The Atma of Politics
Keeping it in the family: What’s Wrong with the Anatomy of India’s Political System?

Recently in the Indian state of Maharashtra, in the city of Amravati, the winner of a hotly contested state assembly seat was announced. Rajendra Shekhawat, a 42-year-old relative newcomer to elected political office had, under the Congress Party banner, just beaten out the former Congress Party two-term incumbent, Dr. Sunil Deshmukh. This wouldn’t be the first time that an incumbent was defeated in a state election by a newcomer but there is a particular aspect of this election, which raises eyebrows a bit. Rajendra Shekhawat is the son of Pratibha Patil, the President of India.

Not only is Mr. Shekhawat the President’s son but the incumbent Dr. Deshmukh was pushed aside by his party in order for Mr. Shekhawat to run for office (A seat which President Patil formerly held as well). In an unusual display of rebellion in a democracy where party loyalty is everything, Dr. Deshmukh broke ranks, left the party and continued his election bid as an independent, running not only as an incumbent but also under the idea of fighting political “injustice” in the form party nepotism. Dr. Deshmukh was quoted as saying “If he [Shekhawat] is defeated that will send a very strong message to all parties, no? If the person is only the son or daughter or a nephew of an important person, you can’t just thrust him on the people.”

His battle was one that found supporters in many of the local constituents, as well as defiant Congress Party officials and the mayor, Ashok Dongre. But in the end, even “fighting the good fight” was not enough to overcome the political machinery, strength and legacy of the family dynasty connected to Mr.Shekhawat and the Congress Party establishment who made it very clear at the outset they wanted Dr. Deshmukh to step aside so that they have Mr. Shekhawat run.

The unsuccessful but valiant bid by Dr Deshmukh brings up an even bigger issue then its own internal problems. The issue of nepotism, favoritism and preference for familial political dynasties within India’s political arena draws deep concern about how in the world’s largest democracy politics is being used in some ways as “ancestral property” to be passed down from generation to generation. If India’s democracy is supposed to constitutionally allow for any good citizen to run for office then it’s India’s political parties that quarantine and stagnate that ability through quintessentially undemocratic policies and principles that highly discourage dissent.

The statistics are in many ways remarkable. Though India has roughly 1050 national and regional registered political parties, almost all officers and those running for office are hand-picked by party leadership. Often, Party Bosses select candidates for standing in an election without democratic consensus and often they pick their own relatives. Out of the 32 members of the Prime Ministers cabinet 9 people either come from political families or have children who are holding or seeking office. In Parliament, a recent study revealed that out of the 58 women who were elected, 31 of them had a husband, brother, father or father-in-law in politics. These figures are only discussing issues at the national level; within the state political arena, political families are even more entrenched in government.

Whether they come from the Nehru- Gandhi family in Congress or the Abdullah family of Kashmir or the Badal Singh family of Punjab or the Karunaniddhi family of Tamil Nadu or the Gowda family of Karnataka or even the Patnaik family of Orissa, the list goes on and on. One thing is for certain, those in India, who are in power, look to preserve that power within the family and from a cultural point of view, Indian people encourage the idea of keeping the political families political, across generations.

For sure, this phenomenon in India is not unique. Even in the United States, we have the Kennedy family with members of the clan involved in politics at almost every level in various parts of the country. We cannot forget about the Bush family, the Clinton family or the Biden family or here in New York, he Cuomo family and the Spano family and of course the Weprin family. To be sure, familial political legacies run strong in the US as well. And this similarity between India and the United States is a common occurrence all across the globe. So then the question comes up about whether India political families have a problem at all?

In the end though, we have to ask ourselves whether these people and their families are continuously being elected back into office just on name alone or is this just the will of the people based on the candidate whom they choose? Of course there may always be some favoritism involved but that comes as part and parcel with the nature of politics, people banding together to gain power of some sort. Political familial dynasties allow for us to have an idea of what type of power, influence and ideology a certain family will yield. If these families were not popular to begin with the likelihood of their continued success would be minute. Either way you look at this issue it boils down to power; those who have it and want to retain it and those who want it. This is the Atma of Politics!

Dev B. Viswanath is a practicing attorney who is currently hosting a weekly political show called Desis & Politics which airs on Saturdays at 8:30 am and repeated on Sundays at 10 pm on ITV/ITVGOLD in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut on Time Warner Cable (Channel 77 or 563) and Cablevision (Channel 544). You can also watch previously aired programs at www.itvonweb.com . Please feel free to email Dev with your comments or suggestions at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

[ BY DEV B. VISWANATH ]