Dynasty politics: A reality for India and Pakistan!! Curse or Blessing ???

[rissriva]

The congress party in India has ruled India post independence for almost 80% of the time. It has been led by mostly Nehru or so called Gandhi family at large. There are happy takers in masses for these kind of politics too. People have voted at large for congress because of Gandhi name only. The same reason why any new comer from Gandhi family always wins. Be it Sanjay,Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia, Rahul, Varun and Menka Gandhi and if possible the future kins of these also .

The reason why I started this thread is because: I want to know the public opinion whether the dynasty politics in any democracy whether its India or Pakistan is good for the nation or its a curse.

A leader must not be choosen by the surname, but it must come from masses and must be intellectually sound to lead the nation.. thats my opinion.

 

[The HBS Guy]

Why blame the parties alone? The bigger fault lies with the people who cast their vote just by looking at a person's last name.

We all are at fault here.

 

[rissriva]

Why blame the parties alone? The bigger fault lies with the people who cast their vote just by looking at a person's last name.

We all are at fault here.

I agree, but why is this mentality in masses so that they are inclined towards surname ?
Is it because right from the first standard we are taught about gandhi, roads, buildings, airports, any new government scheme is with Gandhi name that are part of our daily life. Is the Gandhi name imposed on us and we have willingly accepted it?

 

[The HBS Guy]

I agree, but why is this mentality in masses so that they are inclined towards surname ?
Is it because right from the first standard we are taught about gandhi, roads, buildings, airports, any new government scheme is with Gandhi name that are part of our daily life. Is the Gandhi name imposed on us and we have willingly accepted it?

Let me be very blunt here.

We have been slaves for hundreds of years. It takes time for that servile attitude to whither away.


I will happen but it will take time.

 

[HAIDER]

Its not slavery . Educated class of society avoid to face the dirty politicians. Once it comes forward, things will start changing. But who and when it will start ?..thats the question.

 

[pmukherjee]

The name may win one election but beyond that, how the leader performs will determine his/her future. This has nothing to do with slavery. It is all about marketing, all about a brand name. That is why we shell out extra bucks for a Sony or a HTC or a BMW. I am not a fan of dynastic politics, but at the same time, I don't buy the idea of people selling this 'slavery' nonsense to prove their point of view.

No one, however ignorant or illiterate has ever voted for a Nehru/Gandhi by mistaking that name as being connected with MK Gandhi, the father of our nation. Only foreigners make the mistake of confusing the two. Jawaharlal Nehru was our first prime minister mainly because Gandhiji did not want that post. Nothing great about Nehru, he simply did not have any competition. Subhash Bose was not available and MA Jinnah had moved to the other side of the border.

His daughter, Indira was by far the best leader we have had so far. The reason why she kept getting elected again and again was because she was very good at it. She did commit excesses and made mistakes, for this she was punished by the electorate. Ultimately she died serving this country.

No one of her clan has showed the same finesse, political astuteness or the sheer competence. However, if the electorate still consistently reverts back to the same brand name of Nehru/Gandhi, maybe it is because there is no competition available even now.

Indira Gandhi lost the elections after the Emergency period because Indians do not have a taste for dictatorship. If the Indian electorate today opts for the Congress, it is not because of the Nehru/Gandhi name, it is because they do not like the alternative. It is a because they do not like the politics of hatred, exclusiveness and bigotry.

This simple fact has to be understood. The average Indian is not interested in religion, or temples or mosques, he is interested in development and progress. We are a nation used to seeing an ash covered sadhu, a burkha clad lady and a sardar with long hair and pagri walking on the same narrow lane. That is our strength. That is the strength of the Indian electorate. Any one who proposes to alter this equation will not win elections. Nehru/Gandhi has nothing to do with this.

As simple as that.

 

[rissriva]

The name may win one election but beyond that, how the leader performs will determine his/her future. This has nothing to do with slavery. It is all about marketing, all about a brand name. That is why we shell out extra bucks for a Sony or a HTC or a BMW. I am not a fan of dynastic politics, but at the same time, I don't buy the idea of people selling this 'slavery' nonsense to prove their point of view.

