MADRAS -- India's elections are sometimes compared to a circus. Some call it the greatest show on Earth. I prefer to call the national elections, the first phase of which began last week, the greatest "family show" on Earth.
Every sixth candidate in the electoral fray is there because a family member was in politics, and maybe still is. More than 100 families are ready to fight the electoral battle in 250 constituencies. All these candidates -- sons and daughters -- look at politics as an enterprise.
Take one name -- Gandhi. Few people today associate the name with the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who espoused nonviolence and truth as weapons to drive the British out of India. This name is now inexorably linked to the Gandhi family: the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; her son Rajiv Gandhi (also a prime minister, who was assassinated); his Italian wife, Sonia Gandhi; and their children, Rahul and Priyanka. Rahul is now a Congress Party candidate. So is his mother. Priyanka is still wondering when to jump into the ring.