Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The Era of Pygmies - Indian Leadership

We live in an era where we have pygmies as leaders. There is not one leader in the public sphere in India who can inspire by his deeds, his ideas, thoughts. On the other hand most are tainted with scams, are power hungry, illiterate, lack wisdom and common courtesy, lack vision, people-focus, clear goals, ability, competence. They also lack convictions, transparency and will.

Almost every leader in every sphere is compromised. Short term gains, selfish gains, divisive policies, lack of discretion and vision, criminalization of politics, business-media-political nexus, the malaise runs deep. Who does one show to the children of today and say - look at that leader, you must be like him or her. I find no one who fits the bill. It's a crying shame that we have to live with this, be led by these paralysed and compromised leaders.

Look around you - politics, business, sports, public life. Who are the leaders? Why are they there if their integrity is questioned, if cases have been proved. We must take the blame for sending all the people who enter politics to preserve their ill gotten wealth, to cleanse their civil life with a white khadi cloth and a laal batti.

But I do hope that out of this vacuum will arise leaders of clarity, of action, of selfless sacrifice, of people-centric vision, of true power (i.e. love for the people). The irony is that we do not need giants to tower over these current bunch of pygmies, one only needs to stand straight and he or she will be head or shoulders above the rest. 

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