No one, however ignorant or illiterate has ever voted for a Nehru/Gandhi by mistaking that name as being connected with MK Gandhi, the father of our nation. Only foreigners make the mistake of confusing the two. Jawaharlal Nehru was our first prime minister mainly because Gandhiji did not want that post. Nothing great about Nehru, he simply did not have any competition. Subhash Bose was not available and MA Jinnah had moved to the other side of the border.

His daughter, Indira was by far the best leader we have had so far. The reason why she kept getting elected again and again was because she was very good at it. She did commit excesses and made mistakes, for this she was punished by the electorate. Ultimately she died serving this country.

No one of her clan has showed the same finesse, political astuteness or the sheer competence. However, if the electorate still consistently reverts back to the same brand name of Nehru/Gandhi, maybe it is because there is no competition available even now.

Indira Gandhi lost the elections after the Emergency period because Indians do not have a taste for dictatorship. If the Indian electorate today opts for the Congress, it is not because of the Nehru/Gandhi name, it is because they do not like the alternative. It is a because they do not like the politics of hatred, exclusiveness and bigotry.

This simple fact has to be understood. The average Indian is not interested in religion, or temples or mosques, he is interested in development and progress. We are a nation used to seeing an ash covered sadhu, a burkha clad lady and a sardar with long hair and pagri walking on the same narrow lane. That is our strength. That is the strength of the Indian electorate. Any one who proposes to alter this equation will not win elections. Nehru/Gandhi has nothing to do with this.

As simple as that.

Its not correct to say that people elected congress because they dont have any alternative..
If common man is interested in developmental politics then congress will never come in power. All the non-congress ruled states have a better progress record and that's a fact. The sate govt in Bihar, Gujrat, MP, Chattisgarh and Uttaranchal have been elected on development agenda only.
Can anybody will claim that congress won the 2009 elections on development agenda only... he will be a fool... because the agenda of 2009 election as made by congress was Godhra and Kandhar only to polarize vote.. and congress is master in this act. Any doubt ??

Get the gandhi out of congress and the party will be dead.. take my words.....

 

[Paan Singh]

think about my avatar

 

[rissriva]

The name may win one election but beyond that, how the leader performs will determine his/her future. This has nothing to do with slavery. It is all about marketing, all about a brand name. That is why we shell out extra bucks for a Sony or a HTC or a BMW. I am not a fan of dynastic politics, but at the same time, I don't buy the idea of people selling this 'slavery' nonsense to prove their point of view.

No one, however ignorant or illiterate has ever voted for a Nehru/Gandhi by mistaking that name as being connected with MK Gandhi, the father of our nation. Only foreigners make the mistake of confusing the two. Jawaharlal Nehru was our first prime minister mainly because Gandhiji did not want that post. Nothing great about Nehru, he simply did not have any competition. Subhash Bose was not available and MA Jinnah had moved to the other side of the border.

His daughter, Indira was by far the best leader we have had so far. The reason why she kept getting elected again and again was because she was very good at it. She did commit excesses and made mistakes, for this she was punished by the electorate. Ultimately she died serving this country.

No one of her clan has showed the same finesse, political astuteness or the sheer competence. However, if the electorate still consistently reverts back to the same brand name of Nehru/Gandhi, maybe it is because there is no competition available even now.

Indira Gandhi lost the elections after the Emergency period because Indians do not have a taste for dictatorship. If the Indian electorate today opts for the Congress, it is not because of the Nehru/Gandhi name, it is because they do not like the alternative. It is a because they do not like the politics of hatred, exclusiveness and bigotry.

This simple fact has to be understood. The average Indian is not interested in religion, or temples or mosques, he is interested in development and progress. We are a nation used to seeing an ash covered sadhu, a burkha clad lady and a sardar with long hair and pagri walking on the same narrow lane. That is our strength. That is the strength of the Indian electorate. Any one who proposes to alter this equation will not win elections. Nehru/Gandhi has nothing to do with this.

As simple as that.

