Bhupesh Bhandari: Lessons from family feuds

If experience is anything to go by, Akhilesh will emerge victorious from the spat with his father

The ongoing spat between Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav may have no precedent in the political world, as no son has rebelled openly against his father, but the world of business is no stranger to the Aurangzeb syndrome. There are at least two such instances: One when Bhai Mohan Singh was ousted from Ranbaxy by Parvinder Singh, and two when Onkar Singh Kanwar wrested control of Apollo Tyres from Raunaq Singh — both the events unfolded in the ’90s.

In all these three feuds, there are some common elements that are worth pointing out. 

Before the breakout of hostilities the son is the father’s favourite and the successor. Bhai Mohan Singh had three sons but in the settlement of 1989 handed over the crown jewel of Ranbaxy to his eldest, Parvinder. In his eyes, Parvinder could do no wrong. Whenever he went abroad, Bhai Mohan Singh would press some money, Rs 500 or so, into Parvinder’s hands, a gesture that showed his fondness for his first-born child.

Raunaq Singh too, though he had four sons from two marriages, entrusted Onkar Singh Kanwar with key responsibilities, including the turnaround of the ailing Apollo Tyres. After the Janata Party came to power in 1977, George Fernandes, the industry minister, decided to teach Raunaq Singh a lesson for his closeness to Indira Gandhi, and initiated moves to nationalise Apollo Tyres. Father and son jointly fought him off.

Similarly, five years ago, Mulayam Singh Yadav, already past 70, chose Akhilesh over his brothers, cousins and other son, Prateek, as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. That he would take over from the Samajwadi Party patriarch one day was never in doubt.

What went wrong? It is clear that the operating environment changed in each case, which required the old order to give way to the new, and the father failed to come to terms with that. In Ranbaxy, Parvinder wanted to expand into the United States, the largest market in the world, which would require professionals at the helm. Ranbaxy could no longer afford to be a fuddy-duddy family-run company. Bhai Mohan Singh saw this as an assault on his authority. Soon, the situation spiraled out of control.

Once Apollo Tyres was back on track, Raunaq Singh, as a new book called The Man Behind the Wheel recalls, wanted it to help him diversify into new fields and bankroll his other companies that were losing money. Onkar Singh Kanwar didn’t want to lose his focus and blocked all his father’s entreaties. This was something Raunaq Singh could not digest. He had worked in an era when the concept of core competence didn’t exist: Most businessmen were happy to have a diversified, though inefficient, portfolio of businesses. From being extremely close, the two were soon locked in deadly confrontation.

In the Yadav family too, there is a clear difference in perception between father and son. While Mulayam Singh Yadav belongs to that generation which feels electoral politics is all about getting the caste alignments right, Akhilesh perhaps feels that people have moved on and vote on the basis of your development agenda and your reputation. Caste loyalties have weakened over time. When cultures collide there is bound to be friction.

In all such cases, you will find bystanders who egg on the father against the son. These are usually old retainers who find their wings clipped by the son. There was no dearth of people who instigated Bhai Mohan Singh and Raunaq Singh, just like there is a motley group that poisons Mulayam Singh Yadav’s ears against his son. 

And these fights can be bitter. The feud with his son broke Bhai Mohan Singh. At one crucial meeting, Captain Amrinder Singh, who is in the race to become the next chief minister of Punjab and was at that time on the Ranbaxy board, took a pencil and snapped it into two right in front of Bhai Mohan Singh’s face — a message that the old man understood very well.

In Apollo Tyres too, things quickly went downhill. Before one particular board meeting in Kerala, as The Man Behind the Wheel recounts, Onkar Singh Kanwar began to suspect that he might be assaulted physically. As a result, he travelled for the board meeting separately. The fight took a toll on his health too, the book says, and he suffered a stroke.

In Ranbaxy as well as in Apollo Tyres, it was the son who had the last laugh. Both Bhai Mohan Singh and Raunaq Singh had to finally retreat. The board of directors in each case sided with the son. It looks like that’s what’s going to happen in Lucknow too as most of the Samajwadi Party MLAs have thrown in their lot with Akhilesh. 

And both Ranbaxy and Apollo Tyres did well after the split between father and son, though Ranbaxy later ran into trouble. If experience is anything to go by, Akhilesh will emerge victorious from the current spat with his father.