Why do Indians Embrace Political Dynasties?

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 16 February 2012, 01:59 IST   |    20 Comments
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However, nepotism in politics is not attributed to congress alone and the ongoing assembly elections in five states have shown how deep this culture is rooted to Indian politics. According to a civil society group, many of the women candidates in the municipal elections in Mumbai, where there is 50 percent reservation for women, are standing in for male relatives. Many of India’s politicians have inherited their seats from their parents, sibling, or other member of the family. In his recent book titled ‘India: A Portrait. An intimate biography of 1.2 billion people’, British historian Patrick French says that 100 percent of Indian MPs under the age of 30 are hereditary. His website, ‘The Indian Site,’ further states that two-thirds of Indian MPs under the age of 40 are from political families and less than 10 percent of MPs over the age of 70 are hereditary. The author also states that 27 MPs are classified as ‘hyperhereditary’, and 19 of them are in the Congress party. The word hyperhereditary means that they have multiple family connections, and several family members who have made a career out of politics.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist parties in India and are not dynastic in nature, although they are not free of hereditary MPs. It’s not only in India that dynastic politics is seen.  The Bush and Kennedy families, Kim Il-sung and his sons, Bhuttos etc have ruled their respective states over the years. However, the ideological degeneration in politics is what alarms the general public and when the “privileged sons” take over power from their fathers, they often lack the political will and social commitments their fathers had.