‘Parivarvad’ is a Hindi word that means ‘dynasticism,’ a system of government in which all the leaders are from the same family. This has been the modus operandi of the Indian National Congress (INC) since they first came into power in 1947. They have been the ruling party for the majority of the nation’s existence. Since then, their leadership has been plagued by nepotism and corruption. Dominated by the Nehru-Gandhi family, this bloodline has produced three prime ministers and countless party leaders.
Unethical practices are commonplace for this family. Jawaharlala Nehru, the first prime minister of India, was introduced to politics in 1916 by his father Motilal Nehru, the then president of the INC. In 1946, despite the party electing Sardar Patel as prime minister, Jawaharlal used his family’s influence in the party to claim the spot. In both a metaphorical and literal sense, nepotism is the bedrock of Indian politics. 78 years later, this practice still runs rampant. Most recently in 2017, Rahul Gandhi was ‘elected’ as the President of the INC, in an unopposed ceremony where he was photographed at the helm of a party bowing down and praying to him. The foundational ideal of a democracy where all people are equal is obliterated by this self-proclaimed ‘royal’ bloodline.
2014 was a landmark year for Indian politics. The nation had the choice between the Gandhi’s INC and the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and their leader Narendra Modi as prime minister. Modi campaigned hard against the nepotism of the past, leading the public to have hope in India’s democracy. Very quickly, Rahul Gandhi became the poster child of incompetence and entitlement. The election turned into a battle of perception. On the one hand, Modi, being a humble tea seller with no family in politics helped him acquire a kind of moral authority superior to his political authority. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi was portrayed as the apogee of undeserved entitlement, the epitome of corruption and the outdated old guard.
Modi was elected in a landslide. During his term, he initiated nepotistic countermeasures on multiple fronts. The imposition of the ‘No-Dynast’ rule prevented children of current officeholders from contending for state elections. In 2022, Utpal Parrikar, son of late Chief Minister (akin to the Governor post in the U.S.A) Manohar Parrikar was declined the seat of Panaji (a constituency in South India). Additionally, in his 78th Independence Day address, Modi called upon 100,000 previously non-affiliated youth to join politics, reiterating the importance of youth empowerment as the sustainable solution to deep-rooted nepotism. During his now more than decade-long tenure, the number of universities in the country has grown from 720 to 1100 and the number of medical colleges has increased from 400 to 700. Finally, his government established the Capacity Building Commission of India, an independent training institute for government officials. This was peddled as the cure to incompetence and inefficiency stemming from nepotism. Its complementary program was a revamp of the public service hiring system to increase transparency and reduce red-tape, prioritizing merit over surname.
These policies allow the BJP to portray itself as standing firmly against nepotism. They claim the right to morally deride other parties and parade themselves as self-made common men sparking a revolution. However, a look behind their sanctimonious façade reveals a rich history of nepotism as well as its unconstrained use to remain in power.
Less than two months after Modi’s call to the youth, the party’s candidates for three assembly by-elections were all children of previous BJP politicians. Unsurprisingly, the party abandoned principle to maintain their grip on power. Further, two sitting chief ministers in South India have ascended their parents’ posts. On the national level, 12% of BJP’s 395 parliamentarians across the two houses are dynasts. To top it off, 15 out of 30 positions in the Prime Minister’s cabinet are a part of dynastic politics. Evidently, the high horse Modi was parading around on was made of wood, its hollow inside filled with the same unscrupulous practices of the past.
The country soon opened its eyes to this façade of renewal and the BJP started losing favor with the public. To respond to the catastrophic drop in approval ratings, In October 2021, the BJP decided to strictly implement the ‘no dynast rule.’ With the whole country watching, there was no circumventing this promise. They blatantly refused candidacy to family members of many leaders and unsurprisingly lost these polls by an embarrassing margin. As a result, the party amended the blanket ‘no dynast’ rule to a case-by-case evaluation. Translating political speak to truth, the alleged renewal was yet another façade.
The results of the 2024 elections have further aligned BJP with nepotistic ideals. Unlike the absolute majority they have enjoyed over the past decade, their power now is held together by an alliance of various regional parties. As a result, the BJP has had to sacrifice some of their political agenda and publicly endorse the nepotistic candidates of other parties. It is ironic that to maintain a stable country, they have to sacrifice a legitimate democracy.
On the other side of the aisle, the INC is still lamenting over their consecutive losses in the general elections and decided to revisit their ‘parivarvad’ policy. In May 2022, the party enacted policies to counteract nepotistic influences. The ’50 below 50’ initiative revised the party structure to fill half of all posts to those below 50 years of age. In conjunction with the above policy, they set up the National Training Institute as an investment in the next generation. A cap of a five-year term limit was also placed on all office bearers. However, the most significant step is the ‘one family one ticket’ policy which prevents two family members from running for the same ticket. This was reveled as having as much significance as the Rowlatt act and sparked hope in an otherwise dwindling party following.
However, as American writer and journalist James Thurber said, “There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception.” One year after the ‘one family, one ticket’ declaration, the party allowed a husband and wife to run in a local election in the state of Telangana. Further, a recently concluded state election saw both incumbent Chief Minister and his daughter run, infuriating many within and outside the party. Congress’ substandard response to this hypocrisy cited a caveat in the ‘one family one ticket’ rule that permitted a second family member to stand for a ticket if they have worked for the party for at least five years.
As evident on both sides of the aisle, neither party is immune to dynastic practices. Perpetuated by India’s collectivist culture, nepotism is not only validated but viewed as the standard. Moreover, the idealism of political figures and their God-like perception foments a monarchy paradigm with strong emotional bonds between constituents and politicians.’ Hence, when their children stand for the ticket, no one bats an eye. As a BJP leader succinctly put it, “Why would I make the extra effort to nurture the constituency if I can’t pass on my legacy.”
The effects of nepotistic politicians manifest beyond the scope of governance. Our newsrooms are filled with children of journalists and politicians disseminating propaganda and compromising the notion of a free and unbiased media. Additionally, the conviction of the former chief minister of Haryana, his son, and fifty-three others in connection with the Junior Basic Teachers’ (a teacher training program that prepares students to become primary school teachers) scam proves the severity of this problem. Not only does this result in inequity of opportunity, but it also creates social unrest and destabilizes the country. In November 2022, BJP councilors staged a protest near a Mayor’s office demanding her resignation after a letter to the CPI (Communist Party of India) district secretary Nagappan was leaked demanding vacancies be filled according to a priority list produced by the party.
While reports on nepotism in the legislative and executive branch reach the limelight, the judiciary is also victim to this treachery. The collegium recruitment process grants sitting judges the power to provide legally binding recommendations to the president about appointments. It is easy to see how this power could be abused. 35% of incumbent judges are either related to a judge or politician. 2014 saw a spark of hope as the parliament voted across party lines to replace the collegium system to the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). However, as we have seen with renewals before, this bore no fruition. In 2016, a bench of the Supreme Court heard the case and struck down the NJAC. It is ironic that the people the NJAC harmed were the ones deciding its fate. One of the justices on the bench Kurian Joseph, who gave the original verdict on the case, openly declared in 2019 that he regrets his decision.
It is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that nepotism is and always has been an inexorable part of Indian politics regardless of political affiliation or government branch. Its roots in Indian culture allows the world’s largest democracy to be held hostage by inequitable, corrupt and incompetent ideals. The freedom from monarchy our forefathers sacrificed their lives for has been replaced by an oligarchy, masking itself as a democracy.
Husain Master ‘27 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at h.a.master@wustl.edu.