By Akhileshwari Anand Raj
Addressing reporters at the Raipur airport on October 1st, Samajwadi Party president and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Singh Yadav said that his wife Dimple Yadav will not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. She is a two-time MP from Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh.
Dynasty politics
His reasoning for the above statement was to tackle dynasty politics, and openly challenged the BJP to talk about the same. He was in Raipur looking to expand his party, stating that people of Chhattisgarh wanted to join his party. This is not the first time that Yadav has made a politically risky move. He has always been known for his corruption-free track record and his developmental politics with the kaam bolta hai campaign.
At a time when the nepotism debate in Indian politics has reached a feverish pitch, political parties continue to revolve significantly around inheritance and dynasty. Studies show that at least one in five members of Parliament elected in 2014 comes from a political family. In the current Lok Sabha, even the BJP, which has the lowest shares of dynasts (16.7%), is driven by nepotism in the younger age-group. 50% of BJP’s MPs under the age of 40 have a family connection in politics and 25 out of 61 women in the 16th Lok Sabha elections are related to politicians.
Dimples role
Dimple Yadav has transcended from a flustered Netajis bahu when she first entered politics to a confident and promising campaigner as seen in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha elections. During her most recent campaign, she addressed over 15 rallies and campaigned for Akhilesh Yadav at the time when he most needed her; when his own people had publicly abandoned him.
Dimple Yadav served the party in catering to two types of crowds which the party required more help with: women and the urban populace. It helped improve the image of the Samajwadi party amongst women, with whom the party had earned a dubious reputation. She has publicly addressed issues like sanitary napkins and breast cancer.
Will this move hurt the electorate?
Appearing alongside Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi in Varanasi, she portrayed an urban image of herself and the progressive background that she comes from. She represented a modern Indian woman who favours a work-life balance and has strived continuously to achieve it thereby propagating gender equality. Her work has helped the party shed its rustic image and reach out to the urban masses as well.
Akhilesh Yadavs move to absolve his party of the dynasty politics criticism that they have faced for very long is understandable. However, the cost his party would pay for this decision appears to be steep. Keeping Dimple Yadav, a star campaigner, out of the crucial 2019 elections will disappoint a significant part of the electorate, men and women.
Featured Image Source: Party of European Socialists via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA