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WANTED: A Leader

WANTED: A Leader


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WANTED: A Leader

June 13, 2012 12:15 PM
By Deepak Parvatiyar
Do we really have any leader in our country who is above religion, caste, and sectarian politics and yet popular with the masses? Can you name any one name that is acceptable to the majority as a mass leader?
My question assumes significance in the wake of what we witnessed last week. First, at the Congress Working Committee meeting the delegates raked up the issue of inaccessible ministers (how can they be leaders if they are inaccessible?)
Yet, the most important issue was the lack of unanimity even within the ruling coalition itself over the choice of the next Presidential candidate.
Thereafter, the BJP’s Gujarat satrap Narendra Modi delivered a power packed punch to claim the scalp of his little-known-much-discussed and elusive bête noire Sanjay Joshi. (Can Modi be a popular prime minister that he aspires to be, with this type of vindictive mindset?).
Yet, the most important issue was the lack of unanimity even within the ruling coalition itself over the choice of the next Presidential candidate.
All these made me wonder whether we really faced a leadership crisis in our country or not.

One may say that Sonia Gandhi is still the most influential leader in the country. But isn’t she a reluctant leader? She is revered by her partymen but can she ever be identified with the comman man on the streets?
One may say that in parts, our Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh too is an influential leader. We all very well know our prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh as a technocrat. He is going to be one of the longest serving prime ministers in the history of our country. After his first stint as PM (that he was made by default), he was projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate in the last lok sabha elections that his party led UPA alliance won. But will he ever contest a Lok Sabha election to prove his mass appeal? I doubt it.
As I dug deep into the issue of leadership, many other names came to my mind. What about Arun Jaitley? Sushma Swaraj? But doesn’t Jaitley face the same dilemma that our Prime Minister faces on the issue of electoral politics?
So why not Swaraj? Can she win an election from Bellary? (Sonia had defeated her from Bellary in 1999). I don’t know.
LK Advani, no doubt was a potent Hindu leader but he is now sidelined in his own political party. The other name was that of Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam – our former President. He is hailed as the father of our missile technology and is widely respected for his simplicity. No doubt he is an exemplary figure. But is he a mass leader? I am not sure.

The true leader is a person who can lead at the cusp of change. Mahatma Gandhi was one such leader. So were Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Jai Prakash Narayan. They took the lead when a change was much desired. Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao too, proved their leadership qualities by leading from the front respectively on the issue of creation of Bangladesh, infusing technology, and liberating economy. The last of the Mohicans that I could think of was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who undoubtedly was among the most popular leaders of his time, respected by all for his oratorical skills, nuclear test (that finally rested all speculation about our nuclear capabilities), and the Kargil war.
Going by the same analysis, I thought Anna Hazare to be our next big leader when he took up the issue of corruption and sat on a fast at New Delhi’s Ramlila ground last year. He took on the government then but his subsequent failures to mobilize the crowd now put a question mark on his leadership qualities. Isn’t it a pity that nowadays he is far too much dependent for pulling the crowd on yoga guru Baba Ramdev – whose yoga is followed by millions but who himself fled the battle field to save his skin (not a quality of a good leader) when the police invaded his protest venue last year?
PS: I deliberately kept Rahul Gandhi out of this debate. Doesn’t he deserve a break after a heart-breaking performace of the Congress at the hustings in Uttar Pradesh?
Deepak Parvatiyar
Chief Media Advisor
Isha Creative Vision Private Limited
deepakparvatiyar@gmail.com

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