MADURAI: Ideologically strong Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the only major political party in India where the words family or dynasty do not come in to picture at all. In BJP, party cadres from grassroots level can become leaders at State and national level. Clear examples are Amit Shah and Narendra Modi….etc.
But, that is not the case with other parties because here only family, relatives and dynasty hold the key. See the list of 20 major political parties in India which are family run and enjoy power for years….and still going on…
1. People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Kashmir (After Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, it is now daughter Mehbooba running the show as CM. His son too recently joined).
2. National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir: (Sheikh Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah etc.)
3. RJD in Bihar: (A large family for this large party starting from Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, sons and daughters as Ministers and MPs now. There is intense competition within the family for posts.)
4. TRS in Telangana: (It is KCR as CM, his son KTR is Minister with key portfolio and daughter Kavitha is MP, nephew Hareesh Rao is senior Minister enjoying a plum portfolio and influential in party.)
5. Congress Party: (This so called grand old party is the leader of the dynasty pack politics in India, from great grandfather to great grand children….Nehru, Indira, Rajiv, Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka etc.)
6. DMK: (In Tamil Nadu, the party’s two addresses at Gopalapuram and Alwarpet in Chennai show the family power- Karunanidhi, Stalin, Kanimozhi etc, are all the powerful family. Elder son Alagiri who too had his cake till recently.)
7. AIADMK: (After Jayalalithaa’s demise, this party joined the list of family parties with Sasikala, T.T.V.Dinakaran etc taking over. It is now called as Mannargudi family party).
8. Telugu Desam Party: (After NTR, it is now son-in-law N.Chandrababu Naidu in power in Andhra Pradesh, his son N.Lokesh was made as MLC and Minister recently, NTR’s son Balakrishna is MLA.
9. PMK; (In Tamil Nadu, this is another party with family faces led by Dr.S.Ramadoss, his son Anbumani Ramadoss etc.)
10. Samajwadi Party: (A party well-known for family control starting from Mulayam Singh, his son Akhilesh is CM, daughter-in-law is MP, and there are so many brothers, uncles etc. It is tough to list out all leaders in this Uttar Pradesh party that is now in family controversies.)
11. DMDK: (Another family run party in Tamil Nadu by Vijayakanth, wife Premalatha and brother-in-law Sudheesh).
12. Nationalist Congress Party: In Maharashtra, this is Sharad Pawar’s party with his daughter Supriya Sule as MP.)
13. Akali Dal: In Punjab, it is Prakash Singh Badal and his son etc…
14. Majlis Party: This Telangana-based party is all about Owaisi brothers. Started by Salahuddin Owaisi, his two sons are now running as Owaisi brothers in Parliament and Assembly with religion focus….
15. YSR Congress Party: In Andhra Pradesh, after Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, his wife came, son Jagan Mohan Reddy, daughter Sharmila, uncles and brothers are everywhere starting from assembly to Parliament. Jagan is the opposition leader in assembly.
16. Shiv Sena: This is Thackeray family party in Maharashtra. From Bal Thackeray to Uddhav Thackeray and his son etc.
17. Janata Dal (Secular): In Karnataka, this party belongs to Gowda family- Deve Gowda, his son Kumaraswamy Gowda etc enjoyed top positions in power.
18. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM): In the small Jharkhand State, this is a big family that enjoyed power. After father Shibu Soren, his sons Hemant Soren and Durga Soren held high positions in government and still dominate.
19: Indian National Lok Dal (INLD): In the beautiful State of Haryana, this is the big family. Starting from Devi Lal in 1980s who enjoyed power in the central government, this family list goes on including sons and grandsons – Abhay Singh Chautala, Ajay Singh Chautala, Dushyant Chautala etc.
20. Lok Jana Shakti party: In Bihar, this family party of Ram Vilas Paswan is well known to go with those who will come to power. His son Chirag Paswan now calls the shots.
This is only a sample list and there are many more smaller family owned political parties in India. Like family business, the leadership passes on to children and grandchildren in these parties.
But, the BJP believes that nation is its only family, and personal family has no role. Cadres become leaders and leaders work like cadres. The people of India started to realise that fact. So, the BJP is on winning mode everywhere in India….
