New Delhi [India], November 3 (ANI): Congress leader Udit Raj on Monday said that dynastic influence pervades all sectors in India, including politics, business, the judiciary, and the film industry, adding that this trend restricts opportunities to a select few families.

Udit Raj made these remarks in response to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's recent essay on dynasty politics.

Speaking to ANI, Raj said, 'A dynastic approach exists in almost every sector in India, a doctor's son becomes a doctor, a businessman's child continues in business, and politics is no exception. Also, if a politician has a criminal background, it reflects the reality of our society. Election tickets are often distributed along caste and family lines.'

'From Naidu to Pawar, DMK to Mamata, Mayawati to Amit Shah's son, there are many such examples. The loss is that opportunities remain confined to families alone. Dynastic influence is not limited to politics; it extends to the bureaucracy, judiciary, and even the film industry,' he added.

Earlier, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor criticised 'dynastic' politics in India, terming it a 'grave threat' to democracy, and said it is 'high time' the nation moves towards 'meritocracy'.

In an article titled 'Indian Politics Are a Family Business' on Project Syndicate portal, Tharoor termed 'dynastic politics, a threat to Indian democracy', and argued that India must move to 'merit-based leadership', a view that may be seen as a swipe at the Congress high command and its INDIA bloc allies like Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and Shiv Sena (UBT).In the NDA, Tharoor said that the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party, Ram Vilas Paswan, was succeeded by his son, Chirag Paswan.

With just two days left for the Bihar assembly polls, Tharoor wrote that, from India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and current leaders Rahul Gandhi and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the idea has been strengthened that leadership in Indian politics can be a 'birthright'.

'For decades, one family has towered over Indian politics. The influence of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty - including independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and current opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra - is bound up with the history of India's struggle for freedom. But it has also cemented the idea that political leadership can be a birthright,' he said in a direct attack on Congress.

He also called out Congress' INDIA bloc allies over dynastic politics, mentioning Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya Thackeray, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is the son of former Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav. In Jammu and Kashmir, he pointed out the three generations of Abdullahs, and in Tamil Nadu, he highlighted that CM MK Stalin is the son of the late chief minster M Karunanidhi, adding that the family 'controls' the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party. (ANI)