Is promoting sons to keep one’s political legacy alive advantageous? History says ‘no’ as sometimes fathers tend to feel that their sons outgrew them and behave like Bhasmasura. Deccan Chronicle takes a look.
The ugly spat between Kerala Congress (B) chairman, R. Balakrishna Pillai, and his son, K. B. Ganesh Kumar, highlights the perils of trying to promote one’s son to keep one’s political legacy alive.
Sometimes the sons grow bigger than their fathers, and behave like Bhasmasura who tried to reduce Lord Shiva – the one who blessed him with such a powerful boon – to ashes.
Political observers will recall Congress veteran and former Chief Minister, the late K. Karunakaran, propping up his prodigal son K. Muraleedharan within the party.
Balakrishna Pillai had hijacked his son K.B. Ganesh Kumar from Mollywood where the actor was doing a splendid job since his debut in the 1985 film Irakal, and shoved him into politics. Last week, Mr Pillai stripped Mr Kumar, Minister of Forests and Environment, of all party posts, accusing him of using the party as a ladder to reach the ministerial post and then ignoring it.
He has now demanded that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy drop his minister-son from the UDF cabinet.
Mr Pillai’s tirade against Mr Kumar doesn’t surprise leading political analyst B.R.P. Bhaskar because the party they represent is tiny and is still rooted in family culture. Mr Bhaskar points out that the difference of opinion between the two is not over policy.
“It’s all about patronage to the party. Pillai feels Ganesh hasn’t been living up to his expectations in this respect. The fact that he still wants to remote-control his son exposes his feudal attitude,” Mr Bhaskar commented.
It’s not a matter of jealousy, he says. “It’s true Pillai is worried about Ganesh’s evolution as an independent political personality. But I don’t think he’s jealous about that. The problem is that Ganesh refuses to toe his father’s line.”
Mr Pillai, according to him, knows that his party having only one representative in the state assembly, still counts a lot for the Oommen Chandy government which survives on a wafer-thin majority. With the Piravom by-election round the corner, Mr Pillai knows his party now has better bargaining power.
“Oommen Chandy also knows this,” Mr Bhaskar said, and so is unlikely to drop Mr Ganesh Kumar from the ministry as his father demands.
Mr Bhaskar foresees the possibility of a vertical split within the Kerala Congress (B) sooner or later. In such a scenario, much would depend on the faction that emerges stronger.
Eminent political pundit K.M. Roy, however, disagrees.
“Pillai does suffer from Perunthachan complex. There’s no doubt about that. He should actually be happy with the success and popularity of his youthful son. But, instead, Pillai is envious and just can’t stomach that,” Mr Roy said.
There are several examples of the father-son equation not working as expected in politics. K. Muraleedharan was the political nemesis of his late father K. Karunakaran who brazenly tried to promote him within the Congress party. Later, both walked out of the Congress to form the Democratic Indira Congress (K).
However, they fell apart when the former decided to return to the parent party much to the chagrin of the latter since he didn’t see a political context for the return.
“Karunakaran was in a tearing hurry to promote Muraleedharan. Had he not done so, his original clout in the Congress would have remained intact. Most fathers get blinded by their love for their sons,” Mr Roy said.
He says a similar pattern emerged with CPM veteran and former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who too favoured his son V.A. Arun Kumar.
CPM leader and former home minister, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, is afflicted by a similar son malady.
“In fact, Bineesh Kodiyeri and Ashok Louis Nelson (son of CPM leader and former education minister M.A. Bay) are close pals. But, it’s heartening to see Ashok pursuing a film career instead trying to get into his father’s boots,” Mr Roy said.
Within the CPM, it’s not Mr Achuthanandan alone who has suffered an embarrassment because of his son. The late Chief Minister, E.K. Nayanar, too, had his share of son-trouble in the form of Krishna Kumar who ran an advertising firm.
The allegation that the advertisement firm had received the patronage of the LDF government had sullied Mr Nayanar’s otherwise clean image to some extent. That only confirms that, irrespective of political parties, sons can be the nemesis of their fathers.