V – Vanshavaad | #AtoZChallenge

V – Vanshavaad | #AtoZChallenge #BlogchatterA2Z

When a certain member of the oldest political party entered into the political fray this year, the debate around dynasty politics or ‘Vanshavaad’ was revived again. Time and again, the current ruling party attacks the opposition and tries to corner them on this topic. This was a huge talking point during the 2014 campaigning and it has become again as soon as the General Elections of 2019 approached.
I am a firm believer of equal opportunities for everyone. One should get a fairground to perform and they should be promoted on the basis of merit. When you keep shouting at the top of your voice that the other party is only of dynasts and nothing else, but you keep fielding almost an equal number of candidates then you are just exposing your hypocrisy.
Since 1999, the Congress has had 36 dynastic MPs elected to the Lok Sabha, with the BJP not far behind with 31. In 2009 the Congress had 11% and BJP had 12% dynasts elected. What this data highlight is the candidate where a father or mother or spouse was a previous candidate, what it doesn’t the candidates who are relatives or close members of a clan. As per Lok Sabha data about 44% of the ruling party comprises of dynasts.
I am not saying that one party is more democratic in nature than the other. If in one the power lies with one family then it is quite evident who controls the bridle in the other. It lies with two men.
When somebody questions their allegiance to dynast regional parties they start looking in the other direction. Regional parties are the biggest dynasts in India. One person starts a movement and three decades later there are a bunch from the same family.
When you have the same grandfather, how is that you abuse one grandson for the grandfather’s crimes but you literally forget the other grandson – just because he is a part of your political family.
Each and every member gets selected to the parliament on voting – we are still a democracy the last time I checked so I don’t understand this hue and cry about dynasty. If you question that means you are questioning every individual who voted for them. Secondly, if you literally want to question then raise them over the candidates fielded. If more and more dynast candidates keep getting voted to parliament, more and more parties will field such candidates. You stop voting for these candidates and the parties will have to change.
Sorry to say but for someone to be tagged as a dynast there have to be people in politics from their family long enough. I am not commenting on anyone’s family lineage, all I am trying to say is that when a party gets established so late and then half of its original members aren’t married because of whatever their ideology is then it is not the fault of other political figures that have kids.
Many say that there is nothing wrong in being dynasts when you are doing business and they claim that politics isn’t business. I beg to differ on that, given the amount of money being spent and the huge corporate backing to parties, especially one, it shows there are business and corporate interests embedded in the funding.
One of my batch mates is working for a political consultancy in Maharashtra in these elections. He said one of a major real estate player alone is pumping in about Rs 500 crore for the ruling party in Maharashtra. I am cent percent sure this work is not being done as a part of a charity. There are vested interests that push to go for such a massive influx of money.
In every walk of life, there are people with family lineage. I am wondering did Narayan Murthy’s son or daughter start as fresher in Infosys?
Blaming the offspring for the crimes of parent…I mean how logical is that. If that is your yardstick then once a person commits a crime the whole family should be maligned forever.
Nowhere it is written that if someone is a dynast then they can’t deliver. I know I am citing Bollywood, but it is the second most abused field when it comes to nepotism. I agree, that the people who get favored, their entry is easy, but I would totally disagree that they would keep getting work after continuous failure. The ones who have the talent and have proved their worth, last longer.
Similarly, in politics, I can give ample examples where the second or third generation have performed equally good if not better whether they hail from any political party.
Another issue that they raise when they discuss Vanshvaad is that these people don’t work at the grass root level and directly get tickets to contest elections. Well, the ruling party is on a hiring spree, purchasing candidates, Bollywood celebrities and cricketers in the morning and giving them tickets by the night just exposes their hypocrisy even more.
In fact, politics the world over is a highly dynastic and countries have elected members of the same family, from the US and Japan to the Philippines and Indonesia, so India is not unique. A study, ‘The Effect of Political Dynasties on
Economic Development’ states – Individuals are 110 times more likely to enter into politics if they have a politician father, compared to other elite professions such as medicine and law.
When you question the youth what profession they want to choose, I hardly see anyone saying that they want to join politics. If you see all around you right from the Panchayati level to the top only the tainted candidates get fielded, with very little as an exception. This scenario will change but over a longer period of time when citizens begin to participate.
The simple logic is if you have a problem with Vanshavaad simply don’t vote them.
Till then all I can say is, Keep enjoying the Mela!
For all those who believe in the merit-based system,
For all those who are against dynasty politics,
For all those who are grass root workers,
And
For all those who believe that Vanshvad is here to stay…
It’s not a goodbye,
But it’s a GOOD BYE.
Manas ‘Sameer’ Mukul
This is the 22th post for the #AtoZChallenge #BlogchatterA2Z. My theme in Politics Category is ‘IPL – Indian Parliamentary League’, where I would be covering some relevant issues with the General Elections 2019 through the course of 26 posts.
Read the previous post here: IPL – Indian Parliamentary League
Please do visit tomorrow for the next post with letter ‘W’
I am also taking part in the #AtoZChallenge #BlogchatterA2Z using another theme –‘Dubai – City of Gold‘. If you love travel head over to the Travel Theme and share your feedback.