Save India from the Menace of Dynasty Politics

There has always been a debate about dynastic politics in India which is weakening our country. The real problem is that we can’t legally stop politician’s family members to come into politics, hence we leave it like this only. But this is not at all a serious problem.

The most serious concern in our democracy is perpetual ownership of a political party by a family. Except for a few national parties like BJP and Left parties, all parties from Kashmir to Kanyakumari are owned by families. So the most suitable solution is to make these political parties adopt a democratic system. And the President of a party can’t be from a family for more than two terms. These self-declared “LOKTANTRIK RAJWADA” system must be scrapped. A political party is a platform for public voice and a particular ideology to serve the nation in its own way.

Once these political parties become more democratic these Loktantrik Rajwadas will automatically disappear, and there will be common people, and party workers with that particular ideology will govern them.

In the early days of post Independence, Congress party did for the country to dissolve the Rajwada system, we expect owe the Election Commission to do the same for the country to make India free from these Family Systems.

A healthy democracy is essential for a developed country. Our country has a vision and potential to be a developed country in future. World’s most developed countries have a democratic system. China may have single-party system but leadership does not get transferred to a family.

Over the past 25 years, we have seen the emergence of a lot of political parties which are family-owned with a perpetual right. There is hardly any democracy in the world which almost gone into the hands of a few families. India is the world’s largest democracy suffering from this plague because we have not made our political parties democratic. And most of the problem will be solved by making them democratic. It should be from a particular ideology and on rotation basis only.

The following points can be enforced on the national political parties of India by law to adopt the democratic system within their party –

1. Since political parties form governments, it’s necessary for them to be democratic. Perpetual ownership by dynasties creates a barrier to common people / party worker / leaders to lead the party. Indirectly, the country is ruled by a family. It’s against the spirit of democracy.
2. The family by virtue of being “high command forever” will decide who will be the part of the government as PM / CM / Ministers, etc. Party workers or senior party leaders will have little say over the selection.
3. The parties will not be subject to transparent audits. The families who own these political parties can hide a lot of black money.
4. The dynasties controlling political parties family will always the power to nominate themselves in different Houses of Parliament and assembly. Whatever minimum seats they get, but they will be in power forever by virtue of this undemocratic system.
5. A political party can’t be registered unless it has democratic setup. But the families  perpetually have party president post forever.
6. Since a person can contest elections unlimited times and serves as ministers unlimited times, their dynasties should not be given power to control respective parties beyond a prescribed time frame. A political party is a public platform for a particular ideology and should be free for all with similar ideology and belief.
7. A party President should not be CM or PM candidate at the same time. If he is elected as CM, or PM, he must resign from the party president post. There must be healthy power balance between government and the party.

The biggest fear is that if the current party in center won’t take initiative, this problem will be never be solved as most of the parties are ruled by dynasties. Earlier even Congress party used to have independent party Presidents but now it has a particular family. Likewise, Mulayam Singh and Lalu Yadav are result of a movement when Janta Dal gave them opportunity to lead and then the parties were not dominated by families. They forgot the ideology and vision, now they have transferred their into their proprietary political party. Even Mamta Banarjee and Mayawati are doing the same thing.

From Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, most of the Indian political parties have become like this except BJP and Left and maybe a couple of more. Now, these families won’t let the capable people come forward and for them, the only criteria will be “Vafadaari” and “Chamchas.” But this trend is hurting our nation in long run.

The time is concise, but this won’t require much of a change as such. The basic spirit of the constitution must prevail. We are in a democratic system, and it should be implemented in its true spirit. Public institutions like the Supreme Court or Election Commission or Parliament must issue a directive in this regard that these families who have served as party President for more than two terms must make it free for all on a rotation basis with immediate effect.

Let’s hope that the current government will help our country make free from these self-declared “Loktantrik Rajwadas”

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