This weekend Tejashwi Yadav was appointed as the Working President of the RJDon 25th January. The appointment happened at a National Executive meeting of the party and both his parents and former chief ministers Lalu and Rabri Devi were present on the occasion. Another family member was not in a celebratory mood – Lalu’s daughter Rohini Acharya who referred to the event as the crowning of the Puppet Prince.
Family politics aside, this elevation/coronation took place amidst the backdrop of another dynast from Bihar, the BJP Chief Nitin Nabin taking office. But that is where the similarities end. Nabin may be a dynast but his father and former MLA the late Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha did not have the same monopolist hold over the party as Lalu and his clan have. Nitin Nabin has worked his way up the hierarchy and that is how he caught the Delhi leadership’s eye, not because of his surname. While there can always be an argument as to whether there were others who could have been chosen for the post of BJP Chief, that argument does not take away from Nitin Nabin’s own merits and qualifications. And therein lies the difference between the way a national organisation like the BJP plays the dynasty card versus regional parties. Most of the regional parties, from the DMK, Samajwadi Party, NCP to TRS have a dynastical hierarchy in place. The ones that do not such as the AIADMK is simply because the former president the late Jayalalitha did not have any relatives she could promote. Those that do have, do. Such as Mamata Bannerjee and even Mayawati who do not have children of their own but are promoting their respective nephews for a possible take over after them.
This brings us of course to the Congress party for how can there be a conversation on dynasty without mentioning the Nehru-Gandhis. The Congress is taking great pride in itself with the fact that its party president is not from the family. Yes Mallikarjun Kharge is not a Nehru-Gandhi but it is also clear that it is Rahul Gandhi and not Kharge who is calling the shots within the party. That statement is a comment on Kharge as much as it is about Rahul.
And it can also be argued that despite the fact that Narendra Modi referred to Nitin Nabin as his `boss’; it will be the former who will have the last word in party matters. So, not much difference between the Congress and the BJP then. Except that Modi is not a dynast.
In the end, we come back to that old parivarvad debate.
