Given there is no expiry date for the career of a politician, people expect to be in control of whatever they control, till their last breath. Only few wise ones could resist the temptation to be in-charge and voluntarily step down. And, they have their preferences set from the beginning. A clear succession planning was informed to the party members. The best example is the Nehru-Gandhi family. The succession plan is engraved in the minds of members of congress and no one dares to compete, keeping in mind what happened to those who tried to question the succession plan.
Despite the weakness of the incumbent, the overwhelming support and expectations from the party is what really motivates (or simply forces, as in the current case) to leader. Of course, it is normally the reverse. In all other parties, workers look up to the leader for motivation. But, that is how Congress is different from others.
Take out Congress, where the script is written years before events happen. In other parties, two leaders with a clear succession planning in the current scenario are Karunanidhi and Laloo Prasad Yadav.
Despite his multi marriages and many children, Karunanidhi could keep the family largely tied with each other. When Azagiri didn’t agree with the choice of Stalin as successor, he was shown the doors, but the plan remained intact. As he himself was restricted to limited movements, Karunanidhi allowed Stalin to rule Tamilnadu defacto, in the last two terms when the party was in power. This helped Stalin gaining much needed experience in administration, apart from deeply entrenching himself in the party machinery.
On the other hand, Laloo has more children even from the only marriage he consummated. But, a firm believer in patriarchy, he never had to think twice in deciding who would succeed him. Given the level of intelligence of some of the offsprings, the task was always easy. Even when he was in the opposition, when the loyal brother-in-law of many years wanted a greater share of power (not from Laloo, but from future leaders), he was simply shown the door. Even his wife supported her husband’s vision for his children, over her brother. He was also clear in what would be the future of his daughter, perhaps the most intelligent of the lot. No, she cannot become the centre of family power that is centred around Bihar. She is posted at Delhi, where her capabilities are more needed. And Laloo is not all about patriarchy. He simply ruled out more power to the eldest son, who could not even speak proper Hindi. He preferred his another son to lead the party into the future and made him Deputy Chief Minister in the current government of Bihar that is a combination of opposite poles forced to attract one another by the force of sheer necessity.
Long ago, when NT Rama Rao, then at the helm of state and national politics tried his hand at the second marriage, results were devastating. If rumours are believed Rama Rao believed in the prophecy of “Kalagyanam” professed by a saint Veera Brahmendra Swamy, more than two centuries ago. According to Kalagyanam, the country would be ruled by a widow and sanyasi. As he himself witnessed the rule of widow, he aspired to become the sanyasi and started wearing saffron. It was a sight to see him dressed in Vivekananda attire. All his dreams were shattered when Narasimha Rao (another sanyasi – who already booked a berth in some mutt at Kumbhakonam in Tamilnadu) became the Prime Minister. It was then, the second spring of romance entered into the life of NT Rama Rao. Lakshmi Parvathi, a divorcee with a teenage son married Rama Rao. And this perhaps was the last straw that saw his entire family revolting against him. All his sons and daughters (he too has a battalion of his own, like Laloo) supported Chandrababu Naidu, when he overthrew Rama Rao to become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. In fact, this was one of the juicy family coups happened in Independent India. When Rama Rao found entire party machinery he built from scratch was supporting CBN, he was devastated. But, this time, he could not blame Congress. People liked him still blaming his new wife for his downfall. It was a lesson for all political leaders about how people place restrictions even on their personal matters and feelings.
Recently, when Bal Thackeray preferred his own son to the son of his brother, the party split. In fact, party was splitting continuously, from the time Bal had made it known that growth for non-family members is limited. Strong leaders who were the muscle men of Shivsena left the party taking the muscle power with them. In 2012, Narayan Rane challenged Shivsena to do disruption like it did three decades ago. “We’re the muscle of the party. Without us, they are soft” he laughed at the threats of Shivsena on agitating against the then Congress led government in the state. Many party members feel Shivsena still could have been in the reckon, had Raj not parted the ways. Maybe in hindsight, Bal Thackeray might consider Raj as his successor and then Aditya, son of Uddhav Thackeray for the future. But, divided within themselves, Thackeray family members have only damaged themselves. Bal would never have thought Shivsena would be the minor partner in the BJP ruled government!
Another family that is going to spoil their own future is Samajwadi Party. First, Mulayam never was thinking about his successor. Like the sons of Laloo, Akhilesh was never at the fore of party activities. When Mayawati could rule Uttar Pradesh keeping law and order in check, Samajwadi Party had lost all hopes of coming to power, for all their leaders have nothing to offer new to the electorate. Akhilesh was in fact a surprise choice, but whole heartedly welcomed by the party. He could undo the negative image of Mulayam who was famous for being anti-computers and let the southern states take lead in the IT revolution. Foreign educated, computer savvy, ‘Bhaiyyaji’ was like a path breaker to the jobless youth of the state. And, they believed in him. Despite her good record in maintaining law and order, NRH scam and mammoths had damaged Mayawati’s rule and Akhilesh’s job was made easy.
Had Mulayam left the rule to Akhilesh, perhaps by now he could have improved the situation a shade better.
But, immediately after SP assumed power, Uttar Pradesh become a lawless state. Mulayam still thinks his old caste and religion based politics hold same amount of sway over the electorate. He didn’t learn from his friend turned Samdhi Laloo, how to forge alliances with even once opponents. He still was trying to make alliances based on caste and religion equations, undoing the good image Akhilesh cultivated across castes. Unlike Laloo, who kicked out Sadhu Yadav, Mulayam Singh still values Shivpal Yadav and made him head of the party.
With Mulayam Singh announcing many tainted leaders as candidates of next elections, while dropping sitting ministers close to his son, it seems the path to the next elections would be through chaos. On his part, Akhilesh was trying hard to get back to power, even with the help of (of all people), Rahul Gandhi. But, Netaji would not listen. Mulayam declared SP would be fighting on its own, without any alliance. Perhaps, failure to see the writing on the wall is the main reason why the history repeats itself. If Akhilesh was groomed in the party for long, he would have played a Chandrababu and took control of the party. Now, he has to wait till they lose next elections. Only then, he can kick-out all the faction leaders of the party. And he may be showing doors to his father first, at least informally.
When Akhilesh reshapes the party, it may become stronger, but it would certainly loose the family and caste tags. Maybe that is good for the state, if not for the party.
