PM Narendra Modi's dynasty card could unsettle BJP

BJP has its fair share of dynasts, some imported from other parties, some homegrown

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's frontal assault on the dynasty issue during the Independence Day address, though mainly aimed at the first family of the Congress, has the potential to unsettle the BJP.

The reason is apparent. Many in the generation next in the BJP are the products of the dynasty. They are flourishing and thriving in a party which always boasts that only merit counts and not pedigree in the organisation.

Nepotism is hollowing out India's institutions, and "dynastic politics is only for the benefit of the dynasty, not the country," the PM said in his Red Fort address, underlining that dynastic politics and nepotism are one of the two major challenges affecting India.

Leader of the Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan are all products of dynasties. They are perceived to be close to Home Minister Amit Shah and have the blessings of the PM.

Read | Fighting nepotism: What might it mean?

There are other dynasts in the Union cabinet, like Jyotiraditya Scindia, a Congressman turned BJP leader, whose joining the ruling party at the Centre helped topple the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh headed by Kamal Nath.

But doubts are now being raised over bringing Scindia into the BJP as it has made the BJP loyalists in the Gwalior and nearby region uneasy. These people made their careers in the last few decades opposing the Scindia family that was with the Congress. The exit of Scindia has witnessed a curious development. The Congress has suddenly made deep inroads in the civic elections in Gwalior and some other nearby cities after some decades, much to the chagrin of the BJP.

Similar is the case in neighbouring Rajasthan, where former chief minister Vasundhara Raje is a product of the dynasty. Her mother, Vijayaraje Scindia, was one of the key founders of the BJP and was close to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani. Vasundhara's son Dushyant Singh is a senior MP from Rajasthan but has been kept from ministership at the Centre for the past eight years, apparently to cut her to size.

Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan scheduled next year could be tricky for the BJP if it fails to keep a balance and unsettles the powerful families there.

In a way, it is the same message from Karnataka, where B S Yediyurappa is powerful despite being forced/persuaded to leave the chief ministership. The much-denied speculation from Karnataka that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has been asked to resign indicates that all is not well in the BJP's 'Gateway to the South'. Incidentally, Bommai, too, is a product of the dynasty, being the son of the late S R Bommai, a powerful Janata Dal leader and chief minister.

Varun Gandhi, who was brought to the BJP by the late Pramod Mahajan on the advice of the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee some two decades back, is part of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty. He and his mother, Maneka Gandhi, were inducted into the BJP to act as a counter to the first family of the Congress headed by party chief Sonia Gandhi. Varun is considered a man to watch in the BJP who has often dared to show the truth to power on issues of poverty and unemployment, much to the embarrassment of the Modi loyalists who believe that the PM could do no wrong and that the nation is passing through an "India Shining" phase.

An estimated 30 of the 300 odd BJP MPs carry the dynasty tag. Take the case of BJP MPs from Maharashtra. Lok Sabha MP Poonam Mahajan is the daughter of the late Pramod Mahajan and Pritam Munde of the late Gopinath Munde. Sujay Vikhe Patil's father is a senior Maharashtra minister and hails from a family that set up the first sugar cooperative in Asia. Hina Gavit's father is a minister in Maharashtra, and Dhairyashil Mane, too, hails from a political family.

BJP's Maharashtra face and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis too comes from a political family. Union Minister Narayan Rane's son is an MLA in Maharashtra. Many having the dynasty tag, like Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, have joined the BJP, and many more are in the pipeline.

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have ensured the entry of many from other parties with the dynasty tag into the BJP to grow its footprint. It simply means that ends matter and not means.

In Bengal, the BJP's rising star Suvendu Adhikari is from a political family with origins in Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala of the Jannayak Janata Party, who has aligned with the BJP, is from the Devi Lal dynasty. Similarly, Kuldeep Bishnoi, who recently joined the BJP along with his wife, is the son of late chief minister Bhajan Lal. BJP MP Brijendra Singh is son of former Union minister Birender Singh. Former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh's son Rajveer is an MP from the state, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj is an MLA from Noida, neighbouring Delhi.

How much the BJP has changed under Modi-Shah is for all to see. Only 12 years back, Sushma Swaraj said her party steered away from dynastic leadership and pledged to make mass leaders relevant. She said that the BJP had internalised democracy through collective decision-making, where the party organisation and cadres are the dominant players and posts are not the legacy of a chosen few by virtue of their birth.

If dynastic succession becomes a major issue in Indian politics in the coming days, the BJP could not remain unaffected.

Maverick leader Subramanian Swamy has approached the Supreme Court against amending the BCCI constitution to extend the term of Jay Shah, son of Home Minister Amit Shah and the current BCCI Secretary.

If the Prime Minister's attack on the issue of dynasty and nepotism is to be taken seriously, he must first act against the dynasts in his party.

(The authors are senior journalists)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.