During the long election campaign this year and even before that, Narendra Modi, now India’s Prime Minister, had strongly opposed dynastic politics.
The BJP’s candidates’ list contained a few, but not too many, political dynasts. I had touched on this in my post The arrogance of inheritance? Of course, the presence of these candidates could be due to various factors governing realpolitik.
After the BJP’s victory in the elections, I, like many other Indians, was curious to see if Narendra Modi would walk his talk about dynastic politics while appointing ministers in his new government.
The first sign of things to come appeared on rediff.com, which said, “Narendra Modi enforces a new rule that no children of BJP leaders will get cabinet berths.”
After the names of all the ministers were known, I checked whether this ‘new rule’ had actually been followed. I found that almost all the ministers from the BJP are first-generation politicians. Some of them are children of BJP workers, but none of these parents were senior leaders in the BJP. Only 6 ministers could be said to have had the advantage of family background while entering politics, but each of them has a long track record that could have earned them ministerial positions even without the benefit of family background.
Najma Heptulla: grand-niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Dr. Heptulla was a Congress member of the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 2004. In 2004, she joined the BJP.
Maneka Gandhi: wife of Late Sanjay Gandhi (son of Late Indira Gandhi). According to Wikipedia, “In March 1983, after falling out with her mother-in-law, Maneka founded her own political party, the Rashtriya Sanjay Manch …. In 1988, Maneka merged the Rashtriya Sanjay Manch with the main opposition party, the Janata Dal and became its General Secretary. … In 2004, Maneka joined the BJP. … She has won 5 out of the 6 times she has contested from Pilibhit.”
Ravi Shankar Prasad: According to Wikipedia, “His father Thakur Prasad was a senior advocate at the Patna High Court and one of the founders of the Jan Sangh, which is now the BJP.” However, Wikipedia also states, “Prasad began his political career as a student leader in the 1970s organising protests against Indira Gandhi’s government. He worked in the student movement in Bihar under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan and was imprisoned during the Emergency. He was associated with RSS & Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad for many years and held various posts in the organisations.”
Rao Inderjit Singh: According to Wikipedia, “…son of Late Rao Birendra Singh the scion of the Rewari dynasty who served as a second chief minister of Haryana.” From 1977 to 2013, Singh was a member of the Congress party. He was an MLA for 4 terms, an MP for 3 terms, and held various ministerial positions. In September 2013, he resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP.
Piyush Goyal: (son of BJP leaders Chandrakanta Goyal and Late Shri Vedprakash Goyal):According to Wikipedia, “ He has had a strong academic record – all-India second rank holder Chartered Accountant and second rank holder in Law in Mumbai University. He has participated in Leadership Programs at Yale University (2011), Oxford University (2012) and Princeton University (2013) and is currently pursuing the Owner / President Management (OPM) Program at Harvard Business School…. During his 27 year long political career, he has served on the National Executive and held several important positions in the BJP. He was also nominated by the Government of India to the Task Force for Interlinking of Rivers.”
GM Siddeshwara: According to Wikipedia, “His father Late Shri G. Mallikarjunappa was also an M.P. for two terms: 1996-1998 and 1999-2003. Shri G. Mallikarjunappa was affiliated to the RSS before joining the BJP electoral politics…. Shri G. M. Siddeshwara is one of the top unquestionable Lingayat leaders in Karnataka and a mass based leader in Central Karnataka. Shri G. M. Siddeshwara has been rated as one of the best MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha by various independent organizations based on his performance both in the Parliament as well as his efficiency in the constituency.”
It is refreshing to see no ‘Shehzade’ or ‘baba log’ among BJP Ministers! This is a good beginning to replace dynasty with meritocracy.
What about the Indian National Congress? Read The Hindu’s editorial Putting dynasty before party
Proactive Indian 
The Proactive Indian needs to be applauded for digging out the bio-pics of the newly sworn in mantris. They have come in on their own merits without any baggage of lineage.
Piyush Goyal who happens to a distinguished member of the CA profession has many other qualifications to his credit though both his parents have BJP backgrounds.
Thank god the old use by date expired 75+ ‘bandicoots’ have been kept out – LKA and MMJ!
Nagesh, people like you have motivated me to believe in facts, not in rhetoric. That’s why I did the little bit of fact-finding on the internet and shared it.
You just cannot compare the BJP to the Congress. The BJP has proven that any member even the rank & file can rise up to gain the top most position. The Congress has only dynasty to fall back on. Believe you me if the 1st family was not there to hold the Congress together they would have splintered off into a hundred different parties. Unfortunately this leads to sycophancy which has ruined the congress.
Feroze, unfortunately, everybody understands this, but the Congress members are more concerned about the dynasty, less concerned about the country.
We need a strong Congress to act as a meaningful opposition. Let us all hope they get their act together as soon as possible.
He has put his best foot forward…wish him the best !
He has put his best foot forward! Let us all put our best foot forward for our country!
Thanks for this informative post. For people like me, who don’t follow politics actively, it’s important to get such researched insights to get the correct view-point. The basics of NaMo’s seem to be in the right place, hopefully the results will be positive too.
Let us all work together to get positive results for our motherland.
hmmmmmmmmm now that is something i did not know at all.. and I am so glad that there is nothing like dynasty rule .. Good on Mr. Modi I hope he carries on like this with all that he has promised and makes our nation what it SHOULD be
SAARE JAHAN SE ACHA….
Bikram, it is up to all Indian citizens and all persons of Indian origin to make India Saare Jahaan Se Achcha! Let’s do it!
offcourse it is . and god willing we shall ..
it is indeed refreshing to see that the new cabinet is not formed by a dynasty. This is new to me too. Didn’t know about it.
You would also be interested to know that Kiren Rijiju, BJP MP from Arunachal Pradesh is in the ministry.
Good to know these facts, thanks Pro! It was quite a special moment to see so many ministers (and the PM) take oath in Hindi 🙂 Lets hope the new government also lives up to several other promises they made. But of course each one of us have to our part too and not naively expect the govt to perform miracles.