government was creating only 500 jobs a day. He said the economic decline was worrying and had led to an upsurge of anger. He ripped into the hastily-applied GST.
• Rahul accused Modi of running a propaganda machinery to sully his image. There’s a BJP machine, a thousand guys with computers, to abuse me, tell you I am reluctant, I am stupid... It is a tremendous machine. All day they spread abuse about me, and the operation is run by the gentleman who is running our country, he said.
• As he took on Modi, it was clear that he is the main opponent of the prime minister. He admitted to Modi’s skills. He is a very good communicator, probably better than me - he said.
• The onslaught rattled the BJP, which launched its top guns to mount a counter attack. Union Minister Smriti Irani called Rahul a failed dynast. People occupying the top constitutional posts, President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and the Prime Minister, they all come from humble backgrounds.
• BJP president Amit Shah said failed leaders were running off to the US to lecture as no one listened to them back home. 
• The joke in BJP circles is that Rahul is the saffron party’s biggest asset. BJP often reacts in a disproportionate manner. Every time he has attacked Modi or the BJP the BJP goes after him. And Irani, who lost to Rahul in Amethi in 2014, is his prime attacker.
• The one time that the BJP had really got rattled was when Rahul called the BJP government “Suit Boot Ki Sarkar”. The title seems to have damaged Modi’s image and BJP lost Delhi assembly elections in 2015. Ever since, Modi has been trying to project his government as being on the side of the underprivileged.
• Despite winning the UP elections and forming the government in Bihar, BJP has been troubled by price rise, failure of demonetisation, the economic downturn, low employment opportunities. And in the aftermath of journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder, the social media wave has turned against the BJP.
• Coincidentally, a day after Rahul’s speech, BJP's ABVP lost to the Congress’s NSUI, in the Delhi University Students’ Union elections, after being in power for four years.
• By expressing willingness to lead the Congress party, Rahul has energised the party with no room for leadership ambiguity. Rahul’s willingness to be prime ministerial candidate is likely to have a positive impact on the assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh later this year, and Karnataka next year.
• Rahul spoke with unusual candour on dynastic politics. Most parties in India have that problem. That is how India runs. Don’t get after me because that is how the entire country is running. By the way, Mr Ambani’s kids were running the business and that was also going on in Infosys.
• Once Rahul takes over next month, several Congress leaders who were comfortable working with Sonia will have some tough time.
• Rahul admitted the party had lost touch with the ground reality as it became arrogant, leading to its loss in the Lok Sabha elections 2014. He showed remarkable candour in giving an insight into what is wrong with the Congress and what has to be done.
• Rahul's template for the party as it takes on the BJP in the assembly elections as well as the Lok Sabha polls is (1) Murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh (2) RBI report confirms failure of demonetisation (3) Failure to get its OBC constitutional bill passed in its original form (4) GDP growth at three-year low of 5.7% (5) Worrying unemployment trends (6) Problems in GST implementation (7) SC overruling government’s objections to privacy as constitutional right (8) Failure to defeat Ahmed Patel in Gujarat RS polls (9) Kashmir crisis

For the first time, the BJP has to deploy its best to defend the prime minister. The spokespersons came prepared to take on the government, as a good opposition party should do. In response to Rahul's confession that dynasty is a reality in India, and cited examples, Irani's comment that he came from a failed dynasty, sounded cheap. A dynasty that has held a political party together for more than 70 years and country united and democracy intact, can hardly be called “failed”. A dynasty that had three generations in the office of prime minister, and made three others prime minister, cannot be called “failed”.  It can hardly be said that Rahul was telling lies. BJP only has to look inwards, and it will find that dynasty is indeed true in the Indian context. BJP too has numerous dynasts in itself. Congress party has been made almost irrelevant but there is scope for a spectacular revival, which makes the BJP take serious note. While Congress scams during UPA I & II, the losses are quantifiable and they never meddled with lives of poor & peasants, Modi's reckless adventures inflicted incalculable injuries to all people of India especially to poor & peasants and losses are unquantifiable. In the process, constitution was undermined, cabinet & parliament ciphered, citizen's rights trampled, rule of the law destroyed, judiciary weakened, institutions made irrelevant and India's democracy is indeed perilous. 

Dynasty runs every where in India

Dynasty runs every where in India in all walks of life -- politics, businesses, professions, and so on. This undermines merit, the essence of democracy. Royal titles having been abolished but Indians seem to not given up on the idea of dynastic rule. About 30% of the current MPs are dynasts.

