The new generation of dynasts coming to power in State capitals shows Indian politics hasn’t fully democratised yet
lalu Prasad’s sons, Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav, are the latest in the chain of second generation regional politicians whose careers rest on the decision that voters will be making in the Bihar election. Their contemporaries, like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, lJP leader Chirag Paswan, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, DMK leader MK Stalin, BJP leader Varun Gandhi and YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy have already gained some political experience.
These politicians have have predictably been judged on two accounts. First, they are seen as the inheritors of a particular style of leadership and repeatedly pitted against the crowd, pulling charisma that their parent(s) commanded. And second, they are also seen as individuals, who belong to the new age and identify with anglicised, technology-savy urban youth.
Their arrival on the politicial scene, therefore, evokes a curious mix of expectations. In the light of this observation, one may look at the case of the Yadavs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, who seem to be striving for political relevance in the changed social realities. This may give us an idea of the future of outfits such as the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
In shouldering the twin responsibilities of carrying on the mantle handed to them by their fathers and adapting to the rapidly changing demographics, the likes of Mr Akhilesh Yadav, Mr Tej Pratap Yadav and Mr Tejaswi Yadav face the added challenge of inculcating a suitable mannerism and a sartorial style that includes breaking out of the mould and offering a political agenda that is fresh and revitalising.
In propping Mr Tej Pratap Yadav and Mr Tejaswi Yadav as his successors, lalu Prasad has put all his cards at stake in the ongoing Bihar Assembly election. Such a decision is guided both by a compulsion to survive and by political expediency. Remember, lalu Prasad’s decision to hand over the party reins to his children, while sidelining many senior leaders such as Mr Raghuvansh Prasad, has annoyed many within the RJD.
Electoral politics in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has witnessed a tectonic shift during the last three decades. Out of the three macro level tropes mandir, Mandal and market Mandal turned out to be the most consequential in initiating novel political alignments in north India. Rise of the numerically dominant castes such as the Yadavs and Jatavs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar defied all expectations of transition and consolidation of elites and institutions in the region. The ideal of social justice, as championed by an emergent group of non-upper caste leaders, threw new challenges to the idea of ‘politics from above'. The vernacularisation of politics tended to center around these leaders and the respective caste groups that they came from.
The Yadavs, for instance, gained political prominence in the Hindi heartland for a host of reasons. Notably, they occupy a rather puzzling position in the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy. Demographically, the Yadavs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar form a sizeable part of the total as well as the OBC population. Whereas in Uttar Pradesh they may be broadly distinguished into Yadavs from eastern Uttar Pradesh (who are more into cattle-rearing and dairy business) and the Yadavs from western Uttar Pradesh (who own land, run quarries and real estate), in Bihar they are a more or less a homogenous group. Whether these grossly generalised features were instrumental in their political success is surely debatable.
Having taken oath as Chief Ministers, both lalu Prasad and Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav gradually fell for the charm of the chair. Their clinging to power, combined with an obstinacy to relinquish the chair, minimised the prospects of local leaders to grow within their parties. The decibel of ‘politics from below', as accentuated during the Mandal movement, acquired a currency of its own. The political agenda of social empowerment was stripped of its high moral ground and soon shrouded under parochial considerations. The ‘liberation agenda' of the then newly established political formations such as the Samajwadi Party, the RJD and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party was circumscribed, first, to pander to the interests of the respective vote banks and later, to their leaders’ clans. By the first decade of the 21st century, ‘jungle raj' and ‘goonda raj' were the dominant metaphors while speaking of the political climate in the States ruled by these parties.
Soon fiefdoms began to take shape, as was evident in the ascension of lalu Prasad’s wife, Ms Rabri Devi, to the position of Bihar Chief Minister. In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav (who would later also become lalu Prasad and Ms Rabri Devi's samdhi) went for a clear division of labour within the family.
Having settled their kinsmen within the party, the two satraps spread their wings to occupy plum berths in successive Union Governments. In the event of choosing Mr Akhilesh Yadav as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, appointing Mr Tejaswi Yadav and Mr Tej Pratap as heirs, and having entered into random political alignments, these leaders have done little to realise the dream of democracy and social justice planks that they championed throughout.
(Shashank Chaturvedi teaches at the University of Delhi and Amit Chaturvedi is a research scholar at the Delhi School of Economics)