Indian political cauldron showed its typical character time and again. As a nation India is vastly different from many other countries - Religion, caste, creed, regional disparities, economic imbalance, poverty, peasantry, student unrest, growing unemployment, not to forget the recent recession and economic downturn – you find everything in Indian politics.
And the ongoing the Great Indian Ballot Battle-2009 is a good example of how Indian polity has evolved over a period of time. And, the verdict would not be different this time round – a fractured mandate yet again and eventually triggering horse-trade with the likes of Shibu Soren of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), K Chandrasekhar Rao of Telangana Rastra Samiti (TRS) calling the shots and making most of the situation!
But there seems to be one common thread that binds the Indian politicians together right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari – that’s the growth of “Family politics” and the rise of Sons and Daughters who are eagerly waiting to take up the mantle from their “proud dads”!
“Politics is the last resort of the scoundrels” - this quote perfectly fits most of our netas, if not all of them. They strive to do their best for the welfare of their family. And, family interests are primary for most of these politicians. “Of the Family, By the Family and For the Family” – that sums up the motto of these political biggies.
Surprisingly, the “biggest family man” in the present Indian politics, Union Railways minister and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad yet to join this race. For record, Lalu has two sons and seven daughters – and none seems to be interested in making a career in politics at least till now. Truly surprising, isn’t it? Perhaps, all of them are waiting for an appropriate time. With the current Bihar chief minister Nitesh Kumar Yadav not yielding any room, perhaps Lalu’s family is waiting for the right time to take a plunge. Who knows?
As a matter of fact, Lalu’s son Tejaswi Yadav, is busy playing a different ball game these days. Tejaswi Yadav, who sports a model-like looks unlike his famous father, is a member of the Delhi Daredevils team and is currently representing the team in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa. Though, Tejaswi Yadav is yet to make it to the final eleven team, it’s a fact that he is part of the tour entourage. For the record, Lalu is the president of the Bihar Cricket Association. And, you know the roots behind Tejaswi’s rise now!
And we all know that Lalu is not the one to miss the opportunity. The number of trains and the new railway lines that the ‘underdeveloped Bihar’ was able to get during his tenure as the Railway minister truly shows his character. His wife Rabri Devi has already became chief minister of the state once, and his brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav entering the political fray this time. And, it is only matter of time Lalu’s sons and daughters too join the fray.
Nehru showed the way
In India, the credit of starting the family politics goes to none other than India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. He first allowed his beloved daughter Smt Indira Gandhi to be the president of the All India National Congress in 1960.
Though, Indira retreated to domestic life for a brief time, it’s only matter of time, she rediscovered her political ambitions to be Prime Minister of country in a short duration of time later. After the death of her father, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1964, his successor to prime ministership, Lal Bahadur Shastri did a monumental mistake by persuading her to take a minor post in the central cabinet. When Lal Bahadur Shastri unexpectedly passed away in January 1966, the Congress bosses chose Mrs Indira Gandhi as his successor.
And, Mrs Indira Gandhi continued the legacy by bringing in her son into the political limelight. During the Emergency period of 1975-77, Sanjay Gandhi was the second most powerful person in India after his Prime Minister mother Indira Gandhi that’s at a time when he was not being a minister or even an MP. He contested the 1977 elections, and lost, but three years later he was elected to Parliament. He was then appointed Congress general secretary and it was pretty clear that he was being groomed to succeed her for the prime minister post.
Six months later Sanjay Gandhi met a tragic end and died in a plane crash. But, still then, the legacy continued as Rajiv Gandhi was drafted into politics by his mother, and was made general seecretary of the Congress party. This induction showed even more clearly than the first Mrs Indira Gandhi’s true intentions of creation of dynasty politics.
To make it clear, none of the Nehru’s fellow Congressmen, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Rajendra Prasad followed this practice of brining their sons and daughters into politics. They steadfastly refused to do so. In passing on her mantle to Sanjay and later Rajiv Gandhi, Mrs Indira Gandhi and earlier her father Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru started this unholy practice of imposing dynasty politics on the country. Tragically, this practice is being followed in every part of the country - states, districts, taluks, mandals, villages and even local panchayts. You can see this practice being religiously followed everywhere.
With the grand old party itself providing the necessary legitimacy to continue this practice, will the local parties stay far behind in the race. Consider this, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, which always fought Tamil pride, is successfully following this practice. The party chief of DMK, Dr M Karunanidhi, a veteran politician, has awesome threesome to succeed him for the CM gaddi in the state. Recently he brought in his daughter Mrs, Kanimozhi to the limelight by appointing her as the union minister. Now, the main worry of the Tamilians is which of his two sons, Stalin and Azhigeri or his daughter would succeed him for the Chief Minister post. Good choice for the people indeed.
And does anyone seriously believe that Bal Thackeray cares more about Maharashtrian pride than the future of his son Uddhav? Or that Mulayam Singh Yadav is more committed to the welfare of the Uttar Pradesh state than his son Akhilesh becoming a minister at the centre or chief minister of Uttar Pradesh itself? At this point of time, more than a dozen regional parties have become family firms. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) should be know as Lalu and Co, the Janata Dal (Secular) as H D Deve Gowda & Sons Ltd. the Nationalist Congress Party should be called Sharad Pawar & Co.
Andhra Pradesh is no different
Andhra Pradesh is no different to this father-son-daughter or perhaps all continuing the proud legacy. You find many family members entering the polly fray in for the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha this time round.
