The ugly Politician

“The pornography of politics gets a new variation as Deve Gowda looms over the ruins of a coalition experiment. The reckless patriarch with his dynastic impulses is not alone. There are a few others who excel in political harlotry in the name of social justice. They are united by the depravity of power.”

The opening lines of an article by the India Today in its latest issue. Unfortunately I could not scan the accompanying image which was a delightful combination of the faces of Deve Gowda, M.Karunanidhi and Devi Lal (I think). There is nothing much to be said about the farce that is played out before us in the political scene. Every politician worth his salt wants his son / daughter to take up the family business. Frankly I think that is a normal paternal attitude and I fully support it. Why would I decline the directorship of a firm my dad runs or a kingdom he rules? (Pity he does neither!)

Hereditary accession to the throne is historical and has been handed down from the early days. When a king dies, his progeny ascend the throne. In ancient Egypt it is said that the royal family married within themselves to retain the pure blood so that the heir is untainted by the blood of lesser mortals. So incest was accepted. (If you are a king you make the rules.)

Businesses are no strangers to this practice how many patriarchs have handed over the batons to their often Ivy League educated sons / daughters before they kicked the bucket or retired into obscurity? Of late however many businesses have found that the heirs are often incompetent to handle the many responsibilities of the job and end up loosing the stake holders money. Professional management is just a glorified exit route for such incompetents who exit gracefully leaving the leadership mantle to those who will not just be efficient administrators of wealth but also set about increasing it. But the invisible remote control will always lie in their hands.

Maybe these political families can do likewise? No matter how much they swindle they still are not as good enough when compared to a true professional. Maybe these politicians can sit back and watch their wealth grow by handing it over to good professional managers; after all hunger for power is just a byproduct of greed for wealth. Good governance that will happen for us poor citizens is of course, incidental.

PS: This is a classical case of diversification going wrong, wish these farmers had stuck to farming. Too many farmers get famous, become heroes and then turn villains.