As of today the only holy cow in India is Gandhi clan...
They can do any sort of mischief, but they are above law. They are pure even after that.
These clan guys take this for granted, and how intellectually inferior they may be, they think to be the king-maker of nations.
These clan guys think politics is there wallet, and they are mostly true.

These guys never let local leadership to grow..so where is the democracy. An impostor democracy in the form of autocracy is curse to the nation as it brings out nepotism in the system.
Ratan TATA rightly decribed a nation as Banana Republic.. because all political monkeys are harvesting banana only

 

[pmukherjee]

Its not correct to say that people elected congress because they dont have any alternative..
If common man is interested in developmental politics then congress will never come in power. All the non-congress ruled states have a better progress record and that's a fact. The sate govt in Bihar, Gujrat, MP, Chattisgarh and Uttaranchal have been elected on development agenda only.
Can anybody will claim that congress won the 2009 elections on development agenda only... he will be a fool... because the agenda of 2009 election as made by congress was Godhra and Kandhar only to polarize vote.. and congress is master in this act. Any doubt ??

Get the gandhi out of congress and the party will be dead.. take my words.....

Looks like you have read only half my post. Development was only one part. Anyway, I refuse to be drawn into further discussion in this.

 

[pmukherjee]

think about my avatar

Believe me, I have never seen your avatar. I have only seen your country flag.

 

[t-birds]

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles...0001424052702303417104579544033543762254.html

In India, a Political Dynasty Prospers in Power
Family Ties and Politics Have Surfaced as a Major Issue in National Elections; Punjab, Ruled by Badal Family, Offers a View Into How Those Connections Sometimes Work

A file photo of the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, Sukhbir Singh Badal, left, and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Narinder Nanu/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

CHANDIGARH, India—Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal runs the northern Indian state of Punjab from his office in the secretariat building. His son, a wealthy businessman, works next door as deputy chief minister.

A few floors away, the deputy's two brothers-in-law run key ministerial offices. Together, the four men sit atop half of Punjab's governmental departments, including home affairs, justice, taxation and food supply.

Politics in Punjab, a relatively affluent, agrarian state of 28 million, is largely a family-run operation, which isn't uncommon in a country governed for decades by the Indian National Congress, the party of the Nehru-Gandhi clan.

But frustration with family politics has surfaced in India's national elections, which end with the announcement of results Friday. Political analysts and voters say this frustration is an important reason why prime-minister candidate Narendra Modi—a critic of dynastic politics who said he gave up family life for public service—is the front-runner. He was leading in exit polls Monday. The father, grandmother and great-grandfather of his opponent, Rahul Gandhi, all served terms as prime minister in India's postcolonial era.

While the U.S. has its own dynastic family names—Kennedy, Bush and Clinton—none match the depth of India's family ties. A British historian in a 2011 study found that two-thirds of India's national parliamentarians under 40 were related to other politicians. And voters here have grown increasingly suspicious that such family networks use policy-making and executive authority to enrich themselves and their protégés.

In Punjab, a Wall Street Journal review of financial and government documents, as well as interviews, found Mr. Badal's relatives have benefited financially during his administration, with government decisions on transportation and electric power favorable to family enterprises. Badal family connections in regional TV news broadcasting, meanwhile, have had the effect of squelching voices critical of the arrangement, according to political opponents.

A spokesman for Mr. Badal, Harcharan Bains, said, "there is no unwritten convention or written law" in India that people in public life can't have business interests. The Badals say their business deals are kept at arm's length and deny any abuse of power. Voters support them, they say, because they improve the lives of constituents, expanding infrastructure and development, for example.

"This family system runs because of credibility," said deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, age 51. "Why do people want to buy a Mercedes car? Or a BMW car? Because they know the credibility of that car. You come out with a new car that nobody knows, nobody will buy it."

The Badal family hails from southern Punjab, where members have long been affluent landowners. Mr. Badal, the 86-year-old patriarch, is an energetic man with a long white beard who rose through the ranks of Shiromani Akali Dal, an influential regional party formed in 1920 to protect the interests of the Sikh community, who make up a majority of Punjab residents.

