Politics of Maharashtra: Difference between revisions

Although a parliamentary democracy, Indian politics has increasing become dynastic, possibly due to the absence of a party organization, independent civil society associations that mobilize support for the party, and centralized financing of elections.<ref name="ppq.sagepub.com">{{cite journal|last1=Chhibber|first1=Pradeep|title=Dynastic parties Organization, finance and impact|journal=Party Politics |date=March 2013|volume=19|issue=2|pages=277–295|doi=10.1177/1354068811406995|s2cid=144781444}}</ref> On the national level family members have led the [[Indian National Congress|Congress party]] for most of the period since 1978 when [[Indira Gandhi]] floated the then Congress(I) faction of the party.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Basu|first1=Amrita|editor= Kanchan Chandra |author-link=Kanchan Chandra |title=Democratic Dynasties: State, Party and Family in Contemporary Indian Politics|date=2016|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge, UK|isbn=978-1-107-12344-1|page=136|edition=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tesIDAAAQBAJ&q=sonia&pg=PR10|access-date=23 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110030054/https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=tesIDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR10&dq=%22political+dynasties%22+india&ots=panvSUPVV9&sig=rBLRMVvTQ2f7mX6q3bm6Gj6eyfw#v=onepage&q=sonia&f=false|archive-date=10 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> It also is fairly common also in all political parties in Maharashtra.<ref name="Denyer2014">{{cite book|author=Simon Denyer|title=Rogue Elephant: Harnessing the Power of India's Unruly Democracy|url=https://archive.org/details/rogueelephanthar0000deny|url-access=registration|date=24 June 2014|publisher=Bloomsbury USA|isbn=978-1-62040-608-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/rogueelephanthar0000deny/page/115 115]–116}}</ref>

In the 2019 elections to the lok sabha, 42% of MPS elected from Maharashtra belonged to political families. According to John Mohan Razu, the main reason parties choose candidates from political families is to maximise the party's chances at the ballot box. In most local cases being a dynast remains by and large more of an asset than a liability in Indian context.<ref>Verniers, G., & Jaffrelot, C. (2019). Explained: Why so many MPs are dynasts. The Indian Express, 27.</ref>The dynastic phenomenon is seen from national level down to district level and even at village level. The three-tier structure of Panchayati Raj created in the 1960s also helped to create and consolidate this phenomenon in rural areas. Apart from government, political families in the state also control cooperative institutions, mainly cooperative sugar factories, district cooperative banks and in some cases local unions.<ref>Palshikar, S., 2004. Issues in an Issue-less Election: Assembly Polls in Maharashtra. Economic and Political weekly, pp.4399-4403.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Blom Hansen|title=Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bf5ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|date=5 June 2018|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-18862-1|pages=103–104}}</ref> in the state

The ruling [[Bharatiya Janata Party]] also features several senior leaders who are dynasts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/918234/is-the-bjp-less-dynastic-than-the-congress-not-so-lok-sabha-data-shows|title = Is the BJP less dynastic than the Congress? Not so, Lok Sabha data shows}}</ref><ref name="Chandra2016">{{cite book|author=Kanchan Chandra|title=Democratic Dynasties: State, Party, and Family in Contemporary Indian Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VwbFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PR10|date=28 April 2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-59212-0|page=131,136}}</ref> In Maharashtra, the [[Nationalist Congress Party|NCP]] has particularly high level of dynasticism. The NCP founder, Sharad Pawar has many members of his family such as his daughter [[Supriya Sule]], nephew [[Ajit Pawar]], and other members of the extended family holding prominent positions in the party.<ref name="Chandra2016"/>. In other districts of the state, senior politicians promote their own relatives in their local quasi-fiefdoms. For example in [[Akluj]] are of [[Solapur district]], candidates have to be from the Mohite-Patil clan or approved by them.<ref>Aron, S. (2016). The Dynasty: Born to Rule. Hay House, Inc.[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mUywDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT9&dq=maharashtra+politics+ideology+family+dynasty+nepotism+district+fiefdoms+pawar+&ots=H-gTgo8xwB&sig=T0sQBNi5BRfr0NxLygpEfPKWA7c#v=snippet&q=maharashtra%20fiefdom&f=false]</ref>

Journalist Gopal Joshi aruesargues that ideology has taken a backseat in the state politics with some dynastic families such as the Vikhe Patil of Ahmadnagar disrictdistrict making journey from communism in the first generation to the rightwing BJP in the present generation.<ref>{{cite news |last=Joshi |first=Gopal |date=15 January 2023 |title=घराणेशाहींचं 'नगर' : नात्यागोत्यातल्या तंगडेओढीत मुख्यमंत्रिपद हाती न लागलेला जिल्हा (Nagar: the district of dynasticism:Family feuds making the district lose the post of Chief minister) |url=https://www.bbc.com/marathi/articles/cv24j2d1q2po |work= |location= |access-date=}}</ref> Although Dynasticism is a powerful factor in the state politics, feuds amongst family members can lead to members launching their own parties as was the case of [[Raj Thackeray]] leaving Shiv sena and forming the [[Maharashtra Navnirman Sena]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Palshikar|first=Suhas|date=2005|title=Shiv Sena's Dilemmas|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4417480|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=40|issue=49|pages=5144–5146|jstor=4417480 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref><ref>Aron, S., 2016. The Dynasty: Born to Rule. Hay House, Inc. In other cases family members have contested on the ticket of different parties for the same seat.</ref>