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Monday, September 19, 2011

Vacuum and Race for the top job in New Delhi !!

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4 years after, the position is still vacant, open almost pleading to be filled. The recent world cup victory and the Anna Hazare movement did gave platform to some hardworking and committed individuals to give us, the mortal countrymen some sense of direction.

I strongly felt and still thinks the same that its time our honest and learned PM should step down now.

Well then the question remains if not Dr.Singh than who else ?

Is it lack of my knowledge or a truth, but if its a truth, even if partial one, how it can be partially true even? We are talking about 1.2 billion, i.e 1200000000 people ! Ok, you might argue, with the same number of people, we barely managed 1 Gold in Olympics in past 50 years (remember the guy !?), but lets park that thought aside for the time being and focus on the VACUUM for the TOP JOB !

What qualities are we looking for? Track record of performance, integrity, national appeal (which is a combination of various factors), ability to take strong/necessary/timely decisions despite differences, ambiguity. Are we asking for too much?

We are and will remain proud of our cultural diversity, but is this vacuum caused by nurturing too much of diversity without much unity for far too long ! Are we mistaking ego for proud and cultural idiosyncrasy as the only way to promote our identity?

Some say - Politics is the art of compromise ! But how much is too much? For how long ca
n we allow a leader hide his inabilities behind the compromise called as coalition ? And by the way who decides how much of the compromise is sufficient? And we think we are a democracy !!


Its a no brainer that Congress failed miserably to rediscover itself outside the shadow of Gandhi family. I really doubt how much Jairam Ramesh or Manishankar Aiyyar really appreciate the crown prince, but like Pranab Mukherji or Sharad Pawar, they know that they dont fair well on the criteria we discussed above and will not be considered seriously for the top job. So they are left with no option but praise, persuade, defend and promote the desi royal family.

The opposition has shown equal bankruptcy of ideas. They have not been able to gather momentum on their own in past 7 years and how can they hope to without trying, without doing significant ever. No matter what they say and speak but we the people can read the real intentions behind the 3 day Air conditioned glamorous fast using our own money. Even the proposed Rath Yatra is irrelevant, out of context, desperate attempt to gain some short l
ived publicity so as to get some banners which they can enamor for rest of their lives.


The Entertainment field (which includes media, sports and arts) has been a
better performing section comparatively. We have had several internationally recognized icons, who are good at heart and has also gained mass appeal especially in past 20 years. Unlike west, Indian Entertainment industry is still in its infancy. We might have to wait for some more years before we get our own versions of Rupert Murdoch or Donald Trump. Not that I adore everything West does, but a mature entertainment industry will increase the options for us and we like options ain't it.


Coming to my favorite segment, the Industry. Here we have lot more to look upon to. Real hardworking, self made people, who created empires out of nothing, not just generating employment and revenue but nurturing lot of ideas, hope, aspirations, and dreams. Leaders from industry has been playing decisive role in policy making of not just India but any nation which ever existed anywhere. I believe Business is the next most important thing after gravity for a life form called as the humans !



The failures (partial or total) of the three above gave birth to a fourth section. The sector which represents Mangomen. Surprisingly it existed for quiet a long time now, but we Indians took 60 years to realize the significance and power of this section, i.e the Civil society. Please don't think for an iota of second that the picture below represents the Civil society completely. For that matter none of the pictures used in this article represents that section exclusively. Coming back to the Civil Society, The first half of 20th century the world got busy in testing the power it got from the advancement of science and technology. After World War II, we gained independence and we the civil society got busy in recreating
all that was destroyed. In the process we became consumers, unintentionally self obsessed and indifferent towards anything which was not affecting us that particular day. Some of us however chose to rebel and fought with the governments we elected and quiet surprisingly for us. Ironical isn't it ! We heard them speaking but never cared to listen attentively. Anyways, better late than never. Some of these commoners went on to achieve uncommon feats, shook our conscious, faced hardships but kept on working for our benefit, relentlessly. These are not common people any more. They gained the respect and most importantly our time and attention which they always deserved. All of us the 'Argumentative Indians' had opinions about the other 3 sections discussed above, but somehow our opinions rarely mannered. But now this newly emerged forth section, empowered by technology, armed with information and public support can very well become our bridge to the rest. Once again I am not even suggesting that we should stop thinking and acting altogether but we need to unite, we need to channelize so as to make sure that things happen for us, the way we like, the day we want.

So, while the race is on but the vacuum is clearly visible. My short list for the top job would be Dr.Jayprakash Narayan, Rahul Gandhi, Arun Jaitley, Dr.Narayan Murthy. What's yours?



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Image sources - via Google. Collages -thyself !

8 comments:

  1. That's a great article. You did a lot of analysis...I don't have favorites, I stay away from it...Great post, I am still reading few lines in between again and again...:)

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  2. tried to analyze a bit Saru. Thanks for the comments. Hope you enjoyed the article and Collages too :)

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  3. Good analysis. Work has paid off well in this article. 1) Good analysis, 2) Good collages.
    I don't know whom to choose. I know for sure whom not to choose Rahul Gandhi!

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  4. thanks SS. Well Rahul is not my favourite either, but I think coalition dharma and lack of any other national figure will force the NDA to go with the crown prince probably. That's the irony and tragedy of the world's largest democracy on paper! So I think its time we the people start thinking beyond UPA and NDA asap, so that new leaders can get the space to come forward and perform.

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  5. Well NItin.. I enjoyed reading your analysis... whats more intersting was you tried to cover most of the happening sectors. One prominent missing sector is education... i m not trying to be critique..)
    Any ways.. for sure most of the youth doesnt want to see one more gandhi in the top position.. I think we need a CEO for 5 years to run this country so that all mis deeds done till today is washed and put India on development tracks...

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  6. Hi Naveen. Thanks for the comment. Well I think Education can be considered part of the industry or social service sector, the way you look at it. I dont think we need a CEO for 5 years and everything will be alright in 5 years, but the moot question, despite of having so much diversity, complexity, freedom and democracy we cant find 10 leaders of national stature, credibility and ability to take things forward !

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  7. Very insightful indeed; you have dissected the issue well...I wish i could add a few names to the list but seems like when it comes to leadership, we have few options...sad indeed for a democracy of our size...

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    Replies
    1. really sad state of affairs...I guess hung parliaments are a result of absence of any nationwide acceptable leaders !

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