Take a hard look at any political party in India and you can see the leaders grooming their kids
to take their place. And for those that don't have any kids, there are always some relative or
the other to be propped up in positions of power.
You don't have to be a genius to figure out how it has worked in the Congress party, which has practically been a family fiefdom to be passed on from one generation to another. Starting with Jawaharlal Nehru to daughter Indira Gandhi to her son Rajiv Gandhi to his wife Sonia Gandhi. Ofcourse, they only had control of the party all these years, while actual power did slip to other parties during many terms when the Congress lost elections.
And ofcourse her son Rahul is already being groomed for the top job, and daughter Priyanka is waiting in the wings. Rahul is not married yet, but Priyanka has a couple of kids. So the next generation is already ready.
Add to this list the other heirs in the Congress party viz. the Pilots, the Deoras, the Prasadas etc etc
Coming to other parties, take the DMK down south in Tamilnadu (TN), where Papa MK has son Stalin almost annointed as Chief Minister and daughter Kanimozhi as his representative in New Delhi. And ofcourse elder son Azhagiri is the chieftan in the southern districts of Tamilnadu.
The PMK, which is another party in TN has a heir ready in the form of Anbumani Ramadoss,
son of the party chief Ramadoss. The AIADMK is kind of different as the head honcho Jayalalitha has no heirs, having never married (though marriage is not required to have progeny). And it would be interesting to see the succession battle after she is gone. But then she is not that old and so there is quite some time before we reach that stage.
Kerala is no different. We have the wily Karunakaran trying to make his son and daughter biggies in the state politics, though as of date, he has not seen any success. Same with Karnataka (the Gowdas), Andhra (Reddy's), Uttar Pradesh (the Yadavs), Bihar (again the Yadavs and here the chief has 10 kids - so a full cabinet is available readymade), Punjab (the Badals) etc etc.
The right-wing parties are no different as seen from Uddhav taking over the Shiv Sena from Daddy Thackeray, leaving cousin Raj in the cold. Ofcourse Raj promptly floated a new party,
which will also go to his heirs.
The only ones that seem different are the Communists. Atleast I cannot recall any progeny trying to follow their communist parent's footsteps. But I might be wrong also.
Is it because they want to serve us, the people ? You must be kidding. Not really. Having experienced the fruits of political power and wealth, they want to make sure that their progeny also enjoys it, and thus remain above the hoi polloi.
All this time, I was thinking that this is a pure India-specific (or even Asia-specific, if you include the Bhuttos and the ladies in Bangladesh) thing. Looks like I am wrong, as this article by Nicholas D Kristof in the Asahi Tribune newspaper (also available on his blog at www.nytimes.com/ontheground) indicates.
As he observed correctly, since 1989 (ie. for the last 20 years), the US has had Presidents only from 2 families (Bush and Clinton). If Hilary becomes President, and also manages a second term (which should not be tough because if someone like Dubya can get a 2nd term, any duffer can), that would make it 28 years of American presidency from just 2 families.
Like him, I also doubt whether there is any democracy in the world, which has had the top post held by members of 2 families for such a long period of time.
This is not all. Check out http://bushclintonforever.googlepages.com/ where they already have the successors listed down far into the future. LOL.
2009 - 2017 : Hilary Clinton
2017 - 2025 : Jeb Bush
2025 - 2033 : Chelsea Clinton
2033 - 2041 : George P Bush (Jeb's son)
2041 - 2049 : Chelsea's husband OR an adopted son/daughter of Clintons
2049 - 2057 : Jenna Bush
Ofcourse, if Obama lands the Democratic nomination, then the calculations go for a toss.
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