Mr. Badal served two brief stints as chief minister in the 1970s, and then a five-year term from 1997 to 2002, earning a reputation as an effective grass-roots politician. During visits, he would sit under a tree and ask villagers their problems, residents recalled, then press officials to respond.

Badal family fortunes turned up in the months after Mr. Badal's re-election to chief minister in 2007. The state cabinet, which he heads, overhauled Punjab's transportation policy, making it less expensive to operate luxury buses.

Air-conditioned buses had always been taxed at higher rates than ordinary buses. But a new transportation policy slashed levies on air-conditioned buses and set taxes—charged per kilometer—for a new category of luxury buses that was lower than the tax paid by ordinary buses.

A bus company owned by Sukhbir Singh Badal, the deputy chief minister, saw profits grow to more than 105 million rupees, or $1.7 million, in 2013 from 2.5 million rupees, or $41,000, in 2007, according to the company's financial statements. He said his company, Dabwali Transport, grew by acquiring other bus companies, and acknowledged the lower tax rate helped his business.

The transport minister at the time, Master Mohan Lal, told the Journal the change was made to improve services. Sukhbir Singh Badal, who wasn't in office when the change was made, said it was designed "so that even the common man can travel in luxury without paying high rates."

The number of air-conditioned buses has since grown, offering fares that are only slightly higher than ordinary buses, according to transport department officials. Fares of luxury buses are roughly twice the cost of ordinary buses.

Since the tax cut, the family's business has grown to dominate luxury-bus travel in Punjab, particularly in Bathinda, which has more than a million residents.

More than half the permits for luxury and air-conditioned buses granted to private operators by the regional transport authority statewide—and more than 90% of those in Bathinda—belong to two transportation companies owned by the family, according to government documents, and a third company, Taj Travels, which is owned by a man who is a director in hotel and real-estate companies also controlled by the family.

Sukhbir Singh Badal's declared assets have grown to more than 1 billion rupees, or about $16 million, from 130 million rupees, about $2.1 million, in 2004, according to documents filed to India's election commission. In 2009, his wife won a seat in the national Parliament.

Indian government guidelines require ministers to fully disclose business interests and step away from management after taking office. The guidelines also say ministers must divest themselves of all interests in businesses that supply goods or services to the government or rely on official permits or licenses. In states, chief ministers are charged with making sure the guidelines are met but, according to an official in the home ministry, the guidelines are rarely followed.

The elder Mr. Badal, in a written response to the Journal, said he doesn't take an active role in any family related business. If family businesses have grown, he wrote, "it is only a part of the success story of all Punjabis over the past 60 years." After another re-election in 2012, Mr. Badal's term goes to 2017.

In 2008, two months after Mr. Badal's 80th birthday, party delegates elected Sukhbir Singh Badal as party president to succeed his father. Mr. Badal said his son was promoted for helping return the party to power.

A year later, Mr. Badal appointed his son as deputy chief minister. Sukhbir Singh Badal, who has a master's degree in management from California State University, Los Angeles, had previously served in India's national Parliament. He was later voted into the state legislative assembly, a requirement for deputy chief minister.

Mr. Badal said "it was natural" to give his son the job because of support from voters and the party. Sukhbir Singh Badal said his father "wanted me to take over, to share his responsibilities." He also didn't want to abandon hundreds of thousands of party workers who feel more secure under the Badals' leadership, he said.

Mr. Badal's daughter, Parneet Kaur, has also prospered during her father's time as chief minister.

From 2009 to 2013, state-owned power enterprises awarded contracts valued at 3.9 billion rupees, about $64 million, to consortia that included a company majority-owned by Ms. Kaur, her husband and her mother-in-law, documents show. The contracts were first reported by the Tribune, a regional newspaper, and viewed by the Journal, which verified them with the Punjab State Power Corp.

Mr. Badal, Ms. Kaur's father, chairs the state's power department, and Ms. Kaur's husband, Adesh Partap Kairon, works as Mr. Badal's minister for food supply and information technology.

