Dynasties rule the subcontinent

With the ouster of Imran Khan as the Prime Minister of Pakistan through a no-trust vote in the National Assembly, Islamabad, like at least two of our immediate neighbours, has come under the rule of dynasts. The coalition government led by Shehbaz Sharif and supported by the Bhutto-Zardari family reflects the return of the dynasts on the centre stage of politics in that country.
It is not a coincidence that in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Banga Bandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman is in power as are the Rajapaksa brothers, who have put Sri Lanka in its worst economic crisis till this date.
Although India has been governed by dynasts for many years, largely by the Nehru-Gandhi family or their supporters, at this juncture, it remains as the only major nation of the region where the Prime Minister does not come from a political family and none of his relatives are in active politics either.
Narendra Modi can easily be given the credit for curbing the influence of families in India and though powerful political individuals or their relatives control the reins of power of multiple regional parties, there are several fresh faces who have emerged on the political scene.
Even the worst critics of the BJP/Bharatiya Jana Sangh shall admit that none of its principal leaders from the time of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have ever encouraged their family members to join politics or have made any attempt to foist them on the masses.
Modi continues the tradition and has pre-empted the emergence of many dynasts in his own party by selecting his Chief Ministers in a manner that they do not carry any political baggage. Barring Basavaraj Bommai in Karnataka, whose father was the Chief Minister of the state earlier, none of the present CMs belonging to the BJP are dynasts.
Bommai was appointed to placate B.S. Yediyurappa, whose son is also trying to occupy a key position in the government, but this is unlikely to happen since the BJP’s central leadership is seriously considering a change in leadership there, given that the Assembly polls are due early next year.
However, there are many middle level leaders of the saffron brigade who occupy important posts and while the party claims that they have made it to the top because of merit, their opponents point to their political background. Having said that, there is no leader other than Modi who wields any kind of influence in the party and the Prime Minister is himself a strong critic of dynasty politics.
The Congress is a party that has been controlled for the past several decades by the Nehru-Gandhi family. Its influence is diminishing and the Gandhis who continue to call the shots find themselves in a position where their clout in the country is declining; the Congress has lost most of the major elections it has contested in the past eight years.
Since the most famous dynasty of Independent India is losing its sway, many other families that derived power from their lineage find themselves isolated. But regional parties such as the DMK, the YSR Congress, the National Conference, the PDP, the Akalis, the INLD, the Samajwadi Party, the RJD and the Shiv Sena continue to keep dynastic politics alive.
The emergence of Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal indicates that hard working individual leaders have been rewarded by the people for their work despite they not having any kind of political support from their families. These two leaders are expected to pose the challenge to the BJP as and when the time comes but they still have a lot to do before that.
The supreme irony is that while the BJP is opposed to politics of inheritance, it has admitted several leaders in their organization who, while they were with the Congress, accused of being dynasts. The examples are Vijay Bahuguna, Rita Bahuguna, Jyotiraditya Scindia, R.P.N. Singh and Jitin Prasada.
In the neighbouring Pakistan, credit must be given to Imran Khan that he was able to counter and neutralize the influence of the Sharif and Zardari-Bhutto families. It is another matter that they are back now but politics is a game of possibilities and who knows, when elections take place, Imran Khan may return with a thumping majority.
Sri Lanka has a long history of being administered by dynasties. After the assassination of Solomon Bandarnaike, Colombo in 1960 elected his wife, Sirimavo Bandarnaike, who also attained the distinction of being the first woman Prime Minister of the world. Later her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga was elected to the top positions.
The Rajapaksas are in power at present but their main challenger is Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the Opposition, whose father Ranasinghe Premadasa was the President when he was assassinated several decades ago.
Globally too, there have been dynasts who have thrived. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is the son of former PM Pierre Trudeau. George Bush Junior emulated his father to become the President of the United States. The Kennedys have a special place in American history and Hillary Clinton, wife of Bill Clinton was nominated by the Democratic Party to contest against Donald Trump. In Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is the son of Shintaro Abe, erstwhile Foreign Minister.
Thankfully in India, popularity of non-dynasts has started reflecting in public life. However, there is still a long way to go. Between us.