Here's Sonia, mother India

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />Pramod Mahajan and ilk take note. Sonia Gandhi need no more prove her Indianness. She has shown she is the quintessential ma, completely Hindustani in her loving choice of son as heir. Election 2004 is a thumbs down for gender equity. There are more heirs floating around than there are seats to be won.But, where are the daughters?<br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="35.6%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <br /></td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">Rahul Gandhi files his nomination in Sultanpur.</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">It hits you, when pictures of another Gandhi debut are beamed live. It''s a royal sight, one for the books. Hysterical crowds, flower petals raining, the gracious Gandhi Gen Next on an open jeep reaching out. Only it''s the wrong debut. The average Congressman has only now got over being thoroughly confused and begun on the analysis. Read his lips, it was Priyanka he wanted. Oh, he''ll settle for second best, but that is what Rahul is.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">And there she was, Priyanka in pink tossing flower petals on clamouring worshipers as they gathered at the foot of their jeep in Sultanpur; Priyanka smiling, waving; Priyanka completely overshadowing her older brother, the man of the moment. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Wait, they say, Priyanka will debut and what a debut that will be. When the Congress is better placed, when she can be queen. Excuses all. Fact is Rahul scored first, it was Rahul that Sonia wanted as political heir, Rahul who gets to contest from the family seat. You can''t blame Rahul, you can''t blame Priyanka, actually you can''t blame ma either. Look around, it''s the same everywhere. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">These elections are a mad scramble of the next generation seeking its pot of gold. Across parties. There is Mulayam Singh''s son and Rajesh Pilot''s son and Madhavrao''s son and Farooq Abdullah''s son and Jitendra Prasada''s son and Vasundhara Raje''s son and Jaswant Singh''s son. Then there are nephews by the fistful...innumerable dynasties in the making. Son rising is the catch phrase and discrimination against the girl child is very alive. </span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal">Daughters are not in short supply. Laloo Prasad Yadav has seven; Farooq has three and the only son gets the crown; Jyotiradtiya Scindia has a sister; so do Sachin Pilot and Jiten Prasada. Mulayam Singh Yadav, Jaswant Singh and Vasundhara Raje don''t, so they can be excused. <br /><br />Presumably, if the sons, brought up on a strict diet of urbane influences and western education have been able to imbibe all that political wisdom and ability, the daughters should have too. Yet, only K Karunakaran down in Kerala seems to have moved heaven and earth to ensure his 43-year-old daughter Padmaja Venugopal got a ticket. That too years after son Muraleedharan entered the political arena. And of course, the symbol of daughter-power - Mehbooba Mufti up north. <br /><br />It is puzzling because it can''t be a woman thing really. There are probably a record number of wives now contesting elections. And many political stalwarts pay daily obeisance at places like 10 Janpath, Sonia Gandhi''s abode, or then at Mayawati''s doorstep. "Beti Priyanka" is a fervent chant. But still no daughters. Not even from the Laloo Prasad Yadav household, where all power is domestic. <br /><br />An aside here: there is a lot to be said about the women in power. Most have made it without the customary leg-up from a doting father. Save, say Vasundhara Raje, and it was a loving mother there. Or Sonia, with greatness thrust upon her. The Uma Bharatis, Mayawatis and Mamatas are self made and proud of it. <br /><br />Now that dynastic politics has been accepted and even welcomed -- going by the hysteria that political novices whip up just because they are so and so''s children - there is no point in going on about giving a chance to the meritorious and all that blah. <br /><br />Young political aspirants in parties like the Congress have made their peace with the fact that they don''t stand a chance unless they do something about their surnames. A hunt is now on for surrogate fathers or godfathers. While they are at it, perhaps the pedigreed daughters - many of them married and with new, less less important names attached - could join them in protest. Did the Bard actually ask what''s in a name? <br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>