Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 4 (IANS) AICC general secretary KC Venugopal on Tuesday strongly distanced himself from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s controversial remarks on dynasty politics, saying the leadership of the Nehru-Gandhi family was earned through democratic means and marked by unparalleled personal sacrifice.
Referring to Tharoor’s Weekend article in a Malayalam daily, Venugopal said, “I don’t agree with what Tharoor has said. One should ask him why he said it.”
He strongly defended the Congress’ first family, saying, “The Nehru family never came to the fore just like that – remember, they only came through the democratic process. Also, what family has sacrificed so much for the country that they lost two ‘people’.”
In his article titled “Dynastic Politics: A Threat to Indian Democracy”, Tharoor argued that India should move from family rule to merit-based leadership – an approach that many in the party see as a direct attack on the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
He wrote that the political influence of the family, from Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi to Rajiv, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, has promoted the perception that political leadership is a hereditary right.
“The dominance of political families weakens democracy,” Tharoor said. He claimed that family-based politics weakens accountability, lowers standards of governance and allows leaders to rely on surnames rather than capability.
Citing a recent study, he said 149 political families have multiple members in state assemblies, while 11 Union ministers and nine chief ministers have family connections.
Venugopal, a close confidant of the party high command, said the Congress has “no interest in creating distractions during the elections”, stressing that the leadership’s focus remains on the upcoming elections.
Incidentally, the Congress-led UDF in Kerala has done its best by announcing its first list of 48 seats for the 101-member Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, while both the other political fronts have not announced theirs.
Venugopal’s sharp rebuttal is being seen as an attempt to reaffirm loyalty to the central leadership and contain any notion of internal dissent, even as Tharoor’s comments have reignited the debate over the role of political dynasties in Indian democracy.
–IANS
SG/SKP