The musings of a (not-so) single chick in the city. (Don't think that the term chick is derogoratory. We refer to boys by a number of terms). The travails in the life of an ex-miss-goody-two-shoes, ex-journalist, ex-small time model, ex-television actress, of being female in Chennai/ Pune/Bangalore, of ideas old and ideas new....

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

How to reject Dynastic Political Entrants ? Part - I

 Now, in the film industry in India, be in Mumbai or in Chennai or in Hyderabad, if a star kid enters the film industry and lacks that special something that makes a star, he or she gets sidelined after a few continuous flops. Examples include - Tushar Kapoor, Jacky Bhagnani, Harman Baweja, Tanisha, Shamitha Shetty, Rinkie Khanna etc. They gracefully slide out of limelight, or resign themselves into acting in secondary characters or move into other professions successfully or sometimes unsuccessfully depending on their education, training, social networking skills (the real world kind- not the online kind) and a big dose of luck. 

But in the politics industry, somehow or the other, the son/daughter somehow clings on to the political industry and makes a living someway or the other until finally the power wielding parent dies, and the party functionaries "clarion" call the "heir" in all the media to come forward to lead the party. This is the format in all the regionally powerful parties and was the same in the centre as well, until the advent and sad reality of Rahul Gandhi. In Maharashtra, in AP, in UP, in Bihar - if the CM's son/daughter is not automatically crowned as the heir due to whatever reason (No natural leadership instinct, Other powerful senior leader is chomping at the bit, CM wants the kid to learn the ropes from the bottoms up, etc ) - they eventually do become the heir to the power in the party. 

The major difference between the two industries is the nature of the game. Movie industry success depends on movie to movie - and the number of other careers that are broken/made in the process of the star kid's flops and hits. But politics is about the long game and several strategies can be played at once - it's not a friday to friday game-changer. And politicians play at the longest game of them all. (See the average age of Chief Ministers across state-lines. Sigh)

The reason for all this above rambling is the current news that the son of Mr. Stalin, CM of Tamil Nadu, previously actor and producer and now MLA is going to be given a ministerial position tomorrow. Now, there is at least one or more better qualified with managerial expertise or several people with more experience and who have served in the party far longer than the son. Compared to when(age at which) Mr. Stalin ascended to the "Throne" and all the hoops he hasn't been asked to jump through like Mr. Karunanidhi made Mr. Stalin do, obviously many people within the party are miffed - but aren't speaking about it. The people outside the party are saying aplenty and the political opponents are basically screaming their heads off about nepotism. To no avail. Because there is no rule/law violation in this instance. Any MLA can be given a ministerial position after all. (And the father with the political clout and know how will surely field his son in a constituency for elections which is a sure shot win for their party.) Just because Mr. Stalin is making his son a minister in his government above so many others better qualified and experienced is just in bad taste. You can't fault someone for bad taste or sue them for acting in bad faith. And so the opponents have to try other tactics. 






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