Many Indian political parties are dynasty rule parties, but sometimes even in the dynasty rule parties there are disputes among the members of the family and the parties break. The latest example is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Many of us are aware that for the last many years, the differences have been growing between Sharad Pawar (who founded the NCP with Tariq Anwar and NP Sangma) and his nephew Ajit Pawar because lately, Sharad Pawar started projecting his daughter Supriya Sule as his successor. This move was resented by Ajit Pawar, who had assisted Sharad Pawar from the early days of NCP, and everyone thought he would succeed him. The rift came into open when Uddhav Thackrey ditched BJP after the state assembly election results and started cosying up with Sharad Pawar and the Congress party to form the next government in Maharashtra, that time Ajit Pawar and his supporters joined hands with BJP and formed the government. But that time anyhow Sharad Pawar pacified him and he came back to NCP, and was the deputy CM in the MVA government in Maharashtra led by Uddhav Thackrey.
But it so happened that section of Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar and many of his supporters were not happy with the arrangement, first Eknath Shinde with the help of other Shiv Sena MLAs broke Shiv Sena and joined hands with BJP and formed government and became CM. Within a few months, his faction was recognized by the Election Commission (EC) as the real Shiv Sena, as his faction had the majority of sitting MPs, MLAs, and MLCs of Shiv Sena. There was a big legal battle on this issue, and Uddhav Thackrey’s appeal against Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision is still pending with the Supreme Court (SC)
This must have prompted Ajit Pawar to break away from Sharad Pawar, and he also came out with the majority of sitting MPs, MLAs, and MLCs, and joined the Maharashtra government by Shiv Sena and BJP alliance. In this case also legal battle started. The matter went to EC and SC.
Now yesterday the EC gave the decision that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar is the real NCP as this faction has got 70% of sitting MPs, MLAs, and MLCs (57 out of 81) on their side. The EC’s decision came after 10 hearings over six months, and Ajit Pawar-led faction was allotted the party’s name (ie NCP) and its symbol ‘Clock’.
Sharad Pawar’s faction has been asked to give three preferences for the new name of their party by today evening.
Now Sharad Pawar and his group are not happy with EC’s decision and are implying that some ‘invisible force’ is behind this verdict, and are thinking of moving the SC. Indirectly it has been hinted that, under BJP’s rule the regional parties are slowly being wiped out. First, it was Shiv Sena, and now NCP.
The problem with all these types of Regional parties is that the founder leader of these parties always forgets that the next generation of your party leadership also has aspirations and views on the Indian political scenario, and if you do not inspire them and fulfill their aspirations they are bound to revolt against you. In so many cases either these young leaders have joined other political parties, floated their own parties, or split the party like recently Eknath Shinde, and Ajit Pawar did.
There are many other similar cases in the recent past also:
1 Chandrababu Naidu became the President of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) after revolting against his father-in-law NT Ramarao, the founder of the party, and sidelined him, and the main reason being NTR was not ready to listen and implement the points forward by the young leaders of the party.
2 Akhilesy Yadav of Samajwadi Party ( SP) revolted against his father Mulayam Sings Yadav, the founder of the party, and his uncles, on the issues of alliance with other political parties for General and State elections.
3 It is repeatedly happening in smaller size political parties in UP and Bihar, like parties founded by Ram Vilas Paswan, Ajit Singh, and many others.
In my opinion, the founders of all these types of regional political parties never realise that in the years to come if the younger generation in the party, unless given due importance, a revolt/break in the party is bound to happen. They always forget that they found their party because they were unhappy in or with some other political party/arrangement. This type of happenings always benefit the parties who are ruling at the national level or state level.
Waiting for your feedback on this issue.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
7th February 2024