Brand Gandhi

The alacrity with which Indians welcome the heirs of their rulers points to the unpalatable fact that our genius is more suited to monarchy than democracy .Indians have loved their monarchs through the ages and foreign extraction adds to the glamour of exoticism .Our fetish for being ruled by those whom we adore is well known, and if the loved one is not available for some reason or the other to do the ruling, we make do with his sandal. Nehru Gandhi dynasty has fulfilled all our latent aspirations and that too while maintaining the facade of democracy.Had Sanjay Baru an adequate sense of history and causation he would not have called Manmohan Singh an “accidental” prime minister.

By the way does not the reversion of Ms Priyanka Vadra to Priyanka Gandhi disguise a cynical intent to exploit the Gandhi name. She already has the pedigree, she wants to add to the legitimacy a sense of piety as well. She is entitled to revert to her maiden name by virtue of belonging to Feroze Gandhi clan but who is this Feroze Gandhi. As a reference point Mrs. Indira Gandhi who had long tutelage under her father Nehru, and later became well known in her own right, sometimes let herself be called Indira Nehru Gandhi, because the name Nehru added stature, Nehru spelt substnace .But does reverting to Gandhi in case of Priyanka Vadra add the same value . Is Feroze Gandhi revered, even known , in the same way as Mahatma Gandhi is?If not, then Priyanka Vadra would have done just fine .In a country with an abysmally low level of literacy, the name Gandhi has the potential of deceiving people or at at least subliminally affecting their choices. ( Indira Gandhi was perceived to be the daughter of Mahatma Gandhi by many people in many countries!)The unusual degree of slavishness and sycophancy of intellectuals and media men at the service of the dynasty is already working hard to make the Gandhi magic happen.