Essay on Party Politics in India is a flourishing family business for Class 12, Mains Exam (UPSC, PSC, SSC)
Party Politics in India is a flourishing family business Essay : India after its independence on 15 August 1947 chose the Parliamentary democracy, an arrangement of democratic administration of the nation where the executive gains its legitimacy of authority from its capacity to get support from the legislature to a parliament to which it is accountable. Indian parliamentary democracy is based on representations in political parties. The first political party of India, the Indian National Congress tended to follow the trend of ancestral ascendancy in the leadership of the party. Since 1978 the Indian National Congress had chosen its leaders from its family members namely Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi as the chief executives of the Indian government.
Discussion
The issue of political parties in India resembling the patterns of ancestral family businesses was one of the major themes addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign. According to the prime minister, India needs to go beyond ancestral politics.
It is conventional to have the presence of families in political parties in India but apprehensions begin when they occupy positions of leadership. Though similar to family-owned businesses, dynastic politics do not follow the same logic as the former. For instance political parties both at the regional and national levels like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham(DMK) in Tamil Nadu with the Karunanidhi family, the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Northern states of India with the Yadav family, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha with the Karunakar family and the Shiv Sena(SS) in Maharashtra with its family scions Uddhav and Thackeray.
The various types of leadership prevalent in political parties are- charismatic, traditional and legal authority. Traditional authority stems from conventions with a family leader chosen as the representative as in the case of Shiv Sena. The legal authority of leadership is derived from the office of position as in the case of the Narendra-Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party. The leadership gained through personal charisma depends upon the merits and capabilities of the individual leader.
Political parties like Trinamool Congress(TMC) in West Bengal are solely influenced by and dependent upon the personality of the leader Mamata Banerjee.
Apparently, parties may emulate the lineage-based pattern like family-owned businesses, the former have a unique set of challenges the businesses are devoid of. Once a business is set up by the founder, the business transforms itself into the profession of the family. The success or failure of the business is dependent upon the character and astuteness of the successor of the business. In contrast, to occupy positions of leadership in politics the successor would require amassing public acknowledgement and support for legitimizing the candidate’s administrative authority.
Conclusion
The successors of a family business have choices for the position and the degree of their association with the family business, they can opt to play both active or passive participants in the business. They can choose to be the proprietor, passive investors or active executive officers in their businesses. The political counterparts are incapable of having options of active or passive involvement for they have to be completely politically engaged or not have political participation.
FAQs
Q1. In which state does DMK operate and which family is prominent in the party?
Ans: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) operates in Tamil Nadu with the prominent presence of the Karunanidhi family.
Q2. Which political parties in contemporary India are led on the basis of legal authority?
Ans: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi and the Communist Party of India (CPI) and other left-wing parties are based on legal authority-oriented leadership.
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