Union minister Sachin Pilot, son of Congress politician Rajesh Pilot, has been appointed head of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee, and will lead the party’s 2014 Lok Sabha campaign. Arun Yadav, a former union minister of state and son of former Madhya Pradesh deputy chief minister Subhash Yadav, will lead the party in Madhya Pradesh.
The two are only the latest in a long line of young politicians across party lines who have been drafted into high-ranking positions by virtue of their lineage.
The media has heaped praise on the Aam Aadmi Party for changing the way politicians approach politics. However, even AAP hasn't been able to persuade mainstream parties to abandon their strategy of reposing trust in specific families and passing seats down from generation to generation like heirlooms.
Today, almost 60 per cent of Indians live in states in which dynastic politics reigns supreme. More than half a billion people have a chief minister or a leader of the opposition whose father or mother has previously ruled the state. Every one of the country's 28 states has politicians whose primary qualification is that a parent or relative was one too.
That would seem to be Sachin Pilot's primary qualification. His father, Rajesh Pilot, was a confidant of Rajiv Gandhi. Although Sachin Pilot, a contemporary of Rahul Gandhi, has been in politics for ten years, his first real achievement came only in 2009 when he was re-elected in Ajmer after defeating a BJP candidate by 76,000 votes. He has since been appointed union minister for corporate affairs.
Arun Yadav's track record has been less scintillating. While he is also a two-time MP, he has not held any significant position of power. He was union minister of state for heavy industries and then of agriculture, but was removed after a cabinet reshuffle. He has been a member on the Other Backward Classes welfare committee since May 2013.
In an effort to revive their struggling 2014 election campaign in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress seems to be grasping at straws. In last year's state assembly election, the Congress was roundly defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party. With Pilot and Yadav's appointments, the Congress seems to have again mistaken youth for performance and lineage for fresh blood.
When it comes to Indian dynasties, the Gandhis are, of course, the country's prime exhibits. They have maintained their primacy in the Congress since Jawaharlal Nehru. Rahul Gandhi, the current vice president of the party, belongs to the fourth generation of the family to have entered politics. But as this chart shows, the Gandhis aren't the only family guilty of nepotism.
Nine states have chief ministers or opposition leaders who belong to established political families. Six of these are from regional parties. In addition to Rajasthan, Congress dynasties hold sway in two states: Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Political power in Andhra Pradesh is divided between a few castes, one of which is the Reddys. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is the son of N Amarnath Reddy, a minister in PV Narasimha Rao’s government. They are not related to former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, also of the Congress Party, who died in a helicopter crash in 2009. YSR’s son Jaganmohan Reddy is currently a member of parliament.
Madhya Pradesh also has a cluster of political families, including the Scindia clan. The Singhs are also influential. Ajay Singh, the leader of the opposition in MP, is the son of Arjun Singh a minister in the Manmohan Singh government until his sudden death in 2011.
Regional parties are also given to promoting dynasties.
Omar Abdullah is the son of Farooq Abdullah, himself the son of the first chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The youngest Abdullah, from the National Conference, has been the president of the party since 2006 and chief minister of the state since 2009.
The deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, is the nephew of Nationalist Congress Party leader and Union minister of agriculture, Sharad Pawar. He got his first electoral seat in 1992 as a Lok Sabha MP from Baramati. His uncle had been contesting from there since 1967. Ajit Pawar has since moved squarely to Maharashtra politics, while Sharad Pawar has moved on to the national scene.
The Samajwadi Party, led by Akhilesh Yadav, trounced the Bahujan Samaj Party in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election in 2012. Akhilesh then became the state’s youngest chief minister. Yadav is the son of SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been the chief minister of UP three times.
Naveen Patnaik started the Biju Janata Dal in 1997 after his father died and he split from the Janata Dal. His father Biju Patnaik was a former chief minister of Orissa from the Janata Dal. Naveen Patnaik has been chief minister of Orissa since 2000.
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal took over from his father Parkash Singh Badal as president of the Shiromani Akali Dal in 2008. He first became deputy chief minister in February 2009, but had to resign after he was unable to get a seat in the Punjab legislative assembly within six months. One month later, in August 2009, he won a by-election from Jalalabad and resumed the post.
In Tamil Nadu, both the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are dominated by dynasties. Although Jayalalitha, the head of the AIADMK and chief minister of Tamil Nadu, was not related by blood to MGR, her mentor, she was closely associated with him.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam from Tamil Nadu is replete with the extended family of party supremo N Karunanidhi. The DMK is the second-largest opposition party in the state.
A technicality prevents the residents of Maharashtra from being included in this list on the count of the Shiv Sena. Bal Thackeray, the undisputed head of the Shiv Sena, never contested any elections. Although his son Uddhav and grandson Aditya still influence policy decisions, they have also have refused to stand for elections. Besides, the Shiv Sena is only the second-largest opposition party in the state.
Not all the people on the list are young or unproven. Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalitha, for example, have long demonstrated their political acumen. What the list does indicate is the extent to which nepotism and patronage is necessary to gain a foothold in Indian politics today.
