In Indian politics, it's always family first

Over the last few days, Cabinet formation has been delayed because of the family rivalries within United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) key ally, the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK).

There's been a tussle between DMK chief M Karunanidhi's children and grand nephew for Cabinet berths.

In fact family politics is not just the preserve of the DMK. Whether it’s the Shiv Sena's Thackeray family, the Shiromani Akali Dal's Badal family, the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) Patnaik family, the National Conference's Abdullah family, the Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav family, the Rashtriya Lok Dal's Ajit Singh family or the Nationalist Congress Party's Sharad Pawar family, it seems that most regional parties are family businesses.

CNN-IBN debated if politics at regional level had become family enterprises. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi; BJD MP from Bolangir, Orissa, Kalikesh Singh Deo; political editor, The Indian Express, Neerja Chowdhury and Columnist for The Pioneer Sandhya Jain discussed this on Face the Nation.

Many would see it as an embarrassment that after the elections, the process of government formation is being held hostage to sibling rivalry within the DMK. Singhvi, however, said it was an exaggeration and that a party cannot survive on the family name for too long. “Wherever a regional party has become a family business, it hasn’t survived for too long. But merely because there are a few family members in it, you shouldn’t assume it’s a family company,” he said.

My children will have a party too

He said it was a good thing to balance the individual desires of the relative and the values of the party. “That harmonious balancing where a relative has been subjected to electoral fire test, it’s a good thing,” he said.

But what if this sparks a trend in favour of family politics? Already, there are murmurs of the round two of oath taking – scheduled for Tuesday – being put off as the Government can’t decide on allotting portfolios to some “family” politicians like Agatha Sangma, Farooq Abdullah etc.

But Singhvi dismissed the argument and said the oath taking will not be put off because of the aforementioned reasons. “If it’s deferred slightly, it will be because of a cyclone hitting Kolkata – a national calamity. Also, these issues are intra to the party and Congress has nothing to do with them. They are being solved,” he said.

But what do the prodigal sons and daughters of Indian politics feel about the issue? Do they feel embarrassed when their win is attributed to the family name?

Kalikesh Singh Deo, the first-time MP from Bolangir and son of AU Singh Deo, a BJD MLA, agreed that while his debut in politics was made possible given his surname, his electoral win this time around was entirely his own making.

“The lineage does help propel you the first time around, but by the time you come to the second election and you haven’t performed, you will not win,” he said.

But most of those who wouldn’t agree with Singh Deo will argue for merit in politics, saying the role of families in politics is retarding the strength of Indian democracy.

Singh Deo said it was wrong to assume that well-educated people won’t be voted in just because they are from a political family. “You get that benefit of doubt only once”.

Family values are relative

But what’s the psyche of the voter casting his ballot in favour of a family party? Many would say it’s the personality of the patriarch that could influence their mind. A first-timer’s political CV does a lot for him if it shows an NTR, a Biju Patnaik or a Karunanidhi as being related.

Neerja Chowdhury said such voting pattern reflected a feudal mindset and that democracy hadn’t registered itself well in the psyche of voters. “But the chance that Singh Deo talks about – let me ask him that if 500 mn people are given that first chance, would they not perform?”

To this Singh Deo argued that Naveen Patnaik wouldn’t have been voted in thrice only on the basis of his surname. But Neerja would have none of it. She said if the trend continued, India will soon be ruled by 500 families, a monopoly.

Sandhya Jain compared the family politics to distribution of land holdings and cited DMK’s example. “There’s a son and a daughter and a nephew. Then there’s another son – Stalin wants to take of the CM’s chair in Tamil Nadu during his father’s lifetime. So Karunanidhi’s job of dividing the power becomes easy,” she said.

Congress was being discreet, Sandhya said, following the death and inheritance formula pretty well. So is the party a parent in original to this legacy of family politics? Does it have a right to crib about dynastic politics when it by itself is an example of the same?

Singhvi said the idea was laughable. “The dynasty politics point has been electorally validated as the voters have rejected it. You are negating the mandate of democracy – Sonia got elected, so did Rahul and at will. When you’ve had a Narasimha Rao government, when you’ve had Sonia sacrificing the PM post – what’s the merit in this argument,” he asked.

The sacrifice song

Sacrifices seem to work like magic too. One may come from a high-strung political family but choose to remain in the background, showing to people that the family surname doesn’t give you that leeway.

Sonia did it and Rahul is doing it – and both have won. But Singh Deo said he wanted to be in politics and hence he was in it.

Asked if he would have made the choice minus his second name, the young MP said he would have. “My most important reason for being in politics is to help people in Bolangir,” he said.

Neerja made another interesting point. She said politics meant big money and hence families were required for the succession. “Earlier people could trust each other. But now because of the big money, that succession has to remain within the family,” she explained.

Sandhya agreed and said the DMK brand of politics was shameless and was functioning like a kitchen cabinet.

“Here are two women who say their sons have to be accommodated come what may. And hence Karunanidhi has made an arrangement for them,” she said, adding this is what leads to sycophancy.

Lok Sabha 2009 looks more like a House with 59 women MPs from a bahu-beti set-up and record numbers of father-son, father-daughter duo sitting together.

Singhvi denied that any of this could take the sheen off UPA’s victory. “The storm in a teacup that media is creating is nothing but a minor hiccup. I do agree that there are shortcomings in the system but please do not reduce the magnificence of Indian democracy to just a few corporate families,” he concluded.

Singh Deo closed the debate saying that family name shouldn’t prevent or force anyone from joining politics. “Honestly, when people go through elections, they do get people’s verdict and a stamp of approval. We should all respect that,” he said.

SMS/Web Poll: Are regional parties family businesses?

Yes: 95 per cent

No: 5 per cent

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