Dynasties & democracy

Paush Krushna Chaturdashi

By N. V. Subramanian

Most sensible Indians should be asking the question, "When will dynastic politics end?" The answer is not, as this writer has so long hoped for, "When a stable two-party system emerges," because it won’t, till dynastic politics gums the works. It is only when political dynasties implode will we see meaningful, responsive and issue-based politics emerging. The good news is the process has commenced, although at a pace that is glacial to be immediately perceivable.

The M.Karunanidhi family is at war with itself. Karunanidhi’s eldest son (M.K.Azhagiri) and daughter (Kanimozhi) are livid with their brother, Stalin, for scheming the re-entry of the two Maran brothers into the dynasty. The Marans were and would more solidly now be behind Stalin when he succeeds Karunanidhi, a prospect distasteful to the rest of the brood. Azhagiri, on the other hand, has pulled off a surprise victory for the DMK in southern Tamil Nadu elections, which can’t please Stalin. Post-Karunanidhi, the DMK will likely split, and the ensuing political shake-up should be good for Tamil Nadu.

If you look at the Congress from far, it is also a dynasty in decline, down to under one-fifty Lok Sabha seats, and desperate for coalition partners to stay in power. Because Sonia Gandhi knew she was unacceptable to the country, and the Gandhi scion, Rahul, was inexperienced and unready, she chose an utterly loyal non-politico as PM. But with Rahul showing no promise, and general elections three months away, there is an orchestrated clamour from the UP Congress to field Priyanka Gandhi from Moradabad, home of her in-laws.

Let this point be made. This writer has no taste for writing about other peoples’ families. The Karunanidhis or Gandhis or the Dutts (mentioned later in this piece) would be excluded from comment but for their political exhibitionism. If you want votes, then face the brickbats too. Simple. Now Priyanka, know-all political journalists were telling, would not enter politics till her brother was around, family loyalty and all that, although Priyanka is too much like her grandmother, Indira Gandhi, who she apparently admires (so does this writer for the ’71 victory and the ’74 nuke test), to be able to disguise her political ambitions.

Hypothetically speaking, what if Priyanka does enter politics from Moradabad? Base as this may sound, it won’t be hunky-dory with the Gandhis for long. Let’s skip the excruciating details. There will be a TV soap on this sooner than later if the government doesn’t choke it. But the short point is, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty will be hit if Rahul and Priyanka are together in politics. There may not be public washing of dirty linen as Priya Dutt is engaged in against her brother, the film actor singed by the 1993 Bombay blasts, Sanjay Dutt (proposed by the Samajwadi Party to stand for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat), but it would speeden the dynastic decline of the Congress, which may be good for Indian politics.

Wish and hope for that all the other political dynasties waste up, that of the Pawars, Badals, the Mulayams and Laloos, the Scindias (Congress and BJP), the Abdullahs and Pilots, the Muftis, the Deoras, the Jaswant Singhs, the Deve Gowdas, the Naidus… At the rate politics is becoming a family concern, conflict, as between the two Ambani brothers, is inevitable, and it will proliferate and become full-blown to the ultimate benefit of Indian republicanism.

Can Indian politics survive the change? It has to. On one hand, political leaders with pan-India recognition are extinct, which is not such a bad thing. On the other hand, pan-Indian recognition has been substituted with execrable regional/ sub-regional recognition and low order identity/ votebank politics, when ideally, political parties ought to have gained India-wide traction on the basis of issues, ideas and vision.

Take a typical dynast like George W.Bush. He fought his father, the forty-first US president, George Bush’s unfinished war in Iraq, with disastrous results. On the other hand, another Republican founded his presidency on an idea called anti-slavery. Without non-dynastic, internally democratized and big thinking political parties, Indian democracy is doomed.

Source: Newsinsight

Also See

1. Hindu Genocide in Kashmir & Bangladesh
2. Achalpur Riots : Kashmir in Maharashtra