Marriage politics

Marriage politics

Marriages, they say, are made in heaven. In the case of politicians, they are even held in heaven. The venue, the guest list, the pomp and show, all suggest a class that we the lesser mortals cannot even dream about. As long as the super-duper weddings don't disturb our humdrum lives we have not much to complain about. But when such `heavenly' marriages disrupt an assembly in mid-session, then it does become a cause of concern. Bihar's minister of state for energy Shyam Razzak is precisely having such a royal wedding, which is being held in Mumbai. No problems with that. But the Bihar Assembly is being given a mid-session break for two days to allow the VVIP baraat, composed of honourable members, to attend the wedding and rub shoulders with filmstars, expected to attend. Apparently, Bihar MLAs are tired of hanging out with with their Bihari Babu Shatrughan Sinha. They now want to dance in step with Madhuri Dixits, Raveena Tandons and Shahrukh Khans for the sangeet ceremony. The Rashtriya JanataDal supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav, who received flak for the lavishness of his daughter Misa Bharati's wedding celebrations amidst the penury of Patna, thinks Mumbai is a more suitable place for the royal wedding of his most loyal chela. At least, the income tax sleuths and the CBI officials, busy investigating the fodder scam, will not bother the guests in far away Mumbai.

And Bihar is not the only state where political marriages are held in heavenly style. Maharashtra's former deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde's daughter got married in an equally ostentatious manner where 60,000 guests were reportedly served lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, the pundits had not done their homework well enough. The muhurat of the pheras ended up coinciding with the unrolling of the Tehelka tapes, exposing the Vajpayee government's involvement in Defencegate. But even the perils of the crisis did not prevent the entire BJP nobility, including Union ministers, to fly into Maharashtra in specially chartered planes to bless the couple. After all, the bride happens to be Pramod Mahajan's niece as well.

Political weddings have, indeed, become a social scandal in this country. The extravagant show put up during AIADMK's supremo Jayalalitha's foster son's wedding perhaps only paralleled the lavishness displayed during Laloo Yadav's daughter's marriage. And even the most ostentatious Mughal era weddings would pale into insignificance when compared to the political weddings these days. Half a century of democracy in this country has ironically led to the growth of one of the most rent-seeking class of aristocrats, the populist politicians. As democracy penetrates the countryside, this new breed of political aristocrats, fattened by one scam after another, go on shamelessly swearing by rural empowerment and social justice. Dissatisfied with mere acquisition of wealth, the new aristocrats display their ill-gotten millions during royal weddings that would put to shame even the royal weddings of maharajahs and maharanis during the pre-independence feudal era.