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Naguesh Bhatcar brought to our attention an article by Sadanand Dhume,
titled "India's Gandhi God-Kings", and provided us the url"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703724104575378590961975082.ht
ml#printMode
The sub-title of the article is: "Opaque family rule is no way to run a
political party, let alone a major economy and aspiring great power."
To this Rajendra kakodkar wrote: Whenever there is some inauguration or an
achievement by congress is high-lighted, it is Sonia who steals the
limelight in the advertisements. She is praised to be the driving force. But
when Kashmir burns, it is Omar Abdulla who goes to the gallows and Sonia has
nothing to do with it. When Maoists kill securitymen, it is Chidambaram who
is made the scapegoat. When Commonwealth corruption surfaced, only Kalmadi
was taken to the altar as if such thousands of crores went only in his
pockets. When grains rot, it is Pawar who is blamed. When terrorists struck
Mumbai it was Shivrai Patil, who was guillotined and Sonia was unscathed.
Yesterday on World Democracy Day she agreed to nominate a president for Goa
Congress party without elections?
And Soter asked: Agreed that Gandhi's get the cream while the shit gets
splashed on their hench men. Could you show any other political outfit in
this country in which such God-kings do not exist?
My response:
I think it is fair to say that in the Communist parties and the BJP, such
God-kings do not exist. There are people in these parties who are the
children of the leadership. But in most cases, they have worked themselves
up through the ranks.
Perhaps Soter can give examples otherwise, and I will stand corrected.
Going through the article by Dhume, following two quotes are worth
considering:
"But unlike the Conservatives and Labour in Britain, or for that matter the
Republicans and Democrats in America, Congress is defined less by adherence
to a coherent ideology than by fealty to a single family."
"Beyond this apparent sense of noblesse oblige toward the toiling masses,
the Gandhis are probably the most opaque major politicians in the democratic
world. They rarely speak to the media, and when they do it's not to
critics."
Best regards,
U. G. Barad
