Idols With Feet Of Clay!

This intriguing story involves some of India's top politicians worshipped as idols,

A LETTER WHICH APPEARED IN THE
OCTOBER 12, 2015 ISSUE OF
OUTLOOK MAGAZINE

but who in fact, had feet of clay.

Jawaharlal Nehru who pioneered dynastic succession in this country wanted to make his sister Vijayalakshmi, President of the republic. Overlooking the best and the brightest minds he made her ambassador earlier. In his lifetime, his sister, son-in-law and later daughter held important public offices.

The Lalus, the Mulayams, the Pawars, the Badals and all who discovered leadership and nation-saving qualities in their family members found an august precedence. And why not? If AAP's Ashutosh could find in Mahatma Gandhi's ascetic life, justification for the sexual misdemeanours of a colleague, the rest could justifiably explain away the vulgarity of their dynastic greed with perfect precedence.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who was already Vice President could not stomach the loss (of elevation). It appears, he had information that Nehru would not want made public. (Alvin Toffler was perhaps not born by then, but isn't information power?)

Radhakrishnan leveraged (a term of the information technology era; 'blackmail' would be crude!) the information he had about a sighting in Russia's freezing Far East. To cut a long story short, he was made President and all was well! The story had a happy ending!