AAP might seek to break this down by recruiting widely, but it will be a while before it can possibly hope to alter such an entrenched system of privilege and blood.
The two are only the latest in a long line of young politicians across party lines who have been drafted into high-ranking positions by virtue of their lineage.
The media has heaped praise on the Aam Aadmi Party for changing the way politicians approach politics. However, even AAP hasn't been able to persuade mainstream parties to abandon their strategy of reposing trust in specific families and passing seats down from generation to generation like heirlooms.
Today, almost 60 per cent of Indians live in states in which dynastic politics reigns supreme. More than half a billion people have a chief minister or a leader of the opposition whose father or mother has previously ruled the state. Every one of the country's 28 states has politicians whose primary qualification is that a parent or relative was one too.
That would seem to be Sachin Pilot's primary qualification. His father, Rajesh Pilot, was a confidant of Rajiv Gandhi. Although Sachin Pilot, a contemporary of Rahul Gandhi, has been in politics for ten years, his first real achievement came only in 2009 when he was re-elected in Ajmer after defeating a BJP candidate by 76,000 votes. He has since been appointed union minister for corporate affairs.
Arun Yadav's track record has been less scintillating. While he is also a two-time MP, he has not held any significant position of power. He was union minister of state for heavy industries and then of agriculture, but was removed after a cabinet reshuffle. He has been a member on the Other Backward Classes welfare committee since May 2013.
In an effort to revive their struggling 2014 election campaign in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Congress seems to be grasping at straws. In last year's state assembly election, the Congress was roundly defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party. With Pilot and Yadav's appointments, the Congress seems to have again mistaken youth for performance and lineage for fresh blood.
When it comes to Indian dynasties, the Gandhis are, of course, the country's prime exhibits. They have maintained their primacy in the Congress since Jawaharlal Nehru. Rahul Gandhi, the current vice president of the party, belongs to the fourth generation of the family to have entered politics. But as this chart shows, the Gandhis aren't the only family guilty of nepotism.
Nine states have chief ministers or opposition leaders who belong to established political families. Six of these are from regional parties. In addition to Rajasthan, Congress dynasties hold sway in two states: Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Political power in Andhra Pradesh is divided between a few castes, one of which is the Reddys. Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is the son of N Amarnath Reddy, a minister in PV Narasimha Rao’s government. They are not related to former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, also of the Congress Party, who died in a helicopter crash in 2009. YSR’s son Jaganmohan Reddy is currently a member of parliament.
Madhya Pradesh also has a cluster of political families, including the Scindia clan. The Singhs are also influential. Ajay Singh, the leader of the opposition in MP, is the son of Arjun Singh a minister in the Manmohan Singh government until his sudden death in 2011.
Regional parties are also given to promoting dynasties.
Omar Abdullah is the son of Farooq Abdullah, himself the son of the first chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The youngest Abdullah, from the National Conference, has been the president of the party since 2006 and chief minister of the state since 2009.
The deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, is the nephew of Nationalist Congress Party leader and Union minister of agriculture, Sharad Pawar. He got his first electoral seat in 1992 as a Lok Sabha MP from Baramati. His uncle had been contesting from there since 1967. Ajit Pawar has since moved squarely to Maharashtra politics, while Sharad Pawar has moved on to the national scene.
The Samajwadi Party, led by Akhilesh Yadav, trounced the Bahujan Samaj Party in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election in 2012. Akhilesh then became the state’s youngest chief minister. Yadav is the son of SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been the chief minister of UP three times.
Naveen Patnaik started the Biju Janata Dal in 1997 after his father died and he split from the Janata Dal. His father Biju Patnaik was a former chief minister of Orissa from the Janata Dal. Naveen Patnaik has been chief minister of Orissa since 2000.
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal took over from his father Parkash Singh Badal as president of the Shiromani Akali Dal in 2008. He first became deputy chief minister in February 2009, but had to resign after he was unable to get a seat in the Punjab legislative assembly within six months. One month later, in August 2009, he won a by-election from Jalalabad and resumed the post.
In Tamil Nadu, both the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam are dominated by dynasties. Although Jayalalitha, the head of the AIADMK and chief minister of Tamil Nadu, was not related by blood to MGR, her mentor, she was closely associated with him.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam from Tamil Nadu is replete with the extended family of party supremo N Karunanidhi. The DMK is the second-largest opposition party in the state.
A technicality prevents the residents of Maharashtra from being included in this list on the count of the Shiv Sena. Bal Thackeray, the undisputed head of the Shiv Sena, never contested any elections. Although his son Uddhav and grandson Aditya still influence policy decisions, they have also have refused to stand for elections. Besides, the Shiv Sena is only the second-largest opposition party in the state.
Not all the people on the list are young or unproven. Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalitha, for example, have long demonstrated their political acumen. What the list does indicate is the extent to which nepotism and patronage is necessary to gain a foothold in Indian politics today.
AAP might seek to break this down by recruiting widely, but it will be a while before it can possibly hope to alter such an entrenched system of privilege and blood.
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