Dynasty Politics as Manifestation of Weakness in Party Structures: ‘Delayed Succession' of Indira Gandhi (1964-1977)

Abstract

This paper aims to locate the predecessor of Dynasty politics in India. Although at the beginning of her political career as the prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, was not the natural choice of Congress ‘big-man'. But she was chosen because they assumed that she might extend the charisma of Jawaharlal Nehru. Defying all assumptions about her political naí¯vity, she proved to be a very popular leader, but at the cost of breaking down institutional mechanisms and hierarchies at various levels. This article, while trying to locate the roots of Dynasty politics in India have also tried to look at the concept of Single-party dominance system, institutions of governance at various levels, de-institutionalization process initiated by Indira Gandhi culminating in the much-debated declaration of Emergency in the nation, which otherwise has a long history of practiced Democracy in South-Asia.