Banning red VIP beacon is not enough - what about growing nepotism in BJP?
In feudal societies, politics is often the first refuge of scoundrels. Eliminating “lal battis” from May 1, 2017, on all except emergency vehicles is a good first step by the government to combat India’s culture of entitlement. It shouldn’t be the last.
The behaviour of Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad underpins a deeper malaise: the belief among politicians that they are rulers. They are not. They are servants. Or, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said countless times, sevaks. It is fitting that the son of a tea-seller and a homemaker who washed others’ utensils to make ends meet has sought to put an end to the culture of VIPism.
But has he? The Indian political class is notorious for finding a way to seek privileges denied to citizens whose taxes pay their salaries and perks.
It is almost obscene to witness Mulayam Singh Yadav flanked by a human convoy of automatic weapon-wielding commandos when the threat perception against him lies somewhere between low and non-existent.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was right last week to reduce the security cover of Mulayam, his son Akhilesh and several other state leaders who regard security as a status symbol - redolent of a feudal mind.
The threat perception level for the prime minister is probably as high today as it has ever been. Despite that, Modi recently did away with his security detail to greet Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Delhi airport. Days later, he led a road-show in Surat on foot with negligible security cover amid surging crowds.
Can other political leaders similarly abandon their feudal instincts? Unlikely. The culture of entitlement is far too deeply rooted. Its other manifestation is dynasty.
For long, the BJP prided itself on being a party that rejected dynastic politics. The relatives of senior leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani set an example. Neither has a family member in active politics.
Modi himself, a harsh critic of dynasty, decreed that not more than one member of a family could be given a ticket to fight elections or join the cabinet. That was the ostensible reason why Varun Gandhi did not find a place in the Union Cabinet in 2014, in which his mother Maneka Gandhi was a minister.
But Varun suffers from precisely the culture of entitlement Modi abhors. Gandhi, 37, expected to be nominated as the chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh as a matter of right. When denied, he sulked.
By not campaigning in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, Gandhi - never a favourite of no-nonsense party president Amit Shah - has probably written his political obituary in the BJP. The Congress is unlikely to welcome him, given the deep animosity between sisters-in-law Sonia Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi.
Modi though has bigger problems to worry about than Varun Gandhi: the creeping feudal culture infiltrating the BJP.
By giving Union home minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj a ticket to fight the UP election, the BJP opened itself up to the charge of nepotism. Sensibly, Adityanath has kept Pankaj out of the UP cabinet. But the signs from elsewhere are ominous: the BJP seems to be falling into the dynastic trap.
In a devastating indictment of the BJP’s flirtation with dynasty, Chaitanya Marpakwar wrote in a daily newspaper:
“For BJP it’s family first. There seem to be no takers for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anti-nepotism plea as the party has filled the posts in its youth wing with children and relatives of senior party leaders, many of whom defected to it only recently. The Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha’s (BJYM) new executive features over a dozen officebearers who are sons, daughters, nephews and nieces of senior BJP netas. Several of these people couldn’t be given tickets for contesting the BMC election and have been compensated with posts in the youth morcha.
“Among them are corporator Sagar Singh Thakur, son of the Congressman turncoat Ramesh Thakur, former Sena leader Suresh Gambhir’s daughter Sheetal, BJP legislator Ameet Satam’s brother-in-law Rohan Rathod, BJP leader Shailaja Gikrar’s son Yogesh, BJP leader Bhargav Patel’s son Harsh and senior BJP functionary Raghunath Kulkarni’s daughter Shayli. All have been made vice-presidents. Ankita, daughter of BJP MLA Manisha Chaudhary, heads the BJYM women’s wing, while housing minister Prakash Mehta’s son Harsh was made general secretary. Tajinder Singh Tiwana, son of BJP corporator Jaya Satnamsingh Tiwana, is also a general sectary. Varun, son of BJP leader Suman Ghaisas, has been appointed a secretary.”
If the youth wing of the BJP is packed with dynasts like these, many will graduate to key positions in the party over the years, making the BJP indistinguishable from the Congress and other feudal parties. The process may take time but once the polluting seed of feudalism is planted, it can in time become a full grown weed.
Modi’s cabinet is largely free of dynasts - Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Nirmala Sitharaman, for example, rose through the ranks. So did Vajpayee, Advani and Modi. If that culture of merit gives way to a culture of entitlement, it could spell electoral trouble for the BJP in the future.
By 2022, which will mark the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence, a large chunk of Generation Z (the generation following today’s millennials) will have come of age. They will seek the New India Modi has promised.
If instead they are served feudalism, they could be quickly disillusioned. Banishing lal battis is not enough. Every vestige of feudalism and entitlement must be banished from India’s political ecosystem. The BJP can ignore that at its peril.