INDIA - THE DYNASTIC DEMOCRACY

Recently, I had an opportunity to be with the former Chairman & Managing Director of FACT Ltd, one of the largest fertilizer manufacturing companies of the country, located at Cochin. We were together at the office of the Head of BPCL - Cochin Refineries, related to a function being organized by the Cochin Chapter of Indian Society of Training & development which I am chairing this year. At the reception of the corporate office of the Refineries, we saw a photograph of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, inaugurating the company. Seeing this, the former FACT CMD said that at his corporate office, there is an unique photograph of four Indian PMs in one snap, taken during the inauguration of FACT Ltd. Upon my checking up, he said it was Pandit Nehru, the first PM of India who inaugurated the Factory and on that occasion, he was accompanied by his daughter Indira Gandhi and grand son Rajiv Gandhi (both of whom became Indian Prime Minister later). Of course, the fourth person on the photograph was Lal Bahadur Shastry, who became PM after the demise of Nehru. Shastry was the Agricultural Minister then under whose purview came the fertilizer manufacturing.

This sets me thinking. We have had a father, daughter and grandson as our Prime Minster. And of course the fourth generation (Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv & Sonia Gandhi) is soon to take over. He is already being projected within and outside the Congress Party as the heir apparent. In fact, if he wanted, he could have become the Country’s PM during the beginning of this Lok Sabha in 2009, but he chose against it.

Though we have had other Prime Minsters (Except for A B Vajpai, other Such as VP Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Narsingh Rao, Deva Gouda, Inder Gujral etc had very brief stints), Nehru & Indira Gandhi ruled India for the longest duration. Rajiv Gandhi was PM for only one term. He could have continued for more but the LTTE decided otherwise by assassinating him.

India is a country touted as the largest democracy in the world. But in this democracy, we have no problems in appointing father, daughter, grandson and great grand son as its Prime Ministers. Do we know of any other democracy which had done this in the world? For a country which holds one sixth of the population of the world, do we have dearth of personalities and leaders who could head our democratic system? Are there not better, credible leaders within Congress party and outside who could be groomed to take over? Why is it that we are so happy to have the same family rule the roost? How could India, a country which had hundreds of local kingdoms before the British took over, which had plethora of languages, varied geographical culture, with so many indigenous and outside caste and creed inside, still accept one family to control its democracy? So many questions pound my mind……..

One reason is the subservience mentality that the Indians display. He is happy to have a God father controlling him, be it the King, Queen, the head of the family or the Mafia Dada. Though so many monarchies had given way to democracy in the world, and with so many of the democracies display matured norms in its election process, Indians are yet to mature to start doing a kind of ‘stand alone’ independent thinking. It could also be that many Indians are yet to understand democracy and are still on the State/Raja/King as the ultimate accepted choice to rule over him. The ‘Raj’ mentality is yet to go away from our mind and thoughts, that is.

Secondly, with so many sects and sub sects of religion, caste, sub caste and their hierarchies strongly existing continuously, our political system does not want to upset the apple cart by having new upstarts to take over the polity. Though there are so many such upstarts coming up now as regional political parties based on the caste/geography/language hierarchical system, they are yet to get the country’s mandate. By retaining the same family to head our country, the Indians are trying to keep the status quo which they feel will not splinter the country. Good thought, I must accept.

Above all, our attitude is that of ‘chalta hai’. The average Indian is not unduly bothered if the family rules or regional parties rule. He has so many things to bother about, including his own very existence. He doesn’t have any time for indulging to think of maturing the democratic norm of the country. He has no interest to control things. He is happy to be what he is. For him, ‘sab chalta hai’.

On this thought, I rest the case!