The days of dynastic autocracy are gone. But there is no impediment to the world’s largest democracy going the dynastic way. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has given her approval to the dynasty culture under the garb of promoting GenNext leaders. In actuality, she is grooming the young turks who will, one day, form the backbone of the Rahul Gandhi brigade.
The state assembly elections mirror the trend. Amit Deshmukh (Latur City), Praneti Shinde (Sholapur Central) and Rajendra Shekhawat (Amravati) carry with them political legacies. Amit is the son of Union heavy industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh; Praneti, the daughter of Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde; and Rajendra is the son of president Pratibha Patil.
Chief minister Ashok Chavan finds nothing wrong in dynasties driving the political machinery. “Politics is like any other profession. Democracy gives every citizen the right to contest polls,” he said. But there are voices in the Congress and the NCP, asking that if dynasties scoop the cream away, why should the cadre sweat it out for the party. A general secretary of the NCP said, “We are coming out with a common poster: Vote for father and son.”
State industries minister Narayan Rane, who got his elder son, Nilesh, elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year, was advised not to seek an assembly ticket for his younger son, Nitesh, as it would have sent a wrong message to his followers.
The phenomenon of political legacy is more apparent in the NCP. Its leaders — many of them sugar and education barons — use economic clout to wield political control in Western and Northern Maharashtra.
The GenNext leaders of the NCP have been handpicked to consolidate the leadership of Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar and a Rajya Sabha member. Deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal has managed to get nephew Sameer elected to the Lok Sabha. Now, son Pankaj is contesting the assembly polls from Nandgaon. Labour minister Ganesh Naik is contesting from Belapur; his son, Sandeep, from Airoli. His elder son, Sanjeev, is an MP.
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