New Delhi: Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has ignited a political storm by denouncing dynastic politics as a “grave threat” to Indian democracy, urging a shift towards meritocracy in his article titled “Indian Politics Are a Family Business,” published on Project Syndicate on October 31.
Tharoor highlights the Nehru-Gandhi family’s enduring dominance — from Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra — as reinforcing the notion of leadership as a birthright, rooted in India’s freedom struggle yet pervasive across parties. He cites examples including Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik succeeding Biju Patnaik, Maharashtra’s Uddhav and Aditya Thackeray following Bal Thackeray, Uttar Pradesh’s Akhilesh Yadav after Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Bihar’s Chirag Paswan inheriting from Ram Vilas Paswan. The practice extends to Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu, embedding itself from gram sabhas to Parliament.
Arguing that lineage over ability erodes governance quality, Tharoor calls for reforms like term limits and internal party elections to empower voters in choosing merit-based leaders. He notes similar patterns across the subcontinent, in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swiftly capitalised, with spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla praising the piece as “insightful” and a “direct attack” on “nepo kids,” Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav, amid Bihar’s ongoing assembly polls. This critique, coming weeks after Tharoor’s divergent views on India-Pakistan diplomacy, underscores intra-party tensions and fuels opposition narratives.