New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS): Politics in independent India has a deep connection with political dynasties. The phenomenon of dynasty politics in the country is not limited to the country's grand old party, where the fourth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family still rules the roost.
In fact, most of the regional parties in the country are controlled by political families. Dynasty politics exist across the country and in several parties.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a strong critic of dynasty politics. PM Modi has been attacking the prevalence and dominance of dynasty politics since his arrival on the political landscape of the country.
Once again the PM attacked dynasty politics, clubbing it with corruption in his speech on 75th Independence Day of the nation on Friday. The Prime Minister said that the country is currently facing two big challenges -- corruption and 'parivaarvaad', (nepotism).
However, the opposition has been alleging that PM's condemnation of dynasty politics has been selective as he conveniently ignores the dominance of certain political families in his own party.
CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a nationwide survey on behalf of IANS to know people's views about the accusations by the opposition leaders that BJP is promoting dynasty politics. The survey found that people were divided in their opinion on the issue.
As per the survey data, while 52 per cent respondents asserted that the saffron does not indulge in or promote dynasty politics, 48 per cent respondents stressed that the phenomenon is very much prevalent in the ruling party as well.
Predictably, during the survey, the majority of NDA voters and opposition supporters replied as per their political and ideological leanings. According to the survey data, while 70 per cent NDA voters replied in 'no' when asked if BJP promotes political scions, 63 per cent of opposition voters gave an affirmative answer on the issue.
During the survey, different social groups expressed diverse views. According to the survey data, while the majority of Scheduled castes (SC) - 69 per cent and Muslims - 63 per cent stressed that BJP promotes nepotism in politics, the majority of Upper Caste Hindus (UCH) - 67 per cent opposed this view.