Keeping it all in the family

Dear reader,

If one goes by the BJP’s shrill narrative, parivarvaad, or dynastic politics, is the root of all problems in the Indian democracy. While there is no denying that the Nehru-Gandhi family did produce three successive generations of Prime Ministers (Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi) and that Rahul Gandhi is clearly next in line, although it is still talked about only discreetly, dynastic politics or nepotism is not a prerogative of the Congress.

There is the Mulayam Singh Yadav dynasty in Uttar Pradesh, the Lalu Prasad dynasty in Bihar, the M. Karunanidhi dynasty in Tamil Nadu, the KCR dynasty in Telangana, the Reddy dynasty in Andhra Pradesh, the Abdullah dynasty in Jammu and Kashmir, and so on. Smaller dynasties also exist, with generational influence over one constituency or one region.

The BJP, despite wanting to claim the high moral ground in dynastic politics, is as susceptible to family as anyone else. Union Minister Rajnath Singh’s elder son Pankaj Singh is an MLA from Noida and one of the party vice presidents in Uttar Pradesh, while his younger son Neeraj was enrolled last week as “first active member” of the party by the BJP’s Lucknow Mahanagar unit. He is also the campaign co-convenor for the Awadh region.

BJP founding member Vijaya Raje Scindia’s daughter Vasundhara Raje became the party’s Chief Minister in Rajasthan while her other daughter Yashodhara Raje Scindia was a Cabinet Minister in Madhya Pradesh. Vasundhara’s son is Dushyant Singh, and he too is a BJP MP. The party also happily welcomed Vasundhara’s nephew Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was earlier in the Congress, into its fold as a Union Minister.

In Karnataka, though the BJP replaced Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in 2021, it eventually made his son B.Y. Vijayendra the party’s Karnataka unit chief in 2023. Interestingly, Yediyurappa’s replacement was Basavaraj Bommai, the son of former Chief Minister S.R. Bommai.

In Maharashtra, the daughter of the late Pramod Mahajan (Poonam) and those of his brother-in-law, the late Gopinath Munde (Pankaja and Pritam), are all BJP leaders.

The upcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and for that matter even the forthcoming byelections for 48 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Meghalaya, and Uttarakhand will be no different.

Bahu, beta, biwi, and bhabhi (daughter-in-law, son, wife, and sister-in-law) dominate the first list of candidates announced by the BJP for Jharkhand. The latest is Babulal, the son of the brief former Chief Minister and ex-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Champai Soren. The BJP has also fielded former Chief Minister Raghubar Das’ daughter-in-law Purnima Das; former Chief Minister Arjun Munda’s wife Meera Munda; the State’s first Independent Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s wife Geeta Koda; and even the current Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s sister-in-law Sita Soren. From the JMM side, Hemant Soren’s wife Kalpana Soren is contesting.

In Maharashtra, the BJP’s first list of 99 candidates has Ashish Shelar and his brother Vinod Shelar; jailed MLA Ganpat Gaikwad’s wife Sulbha Gaikwad; BJP MP Haribhau Jawale’s son Amol Jawale; former Congress Chief Minister-turned-BJP MP Ashok Chavan’s daughter Shrijaya; the late former MLA Laxman Jagtap’s brother Shankar Jagtap; Pratibha Pachpute, the wife of sitting MLA Babanrao Pachpute; former Union Minister Raosaheb Danve’s son Santosh Danve; and Nitesh Rane, son of former Union Minister Narayan Rane.

In Baramati, during the Lok Sabha election, Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule, had contested against his rebel nephew Ajit Pawar’s wife, Sunetra Pawar. In the Assembly election, Ajit Pawar will be fighting against his nephew Yugendra Pawar.

In fact, Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar film series—Sarkar, Sarkar Raj, and Sarkar 3—is said to be based loosely on Maharashtra politician Balasaheb Thackeray’s life and dynasty. Today, of course, Balasaheb’s son (Uddhav) and nephew (Raj) are at loggerheads while his grandson (Aaditya) is an emerging star.

It is no different in the US, where generations of the Kennedy family have held government office. In fact, political families are a prominent feature of the American democracy, with prominent names from recent times including the Bush, Clinton, Trump, and Biden families.

Thus, it is not an accident that parties across the political spectrum have shown a tendency to allow dynasties a greater play. Elections are an expensive affair: it takes decades to carve a foothold in constituencies, and families clearly have a head start. It is the same in business, where the Ambanis, Murugappas, Mahindras, or Birlas pass on the baton to their sons and daughters. As in business, there’s a lot of wealth and influence at stake in politics too, and therein perhaps lies the keen desire to keep it all within the family.

The difference is this: politics is no ordinary business where the successors can expect to easily succeed. No one knows this better than Rahul Gandhi who, despite overcoming the “Pappu” smear campaign against him, is yet to bring the Congress even close to power in the last 10 years. Or for that matter Tejashwi Yadav, the charming Lalu Prasad’s son, who is struggling to make his mark in Bihar.

With Assembly elections in Jharkhand (November 13 and 20) and Maharashtra (November 20) besides byelections in a dozen more States, we will once again witness a lot of sons rising and many others setting, there will be bahus fighting bhabhis, and a lot of infighting and mud-slinging.

As many political families enter the arena, there will perhaps be more drama than in a Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi-type soap opera. While you wait to catch all the excitement, tell us your take on dynastic politics.

Until next time,

Anand Mishra | Political Editor, Frontline

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