In politics, a nose is not just a nose. It's often a declaration of belonging to a prominent political dynasty, and – as Akhilesh Singh Yadav joked in March 2016 – sometimes an accessory to political ascent. Now, as Akhilesh fights a messy battle with his father, his nose might just be a reminder of how firmly he is tied to the Yadav dynasty of Saifai.
It immediately signals where political power resides, and eliminates far-off unwanted relatives who are trying to poke their noses into unnecessary affairs.
And we have some hard-nosed politicians to prove that.
In 2009, a chiselled nose sparked off a political war of words between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
Campaigning in the general elections, Priyanka Gandhi said she realised that she resembles her grandmother Indira Gandhi. Feeling the tip of her nose, she said, “It’s my nose.” BJP was not amused. Ravi Shankar Prasad, the then spokesperson of the party, said Priyanka’s comment was like a scene from a “soap opera”. He said,
Eight years later, as the Congress fights to emerge as a credible Opposition, the issue may seem hilariously overblown. But in 2009, the BJP had good reasons to fear any talk of Priyanka’s nose.
The Nehru-Gandhi Kashmiri nose was (and still remains, to an extent) a potent political symbol. It harks back to the charisma of Indira Gandhi, and the stability of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Indira Gandhi’s beak-shaped nose became a constant image throughout her reign as India's prime minister, symbolising her autocratic ways and dynamic personality.
So, the Kashmiri nose influences the voters’ perception of Priyanka as the true heir to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Despite her aversion to politics.
She's got the nose, after all.
In June 2014, filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma was amused at the number of hoardings of K Chandrashekar Rao in Hyderabad, a few days before his swearing-in ceremony. Verma tweeted that he had heard that “women love KCR’s nose because it uniquely exudes power”. Even if one were to dismiss Verma’s comments as a rant, it is hard to ignore that Telangana’s first chief minister has the most prominent nose in contemporary Indian politics.
Luckily for him, his son K Taraka Rama Rao also boasts a nose to be proud of. Known as KTR, he started off as Information Technology and Panchayati Raj Minister in the new Telangana government in 2014. KTR’s political shrewdness and oratory has led KCR to groom him as his political heir, potentially blocking his nephew Harish Rao’s claim to power.
Akhilesh Singh Yadav is the new Samajwadi Party chief, after fighting an ugly battle with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav over who the party belongs to. As the two camps take their fight for the party’s cycle symbol to the Election Commission, the Saifai dynasty seems to be entangled in a prolonged crisis.
On his 42nd birthday, Raj Thackeray received an unusual gift from his uncle. Bal Thackeray, Raj’s political mentor and Shiv Sena chief, wrote an editorial titled ‘Dhanajirao’s Nose’ in Saamna, calling Raj Thackeray ‘Dhanajirao’ (roughly translating to someone who is wealthy and wants power.) The supremo wrote,
Bal Thackeray and Raj Thackeray had a tumultuous uncle-nephew relationship, and Raj, who went to launch the MNS, is seen as the political successor to Bal Thackeray’s ‘marathi manoos’ brand of politics. Despite Uddhav Thackeray taking over the Shiv Sena, the MNS’ politics (remember Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Karan Johar anyone?) harks back to the day when the Tiger was on the prowl.
Maybe the political dynastic families in India need to pay attention to these lines from Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children.
(Source: India Today, Times of India, Economic Times, DNA)
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