Salman Khurshid, senior Congress leader and current Union Law Minister, was forced to defend himself after reportedly making adverse comments about his party’s general secretary, Rahul Gandhi. In any other democracy, Khurshid’s remarks would have been accepted as part of a political party’s internal matter and, in some cases, the party leaders would have even reflected on his thoughts.

Not in India, and certainly not in the Congress party. Rahul, after all, is a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi “dynasty” and the Prime Minister’s post is often thought of as his for the taking. His father, his grandmother and his great-grandfather have all been India’s Prime Ministers, and in the party he represents, there is hardly any power centre, except for the one that resides at 10, Jan Path in New Delhi.