How father-and-son became the holy grail of Indian politics
Yashwant-Jayant. Mulayam-Akhilesh. No two persons can call the shots at the same time. Not in a family. Not in a political party.
While the son is joining hands with the ‘arch rival’ to fight the ‘biggest rival’, the father is busily chit-chatting with the latter, a broad grin on his face, calling him home, etc., etc.
Metaphorically, this strange camaraderie looks a lot like a movie about a high-school boy, so tired of his father embarrassing him everywhere, meddling with his school affairs, chiding him publicly, admiring his rival as well. And, of course, the stubborn father who just won't stop.
But in reality, this could be the story of Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh.
On second thoughts, this is the story of a number of father-son duos in our present politics.
And on even further thoughts, this can be the story of a number of father-son relationships in general.
Yashwant Sinha was the Union minister of finance under the Chandrashekhar government, and then again, under the Vajpayee government.
His son, Jayant Sinha, a Harvard alumnus, followed in his footsteps. He became minister of state (finance) in 2014 under the Modi government. Then, he went to the civil aviation portfolio.
For a moment, put aside all the political snakes and ladders, which, we are sure, went down and up.
Yashwant Sinha was sidelined in the party while his son was gaining importance. But their allegedly personal rifts came out in the open after they contested each other — article by article, comment by comment.
Finally, the disgruntled senior quit the BJP.
Sumant Sinha is Yashwant’s other never-talked-about son — an entrepreneur. There's no common ground, no politics, and thus no clashes apparently.
The story changes when the father and son share more than purely loving vibes.
Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2017, Mulayam Singh Yadav sacked Akhilesh from the party itself, on charges of apparently indulging in anti-party activities. At that time, Akhilesh was the chief minister of the state. Many episodes — including a defeat in the state Assembly election — later, Akhilesh was seen celebrating his father’s 80th birthday, seemingly having taken the bitterness in his stride.
But then again, as the Lok Sabha Elections approach, the father chooses his own way, praising Narendra Modi’s PM-ship, leaving his son red-faced.
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At the opposite end of these embattled father-son relationships stand some endearing ones too — like Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu training his guns against Narendra Modi for the latter mentioning his son, Nara Lokesh, in one of his speeches, to allege how Naidu is actually working only towards cementing the future of his son. The son too backed his father vociferously, claiming that Modi is jealous of Naidu.
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So, what changes the father-son dynamics?
One-upmanship and submission.
No two persons can call the shots at the same time anywhere — not in a political party, not in a family.
While the struggle to be at the wheel is evident between Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh, we already know whose one-upmanship works between KCR-KTR, Chandrababu Naidu-Lokesh and Farooq Abdullah-Omar Abdullah.
For the longest time, there was no doubt that MK Stalin would be Karunanidhi’s political heir. But as long as Karunanidhi was alive, he was the DMK chief, notwithstanding his health condition. Stalin has been Chennai’s mayor and Tamil Nadu’s deputy CM, but the party had only one head. It was only after Karunanidhi’s death that Stalin became the party chief.
According to psychological studies, a number of complex issues are involved in how fathers and sons evolve with each other. In the eyes of parents, children never actually grow up. On the other hand, children think there's an unbridgeable generation gap. And men like to avoid confrontations. Another reason leading to a lack of conversation and a build-up of tension.
Like father, like son?
No.
Not until one side gives in.