Leaders are not born. Birthright to leadership is a myth in the present-day world. Leaders are made. However, due to a twist of fate or destiny, those born into royal or political families effortlessly adorn the mantle of leadership, with or without the necessary skills and traits of leadership. Here, leadership is viewed as some family silver that can be passed on from one generation to another as part of ‘family inheritance’. This was a phenomenon when the world was ruled by monarchs. Even the stupidest of the offspring could be christened as heir apparent or the Prince of Wales. In recent times, the children of politicians have also begun to lay claim to and seize leadership as a matter of family right.

We need not step outside the geographical confines of the subcontinent to trace the history of sons and daughters, and, in at least two cases, daughters-in-law too, of politicians who have grabbed leadership positions, again regardless of either training or experience. It is only in Pyongyang that the process of transferring power within the family is portrayed as the ‘will of the people’—hence the ‘Kim family’ has been ruling since the end of the Second World War. All the Kims since 1946 have proved themselves to be some sort of political mavericks; to adopt this form of government, the need is not merely to have a dictatorship alone, but also one that is ruthless to the core. Being left with no choice, all North Koreans ‘love and adulate’ their leader.

In a democratic dispensation too, the mantle of leadership is transferred within the family, and this facet is not uncommon. There is, however, a slight difference. Those within the family who are thrust upon the masses as their leaders work hard to gain a place for themselves in their own right. Indira Gandhi was tutored and installed by her father, Jawaharlal Nehru; she trained Sanjay Gandhi and then she trained Rajiv, the elder brother, after their death; the two daughters-in-law, Maneka and the Italian Sonia Gandhi, emerged as leaders. The widows of Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka) and Gen Ziaur Rehman (Bangladesh) were catapulted into........

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