(In a lighter vein)

For decades, the Bharatiya Janata Party took pot shots at the perpetuation of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty calling it the bankruptcy of leadership in the congress party.

The BJP said the congress party was so bankrupt of leadership that it could not think beyond the dynasty. But, it was the BJP which threw up the best example of its bankruptcy with regard to leadership when it could not find a single legislator in Rajasthan fit to become the chief minister of the state!

The BJP had to bring in Vasundhara Raje from Madhya Pradesh to fill that void. Today, there is a Scindia dynasty flourishing in the BJP. But, obviously it is not visible to them. If the ancestors of the present BJP leaders had no leadership quality in them, it is the fault of the congress!

After three generations of prime ministers from the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty when Rahul was being introduced into politics, the BJP said that the congress had no leader outside of the dynasty. That was more out of fear of losing than anything else.

Three elections ago, the BJP started fielding the estranged bahu of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and she was returned to the Lok Sabha all three times. Apparently, Maneka Gandhi kept the Philibit seat warm to launch her Nano, Varun Gandhi. But, Varun goofed it up…or, did he?

First he delivered flagrant speeches laced with communalism. Then he lost his spine and contended that the tapes were doctored. The Election Commission has discounted his contention.

If Varun’s stand is amusing, the reaction of the BJP is even more interesting. It distanced itself from the Varun’s questionable speeches but it retained Varun as its candidate from Philibit. Is the BJP confused or is it trying to confuse the electorate? Or, worst still, does it have a hidden agenda in all this? Are they trying to raise a junior Modi?

Today, the BJP is promoting the same dynasty that they were opposing for all these years. One wonders who is bankrupt of leadership—the Congress or the BJP? Varun’s lineage traces back to the same number of generations in the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty as cousin Rahul’s.

It is a paradox of sorts. Nobody knows if Advani would get anywhere near the prime minister’s seat this time. But, the way the BJP is promoting Varun, it appears that one day he might actually become the prime minister of India. If that happens, the BJP would be perpetuating the very Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that it opposes tooth and nail whenever the congress does it!