Dynasty, unfortunately, is the new normal in a democracy. However absurd the statement may sound, it is a fact of electoral life. But for a minuscule minority that includes Manmohan Singh, Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, every Indian politician worth his kurta has a son or a daughter waiting anxiously for the parent to fade away. Why just blame Rabri Devi and Laloo Yadav? How are the Clintons any different? At times we feel as if we may soon slip into the abyss of authoritarianism that oozes out of the ruling families like pus from a rotten feudal wound. Some states are ruled by entire families with festering feuds worse than saas-bahu serials on prime-time TV. They don’t even wait for the parent to retire. It is just one closely held joint stalk company without auditors or AGMs; without loss or liabilities.
A similar drama is being played out down south in Tamil Nadu where propaganda plays and speechy scripts are the soul of politics. The democratically elected leader is dead. The person whom she had anointed as her successor twice earlier is...
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