Political Diary
New Delhi, 16 April 2019
Parties
Invoke Dynastic Gods
MILLENNIAL
BRAT PACK BRO!
By
Poonam I Kaushish
In our electoral dance of democracy it’s
raining pedigree. No, I am not talking about the canine variety, but our
political lineage, specially the millennial brat pack. Wherein, our Parties are
busy invoking the dynastic Gods to reap rich political dividends. A fool-proof
way for India’s polity to go to the dogs!
If Indian democracy rests on the one-man-one
vote principle, elections are all about one family and as many tickets as you
can wangle norm. The Congress wins hands
down offering Nehru-Gandhi’s Gen Next and other dynasts while the BJP sways to
the lilting tune of Bhai, Bahen and Bandhu
alongside the NaMo jaap.
The regional satraps Thackeray’s Shiv Sena,
Chautala’s INLD, Badal’s Akali Dal, Abdullah’s NC, Lalu’s RJD, Mulayam’s
Samajwadi, Patnaik’s BJD, Ajit Singh’s RLD, Mehbooba’s PDP and Paswan’s LJP
believe in Patni and Putra-Putri Prem!A
no-holds barred gharelu nautanki
which has surpassed India’s Got Talent TRP rating. Indeed, India’s son’ is shining, and, how!
Undeniably, India has entered the era of
oligarchy. Scandalously, 157 Lok Sabha MPs or 30% belong to political families.
If this continues soon a time will come when most MPs would be by heredity
alone. Welcome our neo-Maharajas. Think.
Twenty eight beta-beti
politicians have claimed “their birthright of carrying forward the family
legacy.” Be it Congress, BJP, Samajwadi, BSP, Trinamool, NCP, NC, TDP, DMK, RJD
and LJP. They hail from J&K to Tamil Nadu, Nagaland to Maharashtra and heartland
UP, MP and Bihar.
Ironically, even as Congress President Rahul
harps on democratising the Party yet patriarchy and familial ties continue to
be the buzzword. Name any Chief Minister or PCC Chief and one will invariably
find his aankhon ka tara son-daughter
in politics. From MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath son who is in the poll fray from
Chindwara to his predecessor Digvijaya and J&K Soz’s sons, Union Minister Santosh Mohan Dev’s beti et al.
Ditto ex-Finance Minister Chidambaram and former
Assam and Haryana Chief Ministers Gogoi and Hooda’s sons, former Union Minister
PM Sayeed sons to dynasty retainer Murli Deora, late Rajesh Pilot and Jitendra
Prasad putras down Sunil Dutt’s
daughter Priya Dutt and Punjab Raja Amrinder’s
Rani.
Modi might scoff at Congress’s
dynastic politics breeding "termites" but the BJP too stands “Congressised” and
has its fair share of progenies. Of the BJP’s 75
new faces who made their electoral debut in Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh in
the recent Assembly polls 33are sons or daughters of leaders who have crossed
75 years.
Besides the other Gandhis — Maneka-Varun,
there is Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s son, deceased Goa and Delhi Chief
Ministers Parrikar and Sahib Singh’s betas
alongside erstwhile Union Minister Yashwant Sinha and Himachal Chief
Minister Dhumal ladlas, late Promod Mahajan and Munde’s daughters and
MP strongman Vijayvargiya son.
There’s dear Akhilesh Yadav who followed
daddy Mulayam as UP Chief Minister and nominated wife-uncles-cousins as MPs and
not-so-young but still in papa’s footsteps is Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray
hailing his rising son Aditya. Ditto TDP’s Naidu’s and TRS Rao’s beta-beti, Mamata and Pawar’s bhatijas,
Mayawati’s bhai and Omar Abdullah, who’s followed father Farooq
and grandfather Sheikh and Mehbooba who took-over the baton from daddy dearest
in Kashmir.
