A Macaulay mindset that suited Mrs DMs

The sola topees may have left the country in 1947, but their vestiges never really checked out. And we're not obsessing about The Phantom of Macaulay playing at an opera house near you. For 165 years, UP law automatically made a district magistrate's wife Zilla Mahila Samiti president. Because leadership, as Rabri Devi knows, apparently runs in the marital surname. Thankfully, the Supreme Court has finally nudged the state to scrap the rule, exposing the notion that a better half can do a good job no matter her qualifications, or the lack thereof. But it's a peculiar romance. Many state governments seem to be devoted to colonial vestiges - as long as these relics keep power snugly within the corridors of, well, power. But mention that it's a colonial legacy, and suddenly headless chickens want the 'problem' urgently corrected. Love it when it helps, hate it when it embarrasses.

The UP government has promised a bill, with the apex court setting a firm 2-mth deadline. But, till then, petitioner Bulandshahr Zilla Mahila Samiti will savour the last taste of colonial privilege by appointing the DM's wife as its boss. Once the new law arrives, leadership will be determined by - OMG! - merit. As penitence for its 'Macaulay mindset', don't be surprised if the UP government goes on a postcolonial (both Mughal and British) renaming spree of places.