Leadership a birthright of Neta’s kin in India



VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA


With campaign for Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra in full swing, dynastic politics is in full bloom. As the malaise is spread out, cutting across party and ideological divides, many say that India has emerged as the laboratory of dynastic politics and academicians from all over the world would soon start converging here to study its dynamics at play.

In Maharashtra and Haryana, you cannot find any party where sons and daughters of prominent political figures do not play the role of a catalyst in their respective parties.

Yes, the BJP could be an exception to the rule to some extent but here also, the sympathy factor is indeed factored in when tickets are allotted though the sons and daughters may not play as important a role as their fathers played.

Given the existence of an umbilical cord connecting dynasty and politics in India, I sometimes wonder why don’t the sons and daughters of American, Russian and French Presidents, British Prime Ministers or other countries of the world get nominations from the parties of their fathers and contest polls. If getting born in the right family is the criteria for a sharp political brain, why don’t we see the children of big leaders of the world joining their fathers and mothers in the profession?

Perhaps in the USA, Russia, France or Britain politics is considered not as lucrative as in India and the children of leaders choose other more paying professions.

Perhaps for the exception of the Bush family in the USA in recent years, people there have abhorrence for anything to do with such traditions befitting only the royalty, perhaps they have outrightly rejected the theory that sons or daughters of big leaders are more

capable of leading the parties and their countries than those who do not have any political lineage.

It requires an empirical study to find out if children of leaders are born leaders and their parents pass on all the leadership qualities they have in their genes to their children. But in India, all the leaders assume that their son or daughter is the best when it comes to party tickets and notwithstanding their role in public life, they get party nominations without any hitch. In fact, most of them claim it to be their birthright. The moment a child is born in the household of an important leader in India, it can be safely said that he or she would someday contest an election.

I will not go into the details of the Gandhi family which is well-known all over the world. But surely the talk of the town was Rahul Gandhi adopting Priyanka Gandhi’s son Rehaan to groom him as the gen next in politics from the Gandhi family. No one has so far denied the reports. Can somebody stand up and say, “Please give us a break. We had enough of it.”

In Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray broke away from the BJP simply because he thought his surname stirred emotions, which would swing the voters in his favour. This would be the first election, which the Shiv Sena would be fighting after the death of the party patriarch, Bal Thackeray and would indicate how far the dynasty can go in Maharashtra politics. In fact, the Shiv Sena broke on the inheritance issue whether the son would inherit the political legacy or the nephew. Balasaheb chose his son, his nephew Raj Thackeray revolted but in the process a dynasty was established. Now that Uddhav knows benefits of a dynasty in politics, he has groomed his son Aditya as well.

Here, the NCP and dynasty are synonymous. Party supremo Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar firmly control the party though no one has been named successor as the patriarch still runs the show. Before break-up with the Congress, Pawar practically ran the show in Maharashtra even though the Chief Minister was from the Congress quota. Post October 15 polls, he is expected to again play the role of kingmaker and will have a bigger pool to choose from. He could support anyone — the Shiv Sena, the BJP or the Congress depending on the bargain if the numbers support him.

Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan is the son of former CM Shankarrao Chavan, and now an MP. Another former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh may have died but his legacy continues as his elder son Amit was a Minister in the Prithviraj Chavan Cabinet. Chavan inherits politics from parliamentarian father Anandrao and his mother who too was an MP. A disgruntled Narayan Rane has both his sons Nilesh and Nitesh in politics.

There are too many from dynasties to count in Maharashtra as most of t he politicians have a father or uncle from whom they have inherited politics. Politics in the State is practically a closed system where you cannot do much without a powerful dynasty.

Now the BJP is trying the formula in a limited way with the daughters of Pramod Mahajan and Gopinath Munde getting into politics after the death of their fathers.

In Haryana, the other State, which goes to polls on October 15, the situation is no different. Here too, you become an important leader by virtue of your birth. Take for instance Dushyant Chautala, the fourth generation from Chaudhary Devi Lal’s family who won the Lok Sabha elections from Hisar by defeating Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, who heads the Haryana Janhit Party. Dushyant’s father Ajay Chautala is a prominent INLD leader. His grandfather Om Prakash Chautala remains the party chief despite in jail. His uncle Abhay is MLA and is running the party in the absence of his jailed father and brother. Dushyant’s mother Naina Singh too would be contesting the polls this time, the first woman from the Chautala family to do so.

Two-term Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s father, Ranbir Singh Hooda was a member of the constituent Assembly and a MP later on. His son Deepender is the only Congress MP from the State. Two-time CM Bhajan Lal has two sons — Chander Mohan and Kuldeep Bishnoi and both in politics. Bishnoi’s wife is MLA and this time all the three are contesting the Assembly polls.

The third Lal in the State, Bansi Lal is regarded as the architect of modern Haryana as three-time CM. His daughter-in-law Kiran Chaudhary is a Minister in the Hooda Cabinet and granddaughter Shruti Chaudhary a former MP who lost the 2014 polls.

His elder son Ranbir Singh Mahendra will be contesting this time on a Congress ticket. The BJP does not have a dynasty to boast off in the State but the sister of Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Vandana Sharma will contest on the lotus symbol from Safidon constituency. Haryana like Maharashtra is a classic case where dynasty rules the roost from the ruling Congress to the Opposition.

You simply cannot aspire to achieve anything worthwhile in politics if you are not the son or daughter of a prominent leader goes the popular saying in poll-bound States like Maharashtra and Haryana. In fact, that is the case in all states-a malady which everyone recognises but cannot do anything to rectify. (September 29, 2014)


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