Dynastic Ambition

No political party in the democratic world has enjoyed so much power and influence over its country as the Nehru-Gandhi’s of India. For all but twenty-two of the seventy years India has been independent, a Nehru-Gandhi has held power in the world’s largest democracy. And now, a fourth generation heir has entered the ring to wrest the throne which slipped away to the rival Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.

The continuing predominance of the family over India’s politics has raised certain fundamental questions. Has this family rule been good for India’s democracy? Have the men and women on top of the power pyramid been truly democratic, secular and socialist that the party which propels them vouches them to be?

In Dynastic Ambition, Kedar Nath Sharma highlights how the dynastic culture of the Congress has influenced the country’s politics deeply. Today, this trend has spread to most regional parties, who rule nearly half of India single-handed or in coalition with a national party.