Leading this brand is chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy himself as his son YS Jaganmohan Reddy is testing poll waters from the Kadapa Lok Sabha. Rajasekhara Reddy’s brother YS Vivekananda Reddy himself vacated his seat to make Jagan contest the polls. And there are many like this. And no party is exception to this as the list only adds up. Like film hero Chiranjeevi, who launched his new political outfit, Praja Rajyam Party made his all-weather brother-in-law Allu Aravind contest from Anakapalli Lok Sabha seat. TRS party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son K T Rama Rao, TDP founder president NT Rama Rao’s daughter Daggubati Purandeswari and son-in-law-Daggubati Venkateswara Rao, MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and his brother Akbaruddi Owaisi, husband wife duo of Union minister Panabaka Lakshmi-Panabaka Krishnaiah – all in the list of candidates who are related to each other in some way or the other.
Probably no other state in the country has such a long list of relatives seeking their political fortunes in not just one party but also across different parties. State housing minister Bosta Satyanarayana leads the package as he holds “very strong clout” in this region. Botsa himself is in the race for assembly seat from Chipurupalli while his wife Botsa Jhansi is seeking re-election from Vizianagaram Lok Sabha seat. Botsa's younger brother Appala Narasaiah is also contesting the Gajapatinagaram assembly seat while his nephew Appala Naidu is the Congress candidate from Nellimarla. In a way, the Botsa family has hit a jackpot with four of its members bagging Congress tickets in the same elections.
"Even Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy could not get more than two tickets for his family and had to persuade his own brother-in-law to give up hope for Kadapa assembly seat," a senior Congress leader observed.
Lack of prescribed norms
In fact, there’s nothing wrong for a son to idolize father and follow in his footsteps and become his successor later. But in our country this theory is taking completely a different meaning. As if there’s no other profession, the family members of a political leader are following him and queuing up at the legislative bodies, be it Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Legislative assembly whatever be the case. And, this has become very rampantly prevalent in the country. Certainly, some research has to be done in this regard.
One thing is sure, many families of the political leaders are making use of their “image” to bring in their children or cashing on their popularity to continue this proud legacy or can one call it as exploitation?
When thousand other professions are readily available in the present day market then why children of these beloved netas lining up to take up their father’s mantle? Certainly, politics has become a very lucrative business in this country. There is no service motto whatsoever left in this field. It has become purely a money-spinning business.
One big reason of continuation of proud legacy is, lack of any, whatsoever prescribed norms to enter the political fray. One needs to be a citizen of India and attain 21 years of age that’s all enough. And there’s no minimum educational qualification to enter the political fray. And, it’s high time the union government makes amendment to this and put a minimum educational qualification to be eligible to contest the elections. If such a norm exits, many of our netas will miss the bus as they lack minimum educational qualifications.
Filmy angle
There’s yet another trend that’s catching the eye in the recent times, many of the film stars are turning to politics at the fag end of their filmy career these days. There’s a good reason for this. Since many of these film stars are already popular with the local voters, they can be instant hit in politics as well as the gullible voters would be swayed away by their filmy popularity. In fact, it’s not the popularity one needs to be successful in politics but an urge to serve the society. But politics is not about serving the poor any more.
Recently, Chiranjeevi, following the trend shown by a few popular stars like NT Rama Rao and MG Ramachandran in Tamil Nadu, who went on to become chief ministers of their respective states earlier, launched his own party and entered the political fray. Chiranjeevi with his huge popularity could make a big dent in the vote bank of the two existing top parties, both Congress and the Telugu Desam Party. Besides, Chiranjeevi, himself being a Kapu, using the caste card to attract a section of the voters. And this may add more trouble for the state as divisive politics has already fragmented the society into several divisions. Like Chiranjeevi, there are many famous film personalities, entered the political fray this time. Those include Krishnam Raju, Murali Mohan, Jayasudha, Jayaprada, Roja, all popular Telugu film personalities. There are many more who campaigned for their parties with the hope of entering the political waters at a later stage. Former Indian cricket team captain Mohd Azharuddin, who is facing ban over fixing allegations, also entered the political fray. And, this sums up the tale, politics has become an extension of career for these popular stars.
No investment either
And, one doesn’t need to make any capital investment to enter the political zone. Since, their fathers made already had a headstart and they need not require any further introduction either. And for their fathers, getting seats from their parties is not a difficult either as every other leader following this practice and the party is bound to honour them and give seats to neta log. When the party chief of a grand old party itself is following this principle, the leaders feel they got every right to demand tickets for their sons/daughters.
It is easy for the political parties also as it may be difficult for a fresher to get elected for the legislative body as he/she may not be readily acceptable for the local voters. But, if his/her father is already in the profession – it’s only continuation of the said policies.
Loyalty of the cadre makes a big difference as the poor chota netas campaign for the success of their beloved leader. Even voters should also be blamed for this as they are encouraging this trend to continue. Perhaps, the voters are also believing in continuation of the political legacy of the leaders or perhaps they might have been made to believe in this theory. Who knows?
Besides, all this – politics is the most popular and money-making yet powerful profession and there is no hiding this fact. These netas wield a lot of clout in the society. And at a time, when all this coming on a platter, wrapped in a gift box – what else can an “aspiring leader” ask for?
Ultimately, it’s the vote power that counts in a democratic form of society. If the voter makes his choice and it’s final. And, one cannot blame the “beloved leaders” for continuation of this proud legacy, ultimately it’s the choice of the voter that decides the fate of any leader for that matter. If the voter is not given too many options, then who to be blamed for this? Food for thought indeed?