In the meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Board, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concern over the growing familialism in politics. PM Modi said that in politics, family parties are hollowing the country. PM Modi said that casteism increases with familyism. At the same time, he said, “Children of BJP MPs did not get tickets because it comes under familism. He didn’t get the ticket because of me.”
During the Parliamentary Board meeting, PM Modi described familyism as the biggest enemy of democracy. He said that the results of the recent elections have made it clear that this is a mandate against familyism. In fact, during the UP Assembly elections, BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi and many other leaders had demanded tickets for the family members, due to which the BJP came under the target of the opposition. However, the party did not give ticket to Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s son.
PM Modi said, “If it is a sin not to give tickets to the family members of an MP, then I am responsible for this sin in the BJP. I decided that such people will not be given tickets. I am against dynasty politics.”
Familism is not a new thing in Indian politics. At present, 44 per cent of Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha are from the families of leaders. At the same time, if we talk about the Bharatiya Janata Party, 25 percent of the party’s MPs are from the family of the leaders.
According to the reports of SERI and Ashoka University, nepotism has been more dominant in national parties than regional parties in terms of statistics. In 2019, out of 856 candidates from national parties, 227 were from the families of leaders. Whereas, speaking of regional parties, 162 out of 1333 candidates were from the families of leaders.
At the same time, according to a Harvard University study, 12 percent of BJP MPs and 11 percent of Congress MPs were from politicians’ families. In this case, CPI and CPI(M) were the only political parties that fielded 5 per cent candidates belonging to the family of leaders.