Dynastic Enterprises Limited

Dynastic Enterprises Limited

Several commentators have pointed out that the legitimately elected Lok Sabha has nevertheless turned into a dynastic club.  Electoral Politics is an expensive business, and having a “family firm” in play makes all the difference. Second, and sometimes third generation politicians assume their “family seats”, sometimes after the elevation to higher office, retirement or demise of the parent, and sometimes not.

Editor-in-chief of the Indian Express Mr.Shekhar Gupta, in a recent editorial, pointed out that the dynastic reach of each element of this progression threatens to run into each other like bumper cars at the fair. This has severely proscribed the pan-Indian appeal and vote gathering ability of the original “elected” dynasts, the Nehru-Gandhis.

But as without, so within; with quite a few lesser Congress dynasties also very much a part of the equation. They are there perhaps for their familiarity and assumed know- how , being to the manner born. Or as Mr. Gupta states, because there is no effective mechanism for a new entrant to make the cut. And a certain amount of lazy complacency. Fellow dynasts tend not to dwell on their raison d etre and rarely pose a threat to the High Command.

That this might isolate the comfy oligarchy from the people they presume to lead has not found any champions to its cause, except via the time- tested device of lip-service.

Mr. Rahul Gandhi did talk reassuringly of selecting and developing 50 meritorious people from the grass-roots in every Congress state organisation, each capable of becoming chief minister one day. But he presumably missed the irony of his own elevation to the Vice Presidency for little reason apart from his exalted lineage.

And neither did he say how long he expected the Party to take, in implementing his “Boys from Brazil” type plan of cloning scores of people who were chief minister material. Of course, the Brazil boys  were fictionalised DNA matched clones of Hitler. And I am sure Mr.Rahul Gandhi intends no such thing; for the lack of Hitlerian pliability, if not for any other reason.

Meanwhile, at present, this blatant dynastic carving out of the territory and political landscape will have profound consequences in the forthcoming Assembly and General Elections. The process has embedded itself and gathered both heft and momentum. Many a regional satrap intends to win in his home turf and leverage it to secure further spoils at the Centre. Others from prominent political families who may not garner enough to form Government at the state level while winning a few seats in the Lok Sabha, are equally diligent about using their numbers to extract benefits from any coalition. Both at State and Centre.

These fish, to extend the piscine imagery, like the Salmon and Hilsa, like to swim upstream.   Their dynastic ambitions, father and son/daughter/sometimes nephew/uncle etc., are in terms of catapulting themselves to both national and state-level power simultaneously. And there will be every option explored to see if one of their number cannot seize the prime ministership itself, given, if it comes to pass, the fragmentation of the election results.

The etiolation, of what Mr. Rahul Gandhi and others refer to as “inner-party democracy”, implies even greater changes in how the Congress Party will be run in the future. Particularly after Mrs Sonia Gandhi with her admirable grip on both the Government and the Party, inevitably, exits the stage.  

But gazing once again at the tip of the pyramid, the Gandhis, mother, son and daughter, and perhaps the problematic and somewhat embarrassing son-in-law too, can barely win, that too not without challenge from local scions, their seats in Amethi and Rae Bareilly.

Their real present value to the Congress Party has coalesced into their ability to  provide the cement of cohesion and the discipline of constituting a High Command. Curiously, everyone, from mighty ministers of great experience and ability, to the ordinary rank and file, accept  the authority of the Gandhis as the last word.

This even though it is debatable whether the Gandhi family has a vision for the economic and political progress of the country in 2013. They have an old- style hankering for an absolute majority, and ideas derived from  yesterday’s brand of Socialism. It is perhaps ironic that not many of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi’s modernising initiatives are taken forward with any great enthusiasm.

For the pressing matter of winning elections in the Congress Party, it is, and has been for some time, “every man for himself”, with the successful politicians having to make sure they nurse their constituencies.

 Of course, those who enter Parliament, even high office, via the Rajya Sabha, whether elected by sponsorship, or nominated likewise, do not have the sea-legs of a grassroots presence. They too are a general source of weakness and dependency in an already twisted political dynamic. Sometimes,   it can be argued, a weak central leadership, no longer able to “sway” the country, may prefer political non-entities to surround themselves with. This plays its part in the politics of sycophancy, with no objective thinking possible from such courtiers.

The plethora of competing vested interests reduces the national discourse in parliament to populism and vote- bankism. There is also the matter of many of them check-mating each other. The BJP and the CPM are less afflicted by this phenomenon, but both have suffered from a lack of focus as a consequence, with in-fighting more prominent instead.

Some regional parties with heads who do not have children or close relatives or “friends” to promote,  are nevertheless run like tight proprietorships. Every other recruit to the fold, however eminent otherwise, is reduced to a role in the chorus line.

Clearly then, The Congress Party, and by implication, large parts of the Congress manned  Government, is in a period of transition, likely to come into increasing prominence as the future unfolds.

Meanwhile, they see the demonising of the principal Opposition by calling them “Communal”, if possible every day, as their best bet for continuance in power. The Congressman’s rhetoric becomes even more shrill when he reflects on the very real possibility of Mr. Narendra Modi challenging the much weakened Gandhis, and leading the charge for a national alternative.

Despite a concerted effort to malign the development oriented Chief Minister of Gujarat,  the tide is turning in his favour. This more so, as the UPA has made a complete mess of the economy, poorly managed basic law and order, and seen the rise of corruption to unprecedented levels. Besides, the bachelor Mr. Modi, known for his probity, has no possibility of adding to the list of dynasts that seek to rule us in perpetuity.

(1,102  words)

March 3^rd, 2013

Gautam Mukherjee