• Whether it’s politics, businesses, or bollywood, Indians seem to have trust in their off springs, irrespective of whether they might be deserving or not. The stunning example is Rahul Gandhi.
• Dynasts are a widespread phenomenon in Asia. Singapore is effectively run by the Lee family. In China, sons and daughters of leading party members are known as 'red princes' because of the influence they wield. With the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, and the Bush family, America can't afford to sneer at Indian dynasts.
• Dynasticism works in modern political systems because it appeals to notions of inherited charisma that help legitimize leadership succession and minimize organisational division. In India, dynasts do seem able to hold parties together. 
• The Nehru-Gandhi family is the most prominent political dynasty in the country with four generations of the family having ruled the country. The Nehru-Gandhi family is the keystone of the Congress party. Take them out and the Congress party collapses. There are several dynasties across party lines all over the country. There seems nothing objectionable in political power passing from parent to progeny. In India dynasties are serving the needs of the present times while preserving democracy by providing a measure of stability.
• Even big business houses are quite often family-run enterprises. The Birlas, the Tatas and the Ambanis, three names that signify wealth and entrepreneurship for Indians, have passed on the baton from generation to generation, rarely allowing outsiders to head their conglomerates.
• One of Sonia Gandhi’s fiercest critics, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray slammed her and her family for running a “fiefdom” and then went ahead and did exactly the same thing. In 2004, Thackeray declared his son, a political novice, as leader of Siva Sena.
• The Bollywood is dotted with “star kids” hoping that their children will continue to capture the imagination of audiences, lack of talent notwithstanding. Some have made it and some have fallen by the wayside.
• Governments run by 'the dynasty' doled out more subsidies, spent more and indebted the economy more than by non-dynastic governments. Subsidies create distortions in asset use, dampen individual incentives, promoted rampant corruption and resulted in retarded economic growth & development of nation.
• The communists and the Jan Sangh (BJP) were participants in Indian elections from the very beginning. Yet, in comparison to the Congress, they are far less dynastic.
• America which shouts loudest about democracy could be described as a plutocracy, such is the wealth required to enter the political fray as a major player there.

If you are not a communist at 20 you have problem with your heart and 

if you are not a capitalist by 40 you have problem with your brain ... Sudha Murthy

In a democracy it is the 'will' of the people which is supreme. Dynasty or non-dynasty is immaterial, as long as the candidate ascends to position based on the principle of the 'rule of the law'. There is no bar on dynastic descendant to participate in the process of elections. Most politicians forget that what ever sense or nonsense they do as per their whims is not necessarily in the interest of people nor has their approval. Therefore the processes must be transparent and followed at all times, discretion must be exercised rarely or never, accountability at all times, and financial matters must always have prior legislature approval. To ensure these, institutions must be strong and independent and must not be trampled with. Unfortunately that is not happening and opposite is prevailing. Social media cramped with BJP trolls are spreading untruths always pro-BJP and anti-Congress sentiments where as the fact is that both are as bad as each other. Today very few are bothered about worst state of economy, unemployment, distressed agriculture, perilous banking sector etc but are happily engaged in dirty politics and chest thumping for nothing with trophy projects or achievements. The kind of money spent each day on government advertisements for self aggrandizement -- a small town or 100 villages could be modernized every day.

Post Nehru, Congress governments rule resulted in rampant corruption and unmanageable subsidies and political landscape got filled with corruption money, musclemen and criminals. However, non congress governments headed by Morarji Desai and VP Singh did no better or even worse. Vajpayee did nothing except building highways & roads and could not control communal riots especially in Gujarat. Congress governments succeeding these non congress catastrophic governments provided much needed stability and economic recovery. Today, Modi government's 3+ year rule there is nothing to boast off except relentless publicity with economic parameters worse than where he started in 2014 despite very low oil prices. Failed demonetization, mangled GST hurriedly rolled out impacted economy greatly. With PSU banks on the verge of collapse with nearly Rs.10 lakh crores of NPAs economic recovery prior to 2019 is unlikely. 

Therefore, dynasty or non-dynasty is not an issue as long as it has people's mandate. Under Modi administration several state governments patronized by Modi's BJP don't have electoral mandate but are in power with manipulation of numbers. Matter of shame in the largest democracy.