Warts and all, dynastic politics stays relevant : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Warts and all, dynastic politics stays relevant

IN the run-up to the parliamentary elections, several political parties opposed to the NDA have begun efforts to stitch up an alliance to prevent the split of anti-BJP votes.

Warts and all, dynastic politics stays relevant

Mission 2019: Rahul and Priyanka face the uphill task of bringing about a turnaround for the Congress in the upcoming General Election.



Ranajoy Sen
Columnist

IN the run-up to the parliamentary elections, several political parties opposed to the NDA have begun efforts to stitch up an alliance to prevent the split of anti-BJP votes. The Congress is making a clarion call for unity of disparate parties, but it is yet to clarify its own position regarding being a constituent of any such alliance. The party appears busy reinforcing its presence in the political arena.

Ever since Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took charge as the Congress general secretary, the party’s rank and file appear enthused. Regarded as politically astute, Priyanka was the cynosure of all eyes during her debut rally in Lucknow. There is a buzz that the Congress, which has been repeatedly beaten by the BJP and some regional parties in recent years, can do a turnaround in the General Election. Under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, there was an impression, backed by ground reality, that the Congress’ influence was steadily ebbing. There were murmurs about bringing more competent leaders into the party fold. However, it could not be done due to an overweening dependence of the party’s members on those who indisputably control the Congress: the Nehru-Gandhi family.

When the country’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, passed away in 1964, his successor was not his daughter, Indira Gandhi (whose husband, Feroze Gandhi, was no relation of Mahatma Gandhi). It was the homespun, popular Congress leader and a former minister in the Nehru government, Lal Bahadur Shastri. When Shastri died less than two years later, senior leaders of then undivided Congress faced a dilemma over selecting a Prime Minister who had a pan-India appeal. They found none except Nehru’s daughter. 

Notwithstanding her tremendous popularity and political stature, Indira Gandhi increasingly concentrated power in her own hands and displayed a penchant for sidelining leaders of some stature who had a mass base of their own. She, therefore, could think of nobody to succeed her than those of her immediate family. Her approach to political succession in the Congress — by then re-named after her as Congress (I) — was determined by a “dynasty above all” aspect, eclipsing other factors. When her politically inclined younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, died in a plane crash, her inevitable choice was the elder one, Rajiv Gandhi. 

After Indira’s assassination in 1984, Rajiv took over as the Prime Minister. After he was killed in 1991, the Congress, within seven years, found it a pressing requirement to make his wife, Sonia Gandhi, agree to be the party’s unquestioned leader. Thereafter, with the passage of time, the question within the Congress was less of whether and more of when her son, Rahul Gandhi, and daughter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, would join the party. 

Rahul Gandhi contested and won a Lok Sabha seat for the first time in 2004; from then on, he is wholly engaged in Congress affairs. In December 2017, he took over as the party president. His sister has just entered active politics. There has been criticism all along that the Congress has become a dynasty-controlled political party. 

The supreme leadership of the party has rested with successive generations of the Nehru-Gandhi family for the past about 40 years. Hence, the party has probably not been able to tap the potential of seemingly more suitable candidates. Some observers claim that the Congress has lost potentially competent individuals who might have joined the party, but for the unquestioned dominance of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

All said and done, successful dynastic succession in political parties can occur if the electorate endorses it. In India and across the subcontinent, the electorate, in large measure, has perennially done exactly that — for better or for worse. Even today, despite trenchant criticism, for a sizeable number of voters, there is something distinctive, dazzling and overpowering about the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. But, it is not the only one on the Indian political scene. The continuing relevance of the Abdullahs and the Muftis of Jammu and Kashmir, the Karunanidhis of Tamil Nadu, the Yadavs of Uttar Pradesh, the Thackerays of Maharashtra and the Badals of Punjab indicates that dynastic politics is still a crucial component of the Indian political scenario.

There is an anecdote about the dreaded ruler, Taimur the ‘Lame’, enquiring from illustrious scholar Ibn Khaldun about the fate of political dynasties. Khaldun opined that the glory of a political dynasty usually started fading from the fourth generation, unless diligent efforts were made by those concerned to prevent it.

Rahul and Priyanka belong to the fourth generation of the family. While attacking the Modi government and working with other political parties to try and prevent the return of the BJP to power, they would have to work wisely and conscientiously, if they are keen to script a successful narrative of their political careers.

Top News

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Ansari was hospitalised after he complained of abdominal pai...

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

The bench refuses to comment on merits of the issue, saying ...

Arvind Kejriwal to be produced before Delhi court today as 6-day ED custody ends

Excise policy case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1

In his submissions, Kejriwal said, ‘I am named by 4 witnesse...

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

MEA spokesperson says India is proud of its independent and ...

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, is already beh...


Cities

View All