India waits for a leader worthy of India

                                      India waits for a leader worthy of India

The Lal Quila address by the Prime Minister and the Lalan college address by the PM-in-waiting have satisfied the media’s hunger for topics for debate that have more hype and less substance. Every channel with their anchors looking profound, wise and omniscient along with their favourite celebrity speakers debated as to who the victor and who the vanquished was in this battle of words. As in the case of all TV fights, this also ended with no clear cut winner at the end of the debate, leaving the viewer clueless and confounded as to whether s/he is deficit in grasping such imponderable wisdom from the anchors and the speakers. The fatigue of listening to the same voices speaking for and against Modi’s rant and PM’s pedestrian address reflected the inanity of the TV debates.

The important fact glossed over by everyone of the debating squad was the PM had neither thrown nor picked up the Modi gauntlet. He had a duty to perform- to address the nation on Independence Day and inform the nation about the actions initiated and to be initiated by his government. PM’s address to the nation on Independence Day was tuned to the occasion that called for restraint, sobriety and being politically correct.  The PM’s delivery could have been a little more passionate to inspire the million ears tuned to their TV and Radio sets, but that did not diminish the temper and content of the address in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion.  It was Modi who had challenged him to a debate but even he had not said where the Big Fight is to be held as neither Lal Quila nor Lalan college could fit the bill. For that matter, Modi had not even tossed the coin as to who should elect to speak first and who should listen. The PM had a duty to hoist the flag at the same time it had been hoisted for the last 66 years to be followed by a national address. Modi could only second fiddle him an hour later. But Modi chose to take advantage of being number two(only on this occasion with the hope of becoming number one soon) and target the PM and rip apart his speech as though the debate he had mooted was on and he had to dent the PM’s punch.

The fact is the issue of debate was not on the PM’s card.  In fact, Modi fondly addresses the PM as ‘maun Mohan Singh’ and so how can there be a debate with a ‘maun’ opponent? So the question arises was there a debate at all?  Two speeches were delivered from two different platforms- one by the PM of the nation and the other by a CM of one Indian state. Why then was the unseemly TV furore to decide as to who of the two drew the first blood? PM, by nature reticent, had not responded to the leonine roar from the Gir forest.

Modi’s acerbic speech was reminiscent of the Panchatantra story of the lamb and the wolf. “Once a wolf was drinking water at the head of a stream when he saw a lamb drinking water from the same source down at some distance. The cunning wolf began to think of an excuse for attacking the gentle lamb and eating him. So he shouted down at the lamb, "How dare you make the water dirty I am drinking?"
"You must be mistaken, sir," said the poor lamb gently. "How can I be making your water dirty, since it flows from you to me and not from me to you?"
The wolf began thinking cunningly of some other ruse in order to make an issue and get a justifiable excuse to kill the lamb and eat his delicious flesh.
"Do you remember having applied all sorts of contemptuous and even abusive epithets to me, just a year ago?" said the wolf to the innocent lamb.
"But, sir," replied the lamb in a trembling voice, "I wasn't even born a year ago."(In PMs words to Modi : “You weren’t anointed one year ago.”)
"Shut up, you fool," shouted the wolf again. "Do you think I'm a fool? If it was not you then it must have been your father, who abused me long ago.” "At the most, I can apologise on behalf of my erring father if he at all ever did so," pleaded the lamb trembling.
"I think you're the kind of fellow who first commits a sin and then tries to argue it out. Let me teach you and your family a good lesson", saying this, the wolf jumped upon the poor lamb and tore it to pieces and ate it.

Our all knowing wise men and women in the TV studios forgot to see the clipping of the flag hoisting at Lalan college that was ad nauseam shown by all the channels.  Modi was seen how much he was in a hurry as he ferociously tugged at the rope holding the flag and wouldn’t wait for the assistant to draw the flag up as he pulled it a second time almost like a lion attacking its prey. Modi had no time for grace, etiquette and dignity such a momentous occasion of hoisting the tri-colour called for. He showed himself to be a man in a hurry to reach the mike and start his attack.

A lot of words were exchanged between the panelists regarding the choice of language and Modi’s sweeping swipes at the PM. It was unfortunate that the pro-Modi clan chose to remain deaf to his charge that “ Aap ek parivar ki bhakti mein itna doob gaye ho ki desh ki 125 crore ki janata ko bhool gaye ho” (You are so busy in the service of one family that you have forgotten 125 crore people of the country).  Even they would have inwardly squirmed at their idol’s words. The worst gaffe by Modi was that his speech would be first he ard in Pakistan and reach Delhi later. When he repeatedly thunders  that there should be no talk between India and Pakistan, why does he want Pakistan to hear him first?  Is he a megalomaniac to think of becoming the PM of Pakistan also?

Here is a story that our ambitious and ruthless politicians belonging to all parties should know. This is from Gottfried Lessing’s play Nathan der Weise(Nathan the Wise) which is a parable of three rings to bring about religious cohesion among Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Nathan a wise Jewish merchant was asked by Sultan Saladin as to which religion was true. Nathan narrates to him a parable about an heirloom ring that had the magical quality to make the owner of the ring pleasant in the eyes of God and mankind. This ring was passed on by the father to his most beloved son generation after generation. Once it happened that a father had three sons whom he loved equally and promised the ring to each one of them. So he made two replicas of the ring and gave the three to them without identifying which one was the genuine one. The brothers quarreled over who had the original till a wise judge admonished them saying that it was impossible to tell which was the original - as it was quite possible that all three were replicas and the original could have been lost.  To find out whether one of them had the real ring, it was up to them to live in such a way that they could prove their ring's powers by living a life that is pleasant in the eyes of God and mankind rather than expecting the ring's miraculous powers to do so.

Can we hope for a miracle that will give us leaders who will act worthy of the great Nation that they dream to serve!