Buy One, Get One Free

                                                              Buy One, Get One Free

I hope Hillary Clinton accepts my slogan Buy One Get One Free as she seeks entry for a third time into the White House. Her first two times at the White House were as FLOTUS(First Lady of the US) and there has been an interval of eight Obama years  before her present attempt to gain entry this time  into the West Wing of the Presidential mansion( as the East wing will be for the First Gentleman of the US or for the First Laddie of US as Bill would like to be called so that the acronym FLOTUS is retained).  US known for its advertising and marketing strategy cannot imagine a better slogan for Hillary’s presidential candidature than this one- (even if this sounds a vain boast). During the last three days of the Democratic convention, there were three powerful endorsement for her candidature from a former President(Bill Clinton), the serving President(Obama), the current FLOTUS(Michelle Obama) and Hillary’ daughter(Chelsea)making it partly a family endorsement and partly a Presidential endorsement.

With the breaking of the glass ceiling at this highest level, US will be the first to reverse the famous saying: Behind every successful man is his woman. Bill Clinton’s emotional speech layered with vignettes from his personal and professional life with Hillary in tow and his effusive praise of his wife as the “darn game changer” is a testimony to the robustness of the American family and culture. Their only child Chelsea introduced her Mom as my mother who “never ever forgets who she is fighting for.”  Chelsea with great pride spoke of her mother, “She's a listener, a doer. She is a woman driven by compassion, by faith, but a fierce sense of justice and a heart full of love. Come this November, I'm voting for a woman as a role model and a mother- a woman who has spent her entire life fighting for families and children. I'm voting for the Progressive who will protect our planet from climate change, who will reform our criminal justice system, who knows that women's rights are human rights, and who knows that LGBT rights are human rights. Here at home, and around the world, I'm voting for a fighter who never ever gives up and who believes we can always do better when we come together and work together. I hope that my children will someday be as proud of me as I am of my mom. I am so grateful to be her daughter. To everyone watching here at home, I know with all my heart that my mother will make us proud as our next president”.

 This was a powerful counterbalance to Ivanka Trump, Chelsea Clinton's friend who introduced her father, Donald Trump, at the Republican National Convention last week. And combined with Bill Clinton's speech, it again underscored that both nominees' best surrogates in the 2016 campaign are often their family members. Hillary in turn said that she would put her husband in charge of fixing the US economy as he knows what he is doing. Can we ever imagine any of our politicians stating that s/he would place her/his close relative in

high position? In fact, even a chief minister like Kejriwall in Delhi cannot  ask for an officer of his choice, leave aside asking for any relative or favourite to be given important position. Hillary’s plea with the US voters was similar to buy one, get one free- vote me and vote us both.

Not even once has there been a criticism about dynastic politics as what matters for the Americans is the quality of the person to ascend to the highest office. If the quality is missing, the climber falls even before reaching the first rung of the ascent to the highest office.  Unlike in India, the second largest democracy next to US, it matters little if one’s credentials are bolstered by his/her family name. Five and a half decades back John F. Kennedy came into the White house with a charisma unparalleled in the world. When his tenure was tragically cut short, Americans enthusiastically welcomed his brother Robert Kennedy to make a bid for Presidency. It was the most poignant moment when he too was shot. Edward Kennedy, the third brother was approached but he declined and remained a powerful Senator till the end. His eulogy of his brother Robert is once again a testimony of how Americans bond un- self consciously with their families. After half a century, we see a repetition of family bonding in Bill’s advocacy of his wife as a worthy person to step in when Obama finishes his term. The               President and the first lady stole the thunder at the democratic convention with their powerful speeches in support of Hillary Clinton.  The President humbly said that “ I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman — not me, not Bill [Clinton], nobody — more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.” It is difficult to imagine any politician in India at the time of relinquishing his office( though no one never wishes to quit) speaking with such humility, modesty, without ego and envy about his/her successor.

What a difference between our attitude to politics that sneers at the intrusion of family regarding politics as a haloed public sphere! It is indeed a measure of that distinction that most of our PMs were either bachelors or widowers, starting with Pt. Nehru to Morarji Desai  and now to Narendar Modi while others like Lal Bahadur Shastri, Chandrasekhar, Charan Singh, shied away from bringing their wives into limelight. Even Mahatma Gandhi is often spoken as the Father to the nation and a stranger to his sons. So when dynastic rule is even covertly attempted, Indians protest vehemently.  We hear the oft bandied Sanskrit phrase  ‘Vasudeva kutumbakam’(The world is one family) The concept originates in the Vedic scripture Maha Upanishad (Chapter 6, Verse 72): अयं बन्धुरयं नेति गणना लघुचेतसां उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकं (ayam bandhurayam neti ganana laghuchetasam udaracharitanam tu vasudhaiva kutumbakam)

which means  “Only small men discriminate saying: One is a relative; the other is a stranger. For those who live magnanimously the entire world constitutes but a family.”

No wonder we frown upon dynastic politics that is at a premium in Indian democracy. And yet, Indian family is mostly a bonded family. The parental umbrella over their wards is never closed and parents scrimp and save for their children to inherit a tidy fortune. Family inheritance is never frowned upon by all those outside the family but when it crosses the threshold of the home and comes into public sphere, it loses its heritage status for the family to lay its claims. This is a recent phenomenon. In my younger days, family honour and preservation of family pride was of great importance. I was proud to be my father’s daughter to follow in his footsteps. Today any claim to one’s achievement has to be that of the  individual,l lest the society should attribute it to the family’s influence and contacts. Indians have become very self conscious to speak about their families – in particular if the families are well placed.  The politician who grooms his son to succeed him is castigated for promoting dynastic politics. Such is the antipathy for dynastic policies that even Pt,.Nehru and his daughter have often been shaken from their iconic pedestals. The Mahatma is praised for he was a Father to the nation and a stranger to his sons.  For the Indian, the unwritten law is dynasty and democracy do not go together. When the offspring of a politician stakes his claims to follow in his parents’ footsteps, he is ridiculed and assailed with patriotic cries “Monarchy est mort, vive le Democracy(Monarchy is dead; long live democracy)”.

 Well, America is America; India is India. The two democracies do not meet.