Okay.... India is young. But what about those in power? If you follow Indian politics, can you shortlist a few politicians who are below 45? (I said shortlist 'coz the list is really very short)
You might name Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Omar Abdullah, Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, etc. Okay, since you've answered my first question, here's another one. What do these 'young' leaders have in common?
Let me tell you, their parents were all politicians. Above all, they never had to compete with the grassroot partyworkers. They never had to come through party ranks.
This means that in India, if you want to enter politics and make it big as a youngster, you must have a Father or a Godfather in politics. To make it big early, you have to be from a political family. Otherwise, politics in India is for the older guys.
Lets take the examples of people holding top posts in India. The President Pratibha Patil is 73. Vice President Mohd Hamid Ansari is 75. PM Manmohan Singh is 77.
The situation in the states is even worse. Chief Ministers of 6 Indian states have crossed 70 year mark. And of those six, 3 have crossed the 80th 'milestone'. Kerala CM A S Achuthanandan is 86 followed by Tamil Nadu CM K Karunanidhi (85) and Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal (82). The members of 70-club are Uttarakhand CM Dr B C Khanduri (75), Assam CM Tarun Gogoi (73) and Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit (71).
Jammu & Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah (39) is the youngest CM. The other two in the 'youngest 3 CMs' list are Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (49) and Ashok Chavan (50). Of these three 'young' CMs, only one (Omar Abdulah) falls in the young age bracket (20-45 years). So, we just have one young CM.
And of these three, Omar Abdullah and Ashok Chavan hail from families with political history. Shivraj Singh Chouhan is an exception to this case. He has risen through his work in the RSS cadres and in the Bharatiya Janata Party to hold this post. But examples like this are of the rarest of the rare kind.
Let us take a few examples of 'SON-RISES' in Indian Politics :
- Rahul Gandhi (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Hails from the Gandhi-Nehru gamily, having a long political background. Currently holding the post of General Secretary of Indian National Congress. MP from Amethi. - Sachin Pilot (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former Union Minister Rajesh Pilot and former MP Rama Pilot. MP from Dausa. - Jitin Prasada (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former Union Minister Jitendra Prasada. MP from Shahjahanpur. - Milind Deora (Indian National Congress) :
Son of Petroleum Minister Murali Deora. MP from Mumbai South. - Jyotiraditya Scindia (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former Union Minister Madhavrao Scindia. MP from Guna. Hails from the royal Scindia family of Gwalior with a long history in politics and that too in different parties. - D Purandeswari (Indian National Congress) :
Daughter of former Andhra Pradesh CM N T Rama Rao. - Agatha Sangma (Nationalist Congress Party) :
Daughter of former Union Minister Purno A Sangma. At 27, she is the youngest Indian MP from Tura. - Dr Anbumani Ramadoss (Pattali Makkal Katchi) :
Son of Pattali Makkal Katchi Founder M Ramadoss. Union Health Minister. Youngest Minister in Manmohan Singh government. - Dayanidhi Maran (Dravida Munnetra Kazagham) :
Son of former Union Minister Murasoli Maran. Nephew of Dravida Munnetra Kazagham Chief and Tamil Nadu CM K Karunanidhi. Former Telecom Minister. - Rajbir Singh (Samajwadi Party) :
Son of former UP CM Kalyan Singh. - Akhikesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) :
Son of former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav. - Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party) :
Daughter of Agriculure Minister Sharad Pawar. NCP contestant from Baramati. - Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazagham) :
Daughter of Tamil Nadu CM K Karunanidhi. - M K Stalin (Dravida Munnetra Kazagham) :
Son of Tamil Nadu CM K Karunanidhi. Minister in Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu - Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) :
Son of Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. Currently Executive President of the Shiv Sena. - Raj Thackeray (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) :
Nephew of Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. Floated a new party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena after a power tussle between him and cousin Uddhav in Shiv Sena. - Chandra Mohan a.k.a. Chand Mohammed (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former Haryana CM Bhajan Lal. Former Deputy CM of Haryana. - Kuldeep Singh Bishnoi (Haryana Janhit Party) :
Son of former Haryana CM Bhajan Lal. MP from Bhiwani. - Sukhbir Singh Badal (Shiromani Akali Dal) :
Son of Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal. Deputy CM of Punjab. - K Muraleedharan (Nationalist Congress Party) :
Son of former Kerala CM K Karunakaran. Ex-KPCC President. Currently President of Kerala Nationalist Congress Party. - Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal) :
Son of former Orissa CM Biju Patnaik. Currently CM of Orissa. - Omar Abdullah (National Conference) :
Son of Dr Farookh Abdullah and Grandson of Sheikh Abdullah (both former CMs of Jammu & Kashmir). Currently CM of Jammu & Kashmir. - Mehbooba Mufti (People's Democratic Party) :
Daughter of former Jammu & Kashmir CM Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. - Amit Jogi (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former Chhattisgarh CM Ajit Jogi. - Naveen Jindal (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former Haryana Minister Sajjan Jindal. MP from Kurukshetra. - Priya Dutt (Indian National Congress) :
Daughter of former Union Minister Sunil Dutt. MP from Mumbai North-West. - Manvendra Singh (Bharatiya Janata Party) :
Son of former Union Minister Jaswant Singh. MP from Barmer. - Varun Feroze Gandhi (Bharatiya Janata Party) :
Son of Sanjay Gandhi and MP Maneka Gandhi. Linked to the Gandhi family. Bharatiya Janata Party contestant from Pilibhit. - Poonam Mahajan (Bharatiya Janata Party) :
Daughter of former Union Minister Pramod Mahajan. - Pankaj Bhujbal (Nationalist Congress Party) :
Son of Maharashtra Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal. - Sameer Bhujbal (Nationalist Congress Party) :
Nephew of Maharashtra Deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal. - H D Kumaraswamy (Janata Dal Secular) :
Son of former PM H D Devegowda. Former CM of Karnataka. - Dushyant Singh (Bharatiya Janata Party) :
Son of former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje. MP from Jhalawar. - Nilesh Rane (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane. - Nitesh Rane (Indian National Congress) :
Son of former Maharashtra CM Narayan Rane.
