The Rise and Rise of the Indian Dynasty!

I’ve wanted to write about this topic for a while, but I could never come around to making the time for it. It’s the recent celebration of the UP poll results that gave me the impetus to put pen on paper and express my views.
 I thought we had shunned the centuries old system where a son has to take on the same trade as the father, and then pass it on to his son in due course. It is true for most parts except for a few protected fiefdoms, all of which, instead of being booed down are being celebrated by all sections of the society.
 The first fiefdom is Politics. While I haven’t spent a lot of time in researching the number of politicians who were born in a political family, I can prove my point by asking the readers to quickly give me 5 names of MPs younger than 50 who are not from a Political family… I can’t think of too many.. Get the point?
 So I wonder how we call our self a democracy, when our options are limited to choosing our leaders from members of about 50 families in India, like the Gandhis, Yadavs, Reddys, Thakrays etc.
 The other field, even more popular and even more unwilling to let an outsider in, is the Film Industry. Does being born a Bachchan, make you a good actor? Or are Kapoor kids fairest of em’ all? Why then don’t we see more success stories like SRK and Akshay Kumar? (By Success Stories I don’t mean their movies, I meant their own careers)

And can someone please explain how on earth Sonakshi Sinha gets to be in Movies?
 I am glad that Cricket did not go the same route as Politics and Movies, and I would think it is because of Media intervention and the brutal transparence of sport.
 The least popular of fiefdoms, but still the most appalling example to me are Indian Businesses. I am amazed at the number of big corporations who are still being led by members of the founding family. I seriously expected the Tatas to break away, but they didn’t…


After centuries of being ruled over, I think the Indian gene is so used to dynasties that we don’t mind them at all. In fact, we have started liking them. Take the case of Rahul Gandhi.. the uneducated lot (a majority in India) went head over heals crazy when he took to rallying for the Congress! Same scenes in Mumbai when Aditya Thakray was ‘Launched’ in a mega event attended by thousands of people (who had nothing better to do)


I can remember many friends wanting to watch a movie just because ‘Amitabh ke bête ka launch hai yaar’.. makes me sad!


Now compare that to the west! Rarely heard of political dynasties in Europe and I don’t compare this with the United States, because they are not the benchmark for good governance.


If you want to compare with the United States, try and list out Hollywood stars whose parents too were in the motion picture business..not that easy huh? And what better example than the Americans when it comes to delinking ownership and management of businesses. I can’t think of any listed company which is being led by the son or daughter of the person who started the enterprise.

I personally don’t like Dynasties because they are in contradiction to our constitutional belief that all men are born equal. I am announcing my war on Dynasties by committing to


• Not to watch an Indian movie starring a Star Son / Daughter


• Not to vote for a candidate who has a political lineage!


• Not to buy stocks of a company run by kin of the founding family


Are you with me?