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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Dynasty politics | New wine, old bottle
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Dynasty politics | New wine, old bottle

By paying mere lip service to a popular theme, politicians risk alienating young voters restless for real change in the 2014 elections

Union minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram, UPA chief Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul Gandhi, and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha’s son Jayant Sinha.Premium
Union minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram, UPA chief Sonia Gandhi’s son Rahul Gandhi, and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha’s son Jayant Sinha.

New Delhi: In Sivaganga, a constituency in southern Tamil Nadu state that has elected P. Chidambaram to Parliament seven times, the 68-year-old finance minister has made way for his son Karti Chidambaram, 40, as the Congress party candidate.

In Hazaribagh, in the eastern state of Jharkhand, former finance and foreign minister Yashwant Sinha, 76, has decided to stay out of the poll fray in favour of his son Jayant, 50, after winning the seat three times in the past.

They were two more instances of dynastic politics in India where sons and daughters following their illustrious parents into public life is all too common. They also illustrate a generational shift, howsoever cosmetic, in the politics of India, where 52% of the 1.2 billion population is below 35 years of age, according to Census of India.

Also in the fray on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slate are Abhishek Singh, son of Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh; Parvesh Verma, the son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma; and Rajveer Singh, son of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh. The latest to join the race is Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, who will contest against the Congress’s Priya Dutt in Mumbai.

“It cannot be called dynasty politics because these people are also capable of winning elections on their own," said a senior leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on condition of anonymity.

Among the BJP leaders whose children are already in the party are party president Rajnath Singh, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister P.K. Dhumal and former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.

Senior BJP leader Balbir Punj said the party has initiated a generational shift.

“It’s a natural process, many new faces have been given chance to contest elections," Punj said.

This shift in the Congress, which has always been accused of promoting dynastic politics given the domination of the Nehru-Gandhi family, pre-dates that in the BJP. After the demise of senior leaders Madhavrao Scindia, Rajesh Pilot and Jitendra Prasada, their sons Jyotiradiya Scindia, Sachin Pilot and Jitin Prasada took over their fathers’ mantle and won consecutive elections, joining the so-called youth brigade led by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Of course, both Karti Chidambaram and Jayant Sinha deny that their genes had anything to do with their being chosen by the ruling Congress party and the opposition BJP, respectively, to contest the seats occupied by their fathers in the April-May general election.

“I have been politically inclined since I was 14. I addressed my first public meeting at six, I have been active in the party since 1996. All those familiar with the state’s politics are aware of my work," the junior Chidambaram said in a Facebook posting.

According to his website, he has a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas in the US and a Bachelor’s in law from Cambridge University in the UK.

“I’m here on merit, not dynasty politics," Jayant Sinha, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi and the Harvard Business School, said in an interview with The Economic Times posted on the newspaper’s website on 24 March.

Sinha headed the Indian unit of Omidyar Network, the investment firm established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and wife Pam, before quitting his job for politics.

Whatever be their claims and credentials, the linear succession to the seats their fathers occupied risks being viewed by voters as mere cosmetic change, a case of new wine in an old bottle, rather than representing real change, in a country where the political old guard has been accused of being out of touch with the aspirations of the young.

The youth is a powerful constituency.

Some 814 million people are eligible to vote in the elections to the 16th Lok Sabha. According to the Election Commission, over 23 million people in the 18-19 age group are eligible to vote in this election. Yet, in fact, the first-time voter base is larger than just those falling in the 18-19 year age group. This is because a large segment of the young population was not eligible to vote in the last general election in 2009 as they had not become adults. From the Census 2011, it’s known the universal set of these voters who have turned adults and hence eligible to vote correspond to the age groups of 15-19 years.

This works out to 120.48 million people—twice the population of the UK—and they are restless for change—real change.

No real generational change is taking place in political parties, be it national or regional, says Manisha Priyam, a political economist based in New Delhi.

“Political parties are just posturing that there is a generational shift taking place," Priyam said.

“There is no structural change visible but only age is variable. Most of the changes in positions happen due to the ageing process. The stranglehold of age is seen all over… But today’s youngsters are not bothered about these cosmetic changes. They are no longer worried about the old ideology, rather they want to resolve the complications of their daily life," she said.

