When power runs in the family

All the aayis, taayis, mamis, kakis and mulgis in Maharashtra and their elder sisters elsewhere are celebrating that their state has got its first woman deputy CM in Sunetra Pawar. Indeed a great moment, except that she has got the post as a legacy of her deceased husband. Nothing to be ashamed of. Lady Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons, because her husband had to give it up when elevated to the House of Lords.

- By R. PRASANNAN

This has been a problem more with India and most oriental democracies. Sri Lanka had two woman rulers, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga—both from the same family. Indonesia had Megawati Sukarnoputri, Pakistan had the Bhutto daughter, Bangladesh had the two daughters of the two Rahman clans, and more.

No different in India either. With all respect to them including Sunetra, their political acumen and administrative abilities, the fact remains that several women—right from Indira Gandhi who was the world's second woman PM—reached positions of power because they came from political families, either by birth or marriage (much the same about several men too). This is not to forget a few illustrious exceptions like Jayalalithaa, Mayawati or Mamata Banerjee, who came up on their own and ruled, or have been ruling, with more grit than most of the men who have ruled their states before or after.