Competence beyond inheritance

Disillusioned critics are deceitfully playing the unethical political blame game alleging that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is promoting ‘family rule’ in the state. The accusation is rightly challenged by BRS leaders and rank and file. In fact, five years ago, KCR himself clarified on this, in unequivocal words, describing it as an ‘absolute travesty of truth.’ In an interview to a national news channel, he said, it was KCR, his son, his daughter and family, who were at the forefront of Telangana agitation, facing several police cases and arrests and were put in jail. “We were all on the streets, which the whole state was aware of. My children were elected not just once or twice, but repeatedly as part of people’s mandate, and I never nominated them”. “My family is Telangana and every Telanganite is a partner of my family”, he further said in the interview.

Now the question is: “Do family members with ability, capability and leadership qualities have equal rights to be in politics or not?” Examples from India, and abroad, substantially amplify that, in a democracy, everyone has equal rights. For instance, family members of Kennedy, Bush, Roosevelt, Soong Sisters, Lee Kuan Yew, Bandaranaike, Churchill, Nehru-Gandhi etc. occupied important positions in their own way and what is wrong in it, as long as they proved capable?

Many of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s family members, beginning with his Grandfather Patrick Joseph Kennedy, were in the Federal Elective Office. Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy were Senators. Others included Members of House of Representatives, Ambassadors, Envoy, Lieutenant Governor, State Legislators, and Mayors. Every Kennedy elected to public office was a Democrat, and the majority held Cabinet Posts. Pearl S Buck, the all-time great novelist and biographer of the Kennedy Family, in her only non-fiction book ‘The Kennedy Women’ accounts in detail how passionate Patrick Joseph Kennedy's son Joseph Patrick Kennedy was in preparing his nine children, including John Kennedy, to occupy high political positions.

Likewise, four generations of Bush family members held national and state offices. For 12 years, they were the ‘First Family’, and for eight years, the ‘Second Family.’ They were: Senator Prescott Bush, Governor Jeb Bush, Vice President and President George HW Bush, and his son President George W Bush. The Bush Family is one of the four families to have produced two Presidents of the USA by the same surname. According to genealogist John Burke, Bush is 13th Cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, and is related to the British Royal Family. It is also said that Barack Hussein Obama, first African-American President of the USA, and George W Bush are 11th cousins.

The Adams family produced two US presidents, namely John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams. From the Roosevelt family, Theodore Roosevelt was President for eight years, and his fifth cousin Franklin D Roosevelt was President for a record three terms of 12 years. His wife, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, was Theodore's niece. Descendants of the Harrison family included one of the founding fathers of the USA, Benjamin Harrison V, and three Presidents, namely, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, and Abraham Lincoln, besides governors, legislators, and mayors.

In China, formidable ‘Soong sisters’ from the same Family, namely, Soong-Chia-Ling, Soong-Mei-Ling, and Soong-Ai-Ling, married the three most powerful figures of China, Sun-Yat-Sen, Chiang-Kai-Shek, and HH Kung, all of whom were Presidents of China at one time or other! ‘Soong sisters’ literally espoused to, and ended up actively espousing the political views of these three men who played key roles in shaping China’s destiny in the period of revolutionary instability. One brother of the Soong sisters, TV Soong, was a Foreign Minister of China for nearly a decade. ‘The Song of Soongs,’ one of the earliest dispatches to the Government of India from China by the distinguished writer and diplomat of India KPS Menon, as the Agent-General in 1943, described his memorable experiences with them.

From Singapore’s Lee political family, Lee Kuan Yew was the first and founding Prime Minister of Singapore for nearly 30 years. His son Lee Hsien Loong, was the third Prime Minister since 2004. Both father and son were also Secretary-Generals of their People's Action Party for decades. The Bandaranaike Family produced three Prime Ministers, one Chief Executive and one President of Sri Lanka. They were, SWRD Bandaranaike, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. The United Kingdom has seen many Families who have repeatedly produced notable politicians, and consequently such families have had a significant impact on politics. They include, among others, the Attlees, Asquiths, Baldwins, Callaghans, Chamberlains, Churchills, Grenvilles, Macmillans, Peels, Pitts etc. from whom there was at least one Prime Minister and several occupying various elected positions.

Back in India, Motilal Nehru, the founder patriarch of powerful political Nehru-Gandhi family legacy, after serving twice as President of the Indian National Congress, not only laid strong and permanent foundation for the future Prime Ministerial berth in favor of his son but also a perennial political opportunity to his descendants. He cleverly transferred the presidency to his London-educated son Jawaharlal Nehru, who entered politics just a decade ago and already established and proved his leadership qualities. The family produced three Prime Ministers and the fourth one is in the waiting! Motilal's daughter and Jawaharlal sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was President of the Indian National Congress, Lok Sabha Member, Governor, and also President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Jawaharlal Nehru stepped into the shoes of his father Motilal and set the ball rolling enabling his daughter Indira Gandhi to succeed him when opportunity came. ‘Dear to Behold’ a great book written by Indira’s aunt Krishna Nehru Hutheesingh, the youngest sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, gives an intimate and interesting portrait of Indira Gandhi, and the way Jawaharlal Nehru in every aspect, right from her childhood, prepared her for a bigger role in the national scenario. In the year 1930, on the New Year’s Day, the draft speech of declaration of Indian Independence, to be delivered by Nehru, was first read out to him by Indira, when she was just 13 years old!

More than Indira getting a chance for an entry into politics by her father, whether one accepts her style of functioning or not, she proved beyond doubt her leadership qualities. Her sons Sanjay and Rajiv’s entry into politics, and Rajiv Gandhi becoming Prime Minister may be construed in several ways. They, too, were leaders in their own right and weight, agreed or disagreed. Thus, unhesitatingly, the first promoter of family members’ entry into politics, which is obviously and certainly not an erroneous one, is none other than the Holy Congress! Million-dollar question is, why is the present Congress Party leadership blaming others, when it did the same! This is like the adage, “Do as I say, but don’t do as I do.”

The Nehru-Gandhi family’s lead in Indian politics has been taken in their own way by many. Family members of Vengal Rao, Channa Reddy, Anjayya, Bhavanam, Janardhan Reddy, Kotla, Nadendla, Venkata Swamy, NT Rama Rao, Chandrababu Naidu, Bhujbal, Chavan, Bahuguna, Rajasekhara Reddy, Umashankar Dikshit, Scindia, Pilot, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Devi Lal, Mulayam Sing Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Yeddyurappa, Devegowda, Karunanidhi, Sangma, Sheik Abdullah, Thackeray, Jagjivan Ram, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Biju Patnaik, Chiman Bhai Patel etc. to name few, have been in politics, some continuing with success due to ability and others leaving with failure.

Ability, capability and leadership qualities in politics are God-given gifts and entail hard work, intellect, oratory skills and also, to some extent, legacy, not to speak of certain amount of luck too. When these qualities are characteristic and proved beyond doubt in the case of KCR family members, then what if they are in politics and occupy elected positions? Why blame KCR for family rule, in isolation, on trivial political grounds?

The writer is Chief Public Relations Officer to Chief Minister Telangana. Views expressed are personal