The BJP had launched a campaign against the Congress even before it came to power at the Center in 2014. The campaign for a Congress-free India included allegations of corruption and Muslim appeasement; Previously, mostly accusations of family politics, but now it seems that such things have become irrelevant. Because the BJP, which opposes dynastic politics, gave tickets for the Haryana Assembly elections to many people who were relatives of one leader or the other. In Jharkhand too, many relatives of BJP leaders have got tickets; a similar scene is being seen in Maharashtra too.
The Congress has named Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as its candidate from Wayanad seat in Kerala, vacated by Rahul Gandhi. On the occasion of Priyanka Gandhi’s nomination, the entire Gandhi family was seen in Wayanad: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra. Being Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge’s presence should have been mandatory.
The Congress leadership is already assuming that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make it to the Lok Sabha after winning the elections in Wayanad, although this can only be formally verified after the election results are announced. In fact, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has also said that Priyanka Gandhi can make it to Parliament if she wins the by-election from anywhere.
If the election results favor the Congress, then Priyanka Gandhi will enter Parliament at a time when Rahul Gandhi is in the Lok Sabha and Sonia Gandhi is already in the Rajya Sabha, and what better example of dynasticism in politics than this? It is possible. In fact, five leaders of the Samajwadi family, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, have been seen sitting in Parliament.
In such a situation, the question arises whether the Congress is no longer concerned about allegations of dynastic politics, and could the reason for this be the examples of dynastic politics found in all parties, including the BJP?
In many states of the country, including the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, by-elections are being held simultaneously, and if we look at the list of candidates, dynastic politics can be seen everywhere.
Why doesn’t Congress care about the question of dynasticism?
Even in the recently held elections in Haryana, the BJP did not refrain from dynastic politics, and the same situation is visible in Maharashtra and Jharkhand as well. In Jharkhand, the BJP has fully taken care of the families of three former Chief Ministers. Arjun Munda’s wife Meera Munda, Raghubar Das’ daughter-in-law Purnima and Champai Soren’s son Babulal Soren have also been named BJP candidates in the Jharkhand assembly elections. Raghubar Das is currently the Governor of Odisha.
Similarly, the BJP has also included the name of former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s daughter Shree Jaya Chavan in the list of 99 candidates announced for the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Shrijaya is the third generation leader of the Chavan family who will contest from the family seat of Bhokar. Before Ashok Chavan, his father Shankarrao Chavan had also been the MLA from Bhokar. There is also a family from which two candidates are in the running. Ashish Shelar was named as the BJP candidate from Bandra West, while his younger brother Vinod Shelar was named as the BJP candidate from Malad.
If we look beyond the Congress and the BJP, the same story is heard in Bihar too. Deepa Manjhi, daughter-in-law of Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, has been fielded from Imamganj on the list of BJP’s ally Hindustani Awam Morcha in the NDA. Vishal Prashant, son of strongman leader and former MP Sunil Pandey, also bagged the BJP ticket in the Tarari by-election.
Similarly, in Belaganj, Vishwanath Yadav, son of RJD MP Surendra Yadav, and in Ramgarh, Ajit Singh, son of RJD leader Jagdanand Singh, have been included in the RJD list with an aim to save their respective strongholds. relatives.
Despite the dominance of the Gandhi family, has the Congress become careless because even the opposition, including the BJP, is no longer visible as a party with a difference in the hammam of dynasticism?
Is a ‘non-Gandhi Congress president’ irrelevant now?
There is an incident from 2017. The issue of dynastic politics was raised before Rahul Gandhi at a program at the University of California, Berkeley. Then Rahul Gandhi asked why this question is asked only to him, while dynasty is the reality of Indian politics. By the way, Rahul Gandhi did not intend it to be a necessary evil at all.
Rahul Gandhi said, ‘Akhilesh Yadav is in politics because of the dynasty. (MK) Stalin and (Premkumar) Dhumal’s son (Anurag Thakur) are also examples of dynasticism… Even Abhishek Bachchan is also a product of dynasticism… I am talking about the situation in India… So simply don’t do it. Don’t you ask me what’s going on?
But during the Telangana elections, it was quite strange to see that BRS leader K. Chandrashekhar Rao was being accused of playing dynastic politics, while he himself remained in politics because he is the heir of the country’s largest political family.
To avoid accusations of dynastic politics of the BJP, Rahul Gandhi insisted on being made Congress President apart from the Gandhi family, and it must be admitted that Rahul Gandhi also fulfilled his insistence, and that is why Mallikarjun Kharge became Congress President.
But after Priyanka Gandhi Vadra entered the electoral fray, it seems that the concept of ‘non-Gandhi Congress president’ has become completely irrelevant.
