E-Paper
BJP cheers Tharoor’s bold ‘Indian politics are family business’ article, Congress says Gandhis laid down lives
In a news article article, Tharoor has said while Nehru-Gandhi family is associated with Cong, dynastic succession prevails across political spectrum.
Shashi Tharoor, the Congress MP often hitting headlines for his strong opinions over issues even if it sometimes mean not blindly siding with his party - got Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) backing on Tuesday for his remarks in a news article that dynastic politics prevails across the political spectrum - which he said poses a "grave threat" to Indian democracy.
In an article for international media organisation Project Syndicate, headlined ‘Indian Politics Are a Family Business’, Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor pointed out that while the Nehru-Gandhi family is associated with the Congress, dynastic succession prevails across the political spectrum.
The article mentions leaders of his party and Gandhi scions Rahul and Priyanka.
A para from the article reads, “India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and current opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – is bound up with the history of India’s struggle for freedom. But it has also cemented the idea that political leadership can be a birthright. This idea has penetrated Indian politics across every party, in every region, and at every level.”
While the BJP hailed Shashi Tharoor as a ‘khatron ka khiladi’ over the piece, Congress said that dynastic politics exists across party lines and also hailed the Nehru-Gandhi family's leadership.
BJP vs Congress over Tharoor article | Who said what
Reacting to the Shashi Tharoor article, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said leadership comes from merit, adding that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi proved themselves as the most capable leaders of the country.
“Leadership always comes from merit. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the most capable Prime Minister of this country... Indira Gandhi proved herself by sacrificing her life. Rajiv Gandhi served this country by sacrificing his life,” Pramod Tiwari said, speaking to ANI news agency.
"If someone talks about the Gandhi family as a dynasty, then which other family in India had the sacrifice, dedication, and ability that this family possessed? Was it BJP?" he asked.
Congress leader Udit Raj argued that dynastic influence permeates various sectors in India, including politics, business, the judiciary, and the film industry, and said this trend restricts opportunities to a select few families.
Raj said, "A dynastic approach exists in almost every sector in India. A doctor's son becomes a doctor, a businessman's child continues in business, and politics is no exception. Also, if a politician has a criminal background, it reflects the reality of our society. Election tickets are often distributed along caste and family lines."
"From Naidu to Pawar, DMK to Mamata, Mayawati to Amit Shah's son, there are many such examples. The loss is that opportunities remain confined to families alone. Dynastic influence is not limited to politics; it extends to the bureaucracy, judiciary, and even the film industry," he added, speaking to ANI.
What BJP said on Tharoor's article
The BJP welcomed Shashi Tharoor's remarks and described dynastic politics as a "grave threat" to Indian democracy. Tharoor's remarks come in the run up to the Bihar assembly elections, in which Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Yadav's son Tejashwi is opposition bloc INDIA's chief ministerial candidate.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan took a jibe at the Congress and the RJD, stating that Tharoor wrote the article based on his own "experience."
"I welcome the statement of Shashi Tharoor. Whatever he said must be correct. He would have said this on the basis of his experience. His remarks will obviously hurt the Congress party and the RJD because their politics are limited to a family. They cannot think outside their family," Pradhan said.
Calling the Congress MP 'khatron ke khiladi' for directly calling out "nepo kid" Rahul Gandhi, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla praised his article, saying it accurately exposes how the Gandhi family turned Indian politics into a "family business."
Poonawalla said, "A very insightful piece has been written by Dr Tharoor on how Indian politics has become a family business. In the opening of that piece, he has explained how the first family of Congress party, the Gandhi-Vadra dynasty, has been responsible for cementing this negative thought that political position and power can be a matter of birthright."
Poonawalla further stated that Tharoor's article would make RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi uncomfortable.
"Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi may take his article very personally... Dr Tharoor should be applauded, but now he will get a series of bad words and insults from Kerala Congress and other leaders," he added.
Shashi Tharoor's remarks in the article come weeks after a row over his comments on the India-Pakistan conflict and the diplomatic outreach following the Pahalgam attack. The comments were conflicting to the Congress stance, with many party leaders taking a swipe at him, questioning his intentions.
Shashi Tharoor was part of the delegations the government of India sent to multiple countries for an outreach drive over Operation Sindoor - India's military strikes against terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in May this year in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26.
