Dynasty rules on both sides of Gujarat politics

Despite the PM’s strictures against nepotism, his party in his native State has gone so far as to import dynasts from the Opposition Congress party to field them in the upcoming Assembly polls

Nepotism and dynasty are thriving in the Prime Minister’s native State, with both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress party liberally fielding candidates related to political functionaries and leaders in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly polls. In over 50 out of 182 seats, candidates who have political leaders in their immediate family are on the ballot.

This comes just months after PM Narendra Modi slammed the prevalence of dynasties and nepotism in politics in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort. Warning that it shackled not only politics but also other institutions and spheres, he exhorted people to defeat the menace of nepotism that also breeds corruption. 

In the Gujarat polls, however, there are several cases where the ruling BJP has even imported dynasts from the opposition party to take on the Congress in certain strong pockets held by the Congress. 

For example, the ruling BJP has fielded Yogendrasinh Parmar, son of former Congress MLA Ramsinh Parmar from Thasra in central Gujarat. A veteran leader in the cooperative sector, the senior Mr. Parmar was a multiple term Congress MLA who had defected to the BJP in 2017 and lost on that party’s ticket. This time around, his son has been fielded by the BJP. 

Similarly, in the Chhota Udepur seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe communities, the BJP has fielded Rajendrasinh Rathwa, whose father Mohansinh Rathwa, Gujarat’s senior-most legislator, recently defected to the ruling party after being miffed with Congress for not agreeing to field his son. 

Interestingly, the Congress candidate from the seat is Sangramsinh Rathwa, whose father is sitting Rajya Sabha member and former Union Minister Naran Rathwa. 

In Saurashtra, the BJP has recently inducted sitting Congress MLA Bhaga Barad and fielded him from his Talala seat. Mr. Barad comes from a political family and his late brother was a Congress veteran who was a Minister as well as MP from the Junagadh seat.