Our reverence for the VIP and our weakness for demagogues have not changed enough in the past 20 years. Voters no longer believe that politicians are gods and goddesses — MGR and Indira Gandhi had temples built to them — but so susceptible we still are to socialist-feudalism that we quietly accept the heirs our politicians dump on us.

In Punjab’s recent elections it was hard to find a young candidate in any party who was not someone’s son, brother, cousin, wife or sister. The same is true of our young MPs and this is a sad reflection on the state of our political parties and our own willingness to accept this distortion of electoral politics. Heirs are needed for fiefdoms and feudal estates not for parliamentary constituencies. When are we going to acknowledge this and move on?

If our political parties had remained in touch with the aam aadmi they would not need to inflict heirs on us. They would have political workers from the lowest level to the top who would have proved by their work and social concern that they were the right candidates for public life. They would not need to rely on genetic credentials.

My reflective mood is turning gloomy, so I am going to turn to a more cheerful thought. I am delighted with the manner in which voters have thrown out incumbent governments in Punjab and Uttarakhand. Not because I dislike the Congress or have any fondness for either the Akalis or the BJP, but because I believe that it is only when governments understand the power of the voter that they will give us more than the slipshod governance we have become accustomed to. Things will only change for the better when governments are kept on their toes by the fear of losing the next election.

... contd.