QRant: Rahul Gandhi to Anil Kr Sadhu, Down With Dynasty Politics

Sasurji Ramvilas Paswanji gave the ticket to Jitan Manjhi’s son. Boohoo. Big Deal!

You get a seat! You get a seat! And you get a seat! Dynasty works. (Photo: Kunal Mehra/The Quint)

Why is Anil Kumar Sadhu crying?

Well, he wanted an assembly ticket but his Father-in-law Ram Vilas Paswan gave the ticket to Jitan Manjhi’s son, Santosh Suman.

Manjhi’s son gets Paswan’s Blessing (Photo: Kunal Mehra/The Quint)

Paswanji has also given tickets to his younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras, and to his nephew Prince Raj.

When the whole Paswan clan is getting their tickets, naturally Anil Kumar Sadhu is crying too.

Boohoo! Anil Kumar Sadhu, LJP & Dalit Sena leader, Ramvilas Paswan’s son-in-law, crying. (Photo: Kunal Mehra/The Quint)

Elsewhere in Bihar, Lalu Yadav is baanto-ing tickets like boondi ka prasad. This time sons Tejaswi and Tej Pratap have got tickets.

The BJP, allegedly against “family politics”, has given tickets to the sons of three senior BJP leaders - CP Thakur’s son Vivek Thakur, Ashwini Choubey’s son Arjit Shashwat and Ganga Prasad’s son Sanjeev Chourasia.

And it’s a great tradition. Just look at the Congress’ 4G - four generations of ticket kataao-ing.

So, yes Anil Sadhu is crying.

Is the Congress responsible for the proliferation of dynastic politics in India? Hint: Yes. (Photo: Kunal Mehra/The Quint)

Mulayam Singh gave tickets to his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, son Akhilesh, and daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav.

Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav Thackeray, nephew Raj Thackery and now grandson Aditya Thackeray are the ones in charge of the Shv Sena, and the breakaway MNS.

Karunanidhi parceled out political power to his sons MK Stalin, MK Alagiri and daughter Kanimozhi.

Prakash Singh Badal’s son Sukhbir Singh Badal and daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal too are heavily into electoral politics.

You get a seat! You get a seat! And you get a seat! (Photo: Kunal Mehra/The Quint)

That’s not all. Sharad Pawar’s daugther Supriya Sule, Sheila Dixit’s son Sandeep Dixit, Tarun Gogoi’s son Gaurav Gogoi, Madhavrao Scindia’s son Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajesh Pilot’s son Sachin Pilot have all got ‘dynastic’ tickets over the years.

So of course, Sadhu Baba is crying.

Meanwhile, the nation too is crying.

When are the family picnics in politics going to end? I want a mature democracy. You want a mature democracy. But we are just not getting it.

Maybe I should cry too.