Editing Indian National Congress (section)

=== Dynasticism ===
Dynasticism is fairly common in many [[List of political parties in India|political parties]] in India, including the Congress party.<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> Six members of the [[Nehru–Gandhi family]] have been presidents of the party.<ref name="Gandhi presidents">{{cite news |last1=Radhakrishnan |first1=Sruthi |title=Presidents of Congress past: A look at the party's presidency since 1947 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/presidents-of-congress-past-a-look-at-the-partys-presidency-since-1947/article21639174.ece |access-date=26 May 2020 |work=The Hindu |date=14 December 2017}}</ref> The party started being controlled by Indira Gandhi's family during [[The Emergency (India)|the emergency]] with her younger son, Sanjay taking on a prominent role.<ref name="Tarlo2003">{{cite book|author=Emma Tarlo|title=Unsettling Memories: Narratives of the Emergency in Delhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IO1WB2H8UUC&pg=PR5|date=24 July 2003|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-23122-1|pages=27–29}}</ref> This was characterized by servility and sycophancy towards the family which later led to a hereditary succession of Rajiv Gandhi as successor after Indira Gandhi's assassination, as well as the party's selection of Sonia Gandhi as Rajiv's successor after his assassination, which she turned down.<ref name="Bose2013">{{cite book|author=Sumantra Bose|title=Transforming India|url={{Google books|reiwAAAAQBAJ|page=PP8|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|date=16 September 2013|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-72819-6|pages=28–29}}</ref> Since the formation of Congress (I) by Indira Gandhi in 1978 till 2022, the party president has been from her family except for the period between 1991 and 1998. In the last three elections to the Lok Sabha combined, 37 per cent of Congress party MPs had family members precede them in politics.<ref name="Chandra2016">{{cite book|editor1=Kanchan Chandra|editor-link1=Kanchan Chandra|author1=Adam Ziegfeld|title=Democratic Dynasties: State, Party and Family in Contemporary Indian Politics|url={{Google books|tesIDAAAQBAJ|page=PR10|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|date=28 April 2016|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-12344-1|page=105}}</ref> However, in recent times there have been calls from within the party to restructure the organization. A group of senior leaders wrote a letter to the party president to reform the Congress allowing others to take charge. There was also visible discontent post the loss in 2019 elections after which a [[G-23 (political group)|group of 23 senior leaders]] wrote to the Congress President to restructure the party.<ref>{{cite web |title=Exclusive: Complete Text of Congress "Letter Bomb" And Its Big Points |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/exclusive-complete-text-of-congress-letter-bomb-and-its-big-points-2286397 |access-date=2022-03-22 |publisher=NDTV}}</ref>