Lalu-Rabri family concern RJD has ladli Misa in Rajya Sabha, while her siblings
Tej Pratap-Teshaswi fight for the family political spoils, Paswan is busy
lighting the ‘chirag’ for son as is
Ajit Singh, Punjab’s Akali father-son
shop has Badal daughter-in-law as Union Minister and her brother as MLA. The entire Scindia family of Gwalior
has smoothly transitioned from monarchy to politics: Congress has Madhav’s son
Jyotrimayditya and BJP ex Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara’s ladla and bahen.
Besides, political legatees are getting
younger, hungrier and meaner. Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Odisha are classic cases where
dynasty rules the roost. You simply cannot aspire to achieve anything
worthwhile in politics if you are not the son or daughter of a prominent
leader. Besides Hooda, Rao Birendra Singh and Surjewala have their sons and
daughter respectively in the poll fray. Erstwhile Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s
son and Devi Lal’s progeny have regional outfits. On one side Ajay
Chautala’s son Dushyant is pitted against chacha
Abay.
Down South there is DMK patriarch Karunanidhi’s
son-daughter-nephew clan. Not to be left behind rival AIADMK has fielded Dy
Chief Minister Panneerselvam and ex-Mayor’s sons. A never ending lineage
whereby polls and Parties are one. In Odisha several political families are in
the fray, some seeking re-election or crossing swords with their kin as Parties
have fielded various family members from different constituencies.
In Sundergarh ex-Congress Chief Minister
Biswal's two daughters are in the fray, one BJD’s Lok Sabha candidate, the other
Congress’s Assembly contender. In another constituency the Congress has given the
father the responsibility to retain an Assembly seat and son to wrest a Lok
Sabha seat from rival BJD. A BJD MP has transferred his baton to wife. Also in
the fray is erstwhile Paralakhemundi King Gajapati’s great granddaughter.
All parroting the same hackneyed
diatribe. Only our dynasty can provide a
Government of the people, by the people and for the people. Sprinkled
liberally with loads of balidaan and desh
bhakti. Hoping that a billion plus
vassals will be mesmerized by the dynastic Gods to shower their choicest
blessing. What is material is not
whether the candidates are deserving but that they are “made deserving”, by
virtue of their hereditary factor.
If truth be told, we are still unabashedly
feudal in our outlook and jo hukum
thought process, notwithstanding that dynasty is an antithesis to democracy and
electoral politics. Most elected leaders prefer to function in the style of old
feudal lords. Party tickets are
distributed not on the basis of merit, but feudal laws and connections. If a Minister dies, give his place to the
wife, son or daughter.
This is today’s political culture: Of a
shameless feudalistic India. Wherein
families, even extended ones, invoke the dynastic Gods. Some see the netas bachhas invasion as leaders
cloning themselves to fortify their empires. Under the fallacy that charisma
and money rather than democratically choosing the best candidate serve the
needs of the constituency and voters. Asserted a senior family patriarch: “Is
it not normal for the offspring of mice to dig burrows? Children of political
parents will know politics best”. Perhaps the best way to explain a rat race!
In a milieu where politics has transcended to
business, a political family like a business house is busy leveraging its
assets. Under the misconception it owns a
constituency and has the right to pass it on to whomever it pleases, thereby
reducing ‘worthy candidates’ into a farce. Sadly, deserving candidates and
Party workers are dumped as principles are unceremoniously buried thereby, creating
confusion, causing rifts and fist flights. Indeed, all Parties have their share of black
eyes.
Resulting in sons, daughters and sons-in-law
becoming an integral part of statecraft – leading to new rules, guidelines and
extra-Constitutional centres of power. Bringing matters to such a pass that a neta’s clout is gauged by who and how
many family members he has got accommodated as Party candidates.
What next?
With top leaders making their ‘issues’ an election subject, ideology has
been cast aside. Notwithstanding, in the
long run short-term feudal gains will sound our polity’s death-knell. All busy hailing and serenading each other
---- the new rajas and ranis and my feudal India.--INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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