Nepotism Nation: When Privilege Replaces Merit in India Strip Away the Privilege, and They Crumble

 The Horns of Entitlement: When Privilege Replaces Merit

India’s elite—the children of politicians, bureaucrats, IAS and IPS officers—are growing horns. Not the kind that signify strength or wisdom, but the kind that symbolize entitlement, arrogance, and a dangerous detachment from reality. Their confidence? Fake. Their achievements? Often inherited. Their values? Non-existent.

Strip away the money, remove the prestige, and they are left exposed—ordinary individuals without the cushion of inherited influence. Yet, they parade around with an air of superiority, mistaking privilege for competence, confusing nepotism with merit, and believing their inherited status is a substitute for hard-earned knowledge and true ability.

Confidence Without Substance

True confidence is not a byproduct of wealth. It does not come from being chauffeured in government cars or from knowing the right people in power. Real confidence is built through education, experience, and struggle—something many of these privileged kids have never known. While they flaunt their last names like badges of honor, millions of hardworking students in India grind day and night, battling an unfair system where their merit is overshadowed by someone’s family connections.

Look at them—strutting into universities with their VIP quotas, landing jobs without interviews, sitting on high chairs they did not earn. Meanwhile, the truly talented are often forced to migrate abroad, disillusioned by a system that rewards surnames over skills. The consequence? A brain drain where India loses its best minds while those who remain bask in unearned glory.

The Corrupt Cycle of Inherited Power

The children of bureaucrats become bureaucrats. The offspring of politicians become politicians. Why? Because they are groomed not to serve, but to inherit power like an ancestral jewel. This cycle ensures that the system remains stagnant, filled with individuals who mimic the gestures of leadership without its essence. They inherit the perks but not the purpose, the power but not the responsibility.

The reality is stark: If you remove their privilege, they get floored. Take away the money, the fake respect, and the pre-scripted networks of influence, and they collapse. They are unprepared for real competition, for the kind of survival that the average Indian faces daily.

Where Real Confidence Comes From

Confidence should come from education—the kind that challenges you, forces you to think critically, and prepares you to stand on your own feet. It should come from proving oneself in the face of adversity, not from inherited wealth or parental influence. The irony is that India, the land of Buddha, Ambedkar, and Kalam, now mass-produces dynasts who believe leadership is their birthright, not something to be earned.

Real progress can only happen when meritocracy triumphs over nepotism. When a child from a rural school gets the same opportunities as the son of a politician. When an aspiring bureaucrat from a humble background can compete fairly with the child of an IAS officer. When leadership is about capability, not inheritance.

Until then, India will continue to be a country where true talent is forced to kneel while mediocrity rides on the shoulders of nepotism. And as long as that remains, our so-called leaders will only be kings and queens of an empire of illusions, ruling over a nation that deserves better.