NEPOTISM IN POLITICS

 

INDIAN POLITICS AND NEPOTISM

Soon, after completing his degree at a university abroad, Shashi was keen to join  Indian Politics out of his readiness to bring changes in the lives of millions of poverty-stricken, destitute,homeless Indian citizen who were forced by political system to live in penury state,for pursuing his dream he decided to return to India with a ray of hope and thinking that might his efforts bring some succor their fellow Indian citizens. Shashi on his return decidedd to join the ruling dispensation i. E. Bharatiya janta party which he thought that party which enjoins a majoritarian support. Shashi upon joining BJP took its primary membership and was excited to finally have a chance to become a worker. He put all his effort in achieving the agenda of the party. Then comes the election, he organized various campaigns in several parts of the state. Finally, When BJP won the election. The party member decided that someone else (a keen relative of the social figure) who lead the state. And Shashi will assist him only. Here Shashi was a victim of nepotism or synonymously as a favouritism.

What is nepotism? From where it came from? Why it exists?

The word nepotism was derived from the old practice of Roman Catholic popes and cardinals to appoint their Nepos (nephew) to strategically important political and administrative positions.

Let us understand the basic definition by the Merriam-Webster dictionary which defines nepotism as "the unfair practice by a powerful person of giving jobs and other favors to relatives."  Adam Bellow (2003) defines nepotism as "favoritism based on kinship." The adverse impact of the nepotistic practice is ineffectiveness. Surveys show that people who perceived the position with help of there kith and Kins were more likely to have low satisfaction and a higher intention to quit their job, and they are not that much responsible at all (some are an exception).

Why this topic is at spotlight? On 14^th June 2020, Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead at his Bandra residence and since then dark side of bollywood came into fore? Let's move towards other aspects of NEPOTISM. THE INDIAN POLITICS

Every time we talk about nepotism in politics, the first name that pops out in our mind is the Indian National Congress.

But a recent report by India Spend suggests that it’s not just Congress but even Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also encourages nepotism. This dark loop of Nepotism is not just restricted to BJP or Congress, other regional political parties like AIADMK, TMC, Shiv Sena are skillfully entertaining nepotism as well. Starting from Rahul and Abhishek Banerjee, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Tejaswi Yadav, Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Aaditya Thackeray, to K.T Rama Rao – all are the descendants of powerful leaders of different political parties. They all have got political powers at a very young age. But there is a huge number of political workers who religiously work under different political parties with ethics and honesty and still never get the power or position they deserve due to this nepotistic environment.

This idea of nepotism would be clearer if you will take a look at its elected parliamentarians over the past two decades.

The IndiaSpend‘s analysis of a new dataset contains the profiles of all 4,807 parliamentarians. (India’s first parliament in 1952). Let's have a quick look at some points:-

·       Since 1999, the Congress has had 36 dynastic MPs elected to the Lok Sabha, while the number of BJP’s dynastic MPs was 31.

·       At the beginning of the 13^th Lok Sabha, 8% of Congress members of parliament (MPs) were either descended from or married to former MPs. This state is only slightly ahead of BJP as they too have 6% elected MPs who belong to the same list of nepotism.

·       In the Congress Party which has been in power for the longest period since India’s independence, descendants of the Nehru-Gandhi family always got into the power position because of nepotism. However, political dynasties are common across all major political parties.

·       According to the research, as many as 130 MPs who won in the Lok Sabha elections, 2014 had some kind of political lineage.

·       In the 2014 election, 44 of BJP’s MPs came with family influence, while Congress had 18 such MPs in 2014.

·       Similarly, MPs from AIADMK had two, BJD had three, Shiv Sena had eight, TMC had several MPs had seven and TRS had four.

These numbers are proof that nepotism exists everywhere. It is there in every profession, at every level – and nobody can refute that.

Starting from Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Aaditya Thackeray, Abhishek Banerjee, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Tejaswi Yadav, to K.T Rama Rao – all are the descendants of powerful leaders of different political parties. They all have got political power at a very young age.

After reading this you know that where the problem lies? But What do nepotism have to do with ethics and how it is unfair?

One of the most basic themes in ethics is fairness, stated this way by Artistotle: "Equals should be treated equally and unequally." Nepotism interferes with fairness because they give undue advantage to someone who does not necessarily merit that treatment. When someone is granted a position because of connections rather than because he or she has the best credentials and experience, the service that a person renders to the public may be inferior. Also, because favoritism is often covert (few elected officials are foolish enough to show open partiality to friends, and family), this practice undercuts the transparency.

The main question arises is that where the problem persists? The first issue is competence. For cabinet-level positions, an executive will probably be drawn to experienced, qualified candidates, but historically, the lower down the ladder, the more likely for someone's brother-in-law to be slipped into a job for which he is not qualified. Also, the appearance of favoritism weakens morale in government service, not to mention public faith in the integrity of government. Reasonable people will differ about the appointment of friends and family in high-level positions, but public officials should be aware that such choices can give the appearance of unfairness.

Conclusion

In the author's opinion, the world is unfair in many ways. Nepotism is another way of keeping it the same!

While nepotism has given us actors like Uday Chopra, it has given us great actors too. In the same way, some politicians who belong to dynasties have proven themselves in the field of politics but some of them have failed miserably which led their family to even lose governmental power.

Rishita Pandey

BBA LLB (H)

ICFAI UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

Disclaimer: This article is the personal opinion of the author. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any Indian Government or any other Government of the world.