According to government data, employment in the five-year period ended 2009-10 grew by just one million while economic growth over the same period averaged 8.7%, leading to a scenario of jobless growth. Every year, about 12 million people join the job market in an economy that has slowed to a growth pace of less than 5%.

The BJP has been roiled by dissent over the sidelining of some members of the old guard by the new leadership led by Narendra Modi, who himself is 63 years old. Even so, there’s no real generational change underway in the party, analysts say.

“It’s too early to say that a generational change is happening. In BJP, what is happening is genuflecting before the will of...one man," historian and author Ramachandra Guha said, referring to Modi.

“Now in the BJP, one can strike an independent bargain like what Yashwant Sinha did, blindly accept, or leave the party," Guha said.

The Congress, whose campaign is being led by 43-year-old party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, has been buffeted by a raft of corruption scandals and allegations of economic mismanagement and is struggling to get its act together although it swears by the power of the youth and desire for change.

“No one can say what is happening in the Congress. It’s so confused, there is no leadership (in the party)," Guha said.

In the BJP, senior leader and former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, 86, is running for election from Gandhinagar in Gujarat—his request to be fielded from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh having been spurned by the party. Murli Manohar Joshi, 80, has been forced to give up the Varanasi seat in Uttar Pradesh for Modi and stand for election from Kanpur in the same state.

Another former Union minister Jaswant Singh, 76, has rebelled against the BJP leadership and is running as an independent candidate for election from Barmer in Rajasthan after being told to stay away from the electoral contest.

Harin Pathak, 69, and Lalji Tandon, 78, have also been asked to stay out of the poll race. Tandon has agreed to work for the election of party chief Rajnath Singh, who is contesting from his old seat, Lucknow.

“There is a demand that senior leaders should either retire or become members of the Rajya Sabha," said the RSS leader cited above. “BJP is not a new party like the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that can afford to have many new faces."

He added: “With the given constraints and pressure from senior leaders, changes are being made and new faces, young faces are being given a chance to run the party. It is being opposed by some of the senior leaders but we were prepared for it and expected these resentments."

In the Congress, Ambika Soni, 71, who has never contested a Lok Sabha poll in her four-decade-old political career, is fighting the election from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. Speculation is rife that Digvijay Singh, 67, is likely to be nominated this time after a decade-long electoral sabbatical.

Psephologist and political analyst G.V.L. Narasimha Rao, who is currently associated with the BJP, said neither the BJP nor the Congress can afford to take “complete risk" in the selection of candidates.

“When you are in a critical election, winnability is the main criteria in the selection of candidates," Rao said. “In the BJP, the selection of candidates was very democratic and it was on the basis of the suggestions given by the state as well as the local leadership, which is well represented. The central team has just ratified their proposals."

Rao added: “Instead of taking risks in key Lok Sabha elections, the party tries to promote youngsters in the organization on the basis of their performance. Good performers in the organizational activities are given tickets to contest local election and then state election, which means it’s a gradual growth."

Although the parties outwardly swear by the tenet of promoting young blood, the compulsions of electoral politics and power equations influence the selection of candidates. The average age of the past 15 Lok Sabhas is testimony to it.

The youngest Lok Sabha, if one goes by the average age of members, was the 12th and the first House constituted in 1951, in which the average age was 46.4 and 46.5 years, respectively. The oldest is the outgoing, 15th, Lok Sabha, in which the average age of members is 57.5 years.

In the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, who has initiated a slew of measures to introduce more democracy and expand the party’s grassroots base, has appointed a number of youngsters to organizational posts.

After taking charge of the organization, Gandhi has appointed Sachin Pilot, 36, and Arun Yadav, 39, as presidents of the state units of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. The Congress also appointed Arvinder Singh Lovely, 46, as the chief of its Delhi unit and Bhupesh Baghel, 47, as president of the Chhattisgarh unit.

Congress spokesperson Sobha Ojha argues that the party has always tried to maintain a mix of the old and the young in its leadership.

“Unlike the BJP, which is trying to push its seniors away, the Congress always tried to mix the experience of the elders and the freshness of the youth. Even the ticket distribution reflects that—the party has so far given 15% seats to women and around 35% to youngsters of below 50 years," Ojha said.

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Published: 28 Mar 2014, 01:09 AM IST
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