VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
Prime Minister Narendra Modi went
to the tilak ceremony of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s grandnephew Tej Pratap at the
weekend at Saifai in Uttar Pradesh, giving a great photo opportunity for the
Yadav dynasty in politics. The opportunity was rare. Two powerful political families
of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are coming together through a
matrimonial alliance. Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad is getting his
daughter married to the grandnephew of former UP Chief Minister. The two Yadav
leaders have also politically come together after ending their hostility of a
quarter of a century. This was typical of the days of the Rajas and Maharajas
when warring feudal States sought refuge in a matrimonial alliance to end their
hostility.
There should be more
socio-political and psychological studies on conditioning of voters who favour
dynasties. We still have little understanding of the psychological reasons why
voters prefer the family members of leaders rather than fresh political talent.
Voting on caste pattern may be one big reason. Things may be changing now with
the victory of Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi Assembly polls. But still there is a
long way to go when birth in a political family won’t guarantee political
success within the party.
We know for sure that dynasty and
politics go in tandem like a jugalbandi and become natural bedfellows in the
country. This is what we have seen in the last few years. Rahul Gandhi becoming
the de facto no. 1 in
the Congress is the natural process of the malaise which has been set into
motion by not only his party but a host of other regional parties in the
country.
From Kashmir
to Kanyakumari, you will find a series of dynastic leaders at the helm of
either governance or the regional parties. Congress is merely the symptom of
the disease, which runs deep, across political divide and ideology. None of
these regional parties have any system in which leadership quality is
scrutinised or the leader is chosen from a talent pool, which is wide and deep.
It is only taking birth in the right family, which determines political fate.
In the northern most State of the
country — Jammu & Kashmir — it was the father-son duo of Farooq Abdullah
and Omar who called the shots till recent Assembly polls. Omar’s grandfather
Sheikh Abdullah was the one who made a mark with his leadership qualities,
something which continues to be milked by the father-son duo. Besides that,
there is the father-daughter duo of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti in
the State who managed to outsmart the father-son duo in the Assembly polls.
Now, they are set to take over the reins of the State in partnership with the
BJP.
Cross over to Punjab .
Here, the father-son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Badal has
practically monopolised the entire political space of the Akali Dal. While the
father is the Chief Minister of the State, the son is the Deputy Chief Minister
and also the President of the Akali Dal. The older generation of the Akalis has
been gradually marginalised and beyond the two, there is hardly any leadership
except perhaps Bikram Majithia, brother-in-law of the junior Badal. Nephew of
the Chief Minister, Manpreet Badal was important for a while but when he fell
out in the succession plan of the senior Badal, he revolted and formed his own
party. “A son is important, not a nephew,” says the saying in the Akali Dal.
In the hill State of Himachal ,
Prem Kumar Dhumal is the Leader of Opposition and was the Chief Minister till
December 2012. His son Anurag Thakur is an MP from Hamirpur and in the BJP,
this is a rare occurrence. There is hardly any other example in the BJP where
both father and son have made it big into politics. Virbhadra Singh became the
Chief Minister of the State in December 2012 and is clear that his son
Vikramaditya Singh is being groomed now. The junior Singh could well be either
in the State Assembly or Parliament whenever next elections take place.
In UP, Bahujan Samaj Party
remains the only party, which is bereft of dynastic politics. Kanshi Ram
started the party and never encouraged any family member. Instead, the
leadership mantle fell on Mayawati who remained single and can rightfully take
a swipe at dynastic politics of her arch rival in the State — Samajwadi Party.
The entire family of party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is in politics with son
Akhilesh as the Chief Minister and daughter-in-law Dimple as an MP. Then there
are brothers and nephews, all in prominent positions in the party and
Government. It seems there is no talent beyond the family for the Yadav
patriarch.
Dynastic politics was
experimented in Uttarakhand too but the voters here rejected attempts to foist
Saket, the son of former Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna from Tehri constituency
in a by-election. Present Chief Minister Harish Rawat too got a party ticket
for his wife Renuka Rawat from Haridwar though the voters rejected her and she
could not retain the seat won by her husband last time. However, in Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) did not encourage his family members in
politics. He chose Jitan Ram Manjhi when the situation arose last year for a
leadership change. Now he is back as Chief Minister. But his new found friend
Lalu Prasad made his wife Rabri Devi the Chief Minister after he was jailed.
The other party in the State TDP
too has shades of dynastic politics though for a change it was the son-in-law
of NT Rama Rao, Chandrababu Naidu who inherited or rather snatched the
political legacy in a Machiavellian move almost two decades ago.
Like the Akali Dal in Punjab ,
Shiv Sena of Maharashtra also saw the rejection of the claims of the nephew in
favour of the son. The late party supremo Bal Thackeray chose his son Uddhav
over nephew Raj to continue the dynastic tradition. Now Uddhav has roped in his
son Aditya to groom his as a leader.
NCP too is not bereft of this as
both the daughter and nephew of Union Minister Sharad Pawar are practically the
no. 2 and 3 of the party. In Tamil Nadu, it is the extended family of M
Karunanidhi, which holds fort as the vanguard of dynastic politics. So wherever
you look, you see dynastic politics all around. Except perhaps BJP and the Left
parties, the political outfits have limited talent pool when it comes to
leadership. Congress and Rahul Gandhi are only the symptoms of the malaise
which runs deep. “Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house,” a
Congress leader said on the criticism after Rahul was made the party vice
president. (February 23, 2015 )
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