Searching for Leaders

Indians are looking for new national leaders. While it is easier to settle for state level leadership, building up national leaders is a difficult proposition. It was not always so. The freedom movement had been largely identified with the Indian National Congress, and the leaders of the Congress were naturally accepted as national leaders. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, all from the Congress, were accepted as national leaders. This easy acceptance was not only due to the pre-eminence of the Congress in the freedom struggle but also because the Congress was a very inclusive party, an ocean - as its leaders describe it even today. Perhaps a polluted ocean in keeping with the times.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first and only Prime Minister from outside the Congress to be accepted as a national leader. He has been perceived as a leader with a long history as a celebrated parliamenterian, who could see beyond the vision of his Bharatiya Janata Party. Lal Krishna Advani of the BJP is also a national leader but is seen as partisan, limited by his non acceptance by the minorities of India. However, mellowed by age, he is still the tallest national leader of the BJP.

Today, we have strong and undisputed leaders in many states of India. They have been tried and tested at their own state level. But none of them have wide acceptability outside their own states. Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi are two chief ministers who have wide visibility outside their fiefdoms. Both are from the National Democratic Front but placed at the extreme ends of the spectrum within the NDA. Both score high as administrators with development as their mantra. While Nitish Kumar still goes as a regional player with great national clout because of the number of MPs that his party has in Parliament, Narendra Modi is tainted by the communal riots of Gujarat even ten years after the incidents. Besides, he is increasingly seen as the totalitarian face of the BJP, specially after his detractor Sanjay Joshi has been pushed out to appease Modi. Totalitarianism, communalism, chauvinism are very much related to each other and feed on each other. Leaders who push out dissidents and competitors  from their organizations can be called bullies,  not strong leaders. Indians, having experienced parliamentary democracy for over sixty years, are not likely to accept totalitarian leaders. It is good to remember how we brought down Indira Gandhi from her pedestal after the emergency in 1977.

Congress does not have any chief ministers who can be called as of now to play any significant role as national leaders. The leadership of Rahul Gandhi is losing its charm. If and when Pranab Mukherjee moves to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Congress will be left with no national leader of eminence. There are capable leaders in the Congress but they have not been brought into the limelight. It is high time that the Congress high command facilitates the emergence of a couple of leaders who have a rapport with the people. Ministers like  P. Chidambaram may be technically effective but are far removed from the masses. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has led the country enough and ceased to inspire his countrymen anymore. Sonia Gandhi should not step into his shoes.

India requires a national leader who will command respect and  admiration from all sections of people and from all regions. A strong leader, yes. But his or her strength should not come from narrow considerations of ideology, region or religion. She or he should have a broad base of support and an even broader vision for India. A vision that is inclusive, very broadly inclusive to embrace the diversity of India with her numerous regions, languages, cultures, religions, rural and urban populations, tribal and marginal peoples, etc. In this respect, my model continues to be the first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, whose understanding and breath of vision has been covered in the pages of his ‘Discovery of India’. Unity in the midst of diversity.

Any leader who does not tolerate dissent and who has totalitarian tendencies can never rule over a nation like India. He will either destroy the nation or destroy himself. As Indira Gandhi said after much experience, “I suppose that leadership at one time meant muscle; but today it means getting along with people”.  India is a nation with a long history, a nation that is awake, and moving forward in spite of odds galore. Our national leader has to embrace the diversity of India, whatever may be his personal beliefs and convictions. A person for all shades and seasons.

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 17.06.2012