Is the BJP against dynasty?

In a special issue of Marathi daily Tarun Bharat, an RSS mouthpiece, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley makes a point that the struggle being witnessed in Indian politics today was between merit and dynastic politics. And Modi is being targeted by dynastic forces because of his success. He writes: "And it is clear that the politics of dynasty stands no chance because Modi represents merit which is the buzzword in today's world and politics." One of the closet aides of the prime minister, Arun Jaitley is suggesting that Narendra Modi is not just symbol of merit in Indian polity but also of fight against dynastic politics and these dynasts are after him. 

On October 2, addressing his first rally in Banka after the election dates were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "You have faced ahankarvad (arrogance), samantvad (feudalism), vanshvad (dynastic politics). You have tried everything, now vote for vikasvad (development) for once to change the face of Bihar". Here, the PM is saying that his government is fighting against all kind of evils such as arrogance, feudalism and dynastic politics and his only goal is the policy of development. 

Both of them are saying that the prime minister, his government and his party, i.e. BJP, are fighting against the evil of dynasty in politics. Obviously they are suggesting, unlike in other parties, in the BJP you get prominence because of your merit and not because of your surname or because of who your father or mother might be. In its scheme of things, your pedigree has no place. But is this the case? Is it that your surname has no role in the BJP's scheme of things? How deep is their aversion to this phenomenon? 

BJP in Bihar polls

Let's start with the elections in Bihar. The prominent political kids of famous leaders who got Assembly tickets from the BJP are: Vivek Thakur, Arjit Shashwat, Sanjeev Chaurasia, Ajay Pratap Singh, Nitish Mishra, Rana Randhir Singh, among others. Long list suggests that dynasty does play a role even in the BJP in elections. Apart from giving tickets to sons/daughters of prominent leaders, two of its three allies are big dynasts.

LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan is union minister and one of his brothers, Ram Chandra Paswan, is a parliamentarian, while younger brother Pasupati Kumar Paras is the LJP state president. Paswan's only son, Chirag Paswan, is an MP and chairman of the LJP parliamentary board. Several of Paswan's kin, including brother and nephew, are in the fray in the Assembly elections. 

Though the head of HAM, Jitan Ram Manjhi, accuses Paswan of promoting his family in politics, he, nevertheless, gave ticket to his son, Santosh Kumar Suman, to contest from Kutumba seat in Aurangabad. When he was the chief minister of Bihar, Manjhi appointed his son-in-law, Devendra Kumar, as his personal assistant, violating all rules. Later on, he was forced to remove him after a massive uproar. Apart from Manjhi, state president of HAM, Shakuni Chaudhary, is contesting from Tarapur seat while his son Rohit Kumar is fighting from Khagaria seat. 

BJP in Lok Sabha

Now let's look at the central government. There are several small dynasties within the party itself. Anurag Thakur, son of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, is MP from Hamirpur, while Varun Gandhi, MP from Sultanpur is the son of Central minister Maneka Gandhi. Poonam Mahajan, daughter of former union minister Pramod Mahajan, is the BJP MP from Mumbai North-Central. Her cousin Pritam Munde, daughter of the late minister Gopinath Munde, is in Lok Sabha with her. Munde's second daughter, Pankaja Munde, is a powerful minister in Maharashtra.

Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha's son Jayant is a central minister, while former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and present Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh's son, Rajbir Singh, is the Lok Sabha MP from Etah. In Delhi, former chief minister Sahib Singh Verma's son Parvesh Verma, is an MP from West Delhi. Dushyant Singh, son of Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, is an MP from Jhalawar. His grandmother, Vijaya Raje Scindia, was former national vice president of the BJP. Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh's son Abhishek is MP from the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency. 

How the allies fare

Let's examine how democratic the major allies of the BJP are. The Shiv Sena is one of the oldest allies of the BJP. It was founded by Bal Thackeray. His son is its present head and Balasaheb's grandson Aditya Thackeray is most likely the future head of the party. Another old ally of the BJP is the Shiromani Akali Dal. Parkash Singh Badal is not only its patron but also chief minister of Punjab. His son, Sukhbir Singh Badal, is the president of SAD and also the deputy chief minister of Punjab. His daughter-in-law, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is a central minister. So, there is no confusion about line of inheritance.

Another, alliance partner is Telugu Desam Party. It is headed by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who is the son-in-law of its founder NT Rama Rao. To make the line of succession clear Chandrababu Naidu's son, Nara Lokesh, has been appointed the general secretary of party's Central Committee.

In Jammu and Kashmir, it is sharing power with People's Democratic Party. While campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself dubbed PDP as "baap-beti ki sarkar". It was founded by Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who is also the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and is now is the party's patron. His daughter, Mehbooba Mufti, heads the party. 

Anti-dynasty equals to anti-Congress?

It is now evident that there are many smaller dynasties within the BJP. Surname does matter while giving out tickets. If a big leader dies, then usually baton is passed on to next generation. Despite claiming the contrary, the BJP allies with all the parties, which survive and thrive on dynasties. Yet, it says that it is against "dynastic rule". If the BJP defines dynasty as anti-Congressism, given the fact that Indian National Congress is considered as biggest dynastic party in the country, then of course it is against dynasty. If reserving top post in the party for a particular family is considered as being pro-dynasty, then, too, it is against dynasty.

But, when it comes to promoting sons and daughters of top leaders it is definitely not lagging behind those it berates as practitioners of dynastic politics.