Sukhbir Singh Badal sought to revitalize Punjab's power sector through policy directives that resulted in bids for a government contract to install and upgrade electrical infrastructure. A 2.3 billion rupee deal, or about $38 million, was awarded a year ago to a team of three companies that included Shivalik Telecom Ltd., which manufactures and installs electrical infrastructure, and is owned by Ms. Kaur and her relatives.

Ms. Kaur's declared assets grew to $2.7 million in 2012 from less than $800,000 in 2007. Ms. Kaur and her husband didn't respond to requests to comment.

"We have never favored any company," said K.D. Chaudhri, chairman of the Punjab State Power Corp. The bids were judged on well-defined criteria, including technical expertise, and the contract awarded to the lowest bidder, he said. He didn't identify the companies in contention.

Mr. Bains, spokesman for Mr. Badal, the chief minister, said, "No law, or even established rules of propriety have been violated, nor has there been undue favor," in contracts awarded to Shivalik Telecom.

The Badals have also expanded their media interests. In 2006, they started a local TV company with a 24-hour news channel, PTC News, which has become one of the most popular in the state, according to residents.

Local journalists say they also believe the family has tried to squeeze out competition through close ties with Fastway Transmissions, which handles the technical work of transmitting programs.

Fastway and two other companies control about 85% of the market, according to the Competition Commission of India, a national government watchdog agency. All three companies are co-owned by a man with close ties to the Badal family.

Punjabi journalist Kanwar Sandhu said he and his backers decided to launch their own news channel, Day and Night News, in 2009. They hired Fastway and the two other companies to broadcast the channel.

The program would be disrupted during the broadcast of news critical of the government, Mr. Sandhu said, with the sound sometimes overlaid with the audio track of cartoon shows.

Within seven months, Fastway and the two other companies terminated their contracts with Day and Night News, and the channel was taken off the air. Fastway said the disruptions were caused by technical problems, and the agreements severed for commercial reasons.

The company that owns Day and Night News complained to the competition commission, saying Fastway was establishing a monopoly and abusing its position. In its complaint, the company alleged Gurdeep Singh, who had ownership stakes in all three TV transmission firms, was "closely affiliated" with the ruling establishment of Punjab.

Mr. Singh has bought and sold buses from Badal-controlled transit companies, according to Mr. Singh and public records. He has also done work for the family's political party, according to two party members and two other people familiar with the matter.

A person with firsthand knowledge of the formation of Fastway in 2007 said Sukhbir Singh Badal helped set up the firm and asked Mr. Singh to run it. Mr. Singh said he knows Mr. Badal, but wasn't influenced by him or the Punjab government. Mr. Badal said he knows Mr. Singh, but denied any connection with Fastway.

A probe ordered by the competition commission found in 2012 that Fastway and the two other companies had snapped up a number of smaller companies and "eliminated free and fair competition" in Punjab, amassing more than four million subscribers, leaving its next biggest competitors no more than 10,000.

The commission's investigation also found the disruptions of Day and Night News were frequent and deliberate. The body ordered Fastway and the two other companies to pay a fine of 80 million rupees. A lawyer for Fastway and the other two companies said he has filed an appeal.

The commission's report didn't address any alleged ties between Mr. Gurdeep and the Badals.

For the family, it is business as usual. Billboard images across the state show chief minister Parkash Singh Badal; his son, Sukhbir Singh Badal; and Sukhbir's brother-in-law, Bikram Singh Majithia. Official cards that entitle Punjabis to subsidized grain bear the photographs of the chief minister and his son-in-law, Adesh Partap Kairon, who is the minister of food supply. An oval cutout of Mr. Badal's face was added to the baskets of thousands of free bicycles given to female students.

At a recent rally in Amritsar, Gurudev Singh, 35 years old, said he was voting for the coalition run by the Badal family's party for a national Parliament seat in the current election. "I come from a family of shopkeepers," he said. "Their career is politics. It's a one-family rule, yes, but that's how politics works in India."

 

[AUz]

PPP and PML(N) supporters---read above and have some shame.