This was just the tip of the iceberg. There are many many more at lower levels. Looks like politics has become their 'family business'. Not just one or two parties, this happens in all parties.
So if a common younster, like you or me, want to join and make it big in politics, without any Godfather of even Father in politics, its next to impossible..... at least in India.
P.S. : The list above is not in the order of the importance of the leaders. I listed them as I recalled them. They have nothing to do with importance and/or my political view.
P.P.S. : I wanted to add photographs of each and every leader in the list above, but I did not do that to avoid excess load on the server.
Ankit, are you a research scholar?Fantastic.You are absolutely right.You and I can not get into politics.Have you noticed,these fellows in different press interviews always say"good people must come into politics to keep the bad one's out" I wish they also mention the route to politics.After all ,it is the most profitable business in the country.It gives you the maximum ROI.All you need is the political family name.
ReplyDelete@ Mr B K Chowla -
ReplyDeleteno sir..... i am not a research scholar..... its just that i have a keen intrest in politics..... and i just tried to jot down the names of politician sons (and daughters) who had inherited the political legacy of their family..... i maintain that the voters should turn out in large numbers and vote for the 'real' leaders who work for them.... and that too honestly.....
Very good observation, same as in Singapore. But I disagree with the conclusion. Most parents who are not in political field would not encourage their children to seek political appointments. Their view of political leaders are biased and distorted and these rubbed off on their children. It is true that some political leaders are incompetent and corrupt, many do keep low profile and serve their people faithfully. A political leader can make or break many families, not many people are willing to carry this heavy responsibility on their shoulders
ReplyDelete@ scheng -
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment..... i agree that not all of those in politics are corrupt..... but to be frank..... those who want to work honestly are vwry few in number..... moreover, the corrupt politicians would never let the honest guys progress.....
Hi Ankit, many people entered politics with a pure motive. They wanted to transform and build a clean and competent government, all for the good of the people. But they couldn't.
ReplyDeleteThey got to play by the "rule" to reach the top, then they got to conquer their own selfish desires.
Do you know what our famous ex-PM (current Minister Mentor) Lee Kuan Yew comment about ex-Indonesia President Suharto?
He agreed that Suharto was corrupted, but compared the amount he put into his pocket with the wealth built for the nation, it was actually very small.
I agree with that, as long as there is real wealth, the standard of living improve and all benefit from it.
@ scheng -
ReplyDeletei disagree with the fact that people enter politics with a pure motive.... in case of India, most of the people join politics either to rake the moolah out of it or due to some religious sentiments or caste equations or not to forget, to carry on the 'family legacy' (rather family business)......
to add to it, most of them are less educated, which is certainly not in your country.... so i say there's a hell lot of difference in the situations in India and in Singapore/Indonesia.....
Ankit,choice is becoming very limited.When democracy has been reduced to game of numbers,where to find "real"candidates.?
ReplyDelete@ Mr B K Chowla -
ReplyDeleteagreed sir..... actually, india can make only limited progress in this era of coalition politics..... had it been a two-party (plus independent) system in India, there wouldn't been such mud slinging dirty politics.....
in this multi-party system, no single party can enjoy comfortable majority and has to form government with the 'help' of other parties.... and then they threaten to withdraw support at the slightest move of the govt...... thats pure blackmailing..... isn't it?
Ankit,may b e Presedential system is the alternative.
ReplyDelete@ Mr B K Chowla -
ReplyDeleteyes sir.... and even a two-party (or maximum three may be) system can do a lot good.... but i don't think that can EVER happen..... the whole political system has to be changed.... thats next to impossible
Hey thats some good research done, if you been to Hyderabad, u ll see
ReplyDeletethat all the political parties and MPs have their sons either in
youthwings or already candidates for this election..
@ workhard -
ReplyDeletethank u very much for ur kind appreciation....
and not only hyderabad, its a story of the whole country.... as i said politics has become their 'family business'....