A friend of mine
recently shared an old video of famed Marathi literary write P. L. Deshpande
(Pu. La.) and former Prime Minster of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Both of them
were attending a public function to celebrate life and works freedom fighter
V.D. Savarkar (Veer Savarkar) in Pune. The video doesn’t have a date on it but
based on reference to Shahabano verdict by Pu. La. I think the function took
place in later part of 80’s. That decade was full of upheaval. The
democratically elected dictatorship of Indira Gandhi, met ghastly end, rise of
Rahul Gandhi Version 1 i.e. Rajiv Gandhi and his subsequent fall, rise of
Mandal era along with coalition politics. On the international front, India was
to lose thousands of soldiers in ill-fated IPKF mission and the Kashmir
terrorism was about to enter the bloodiest phase. In short, the decade
highlighted the complete political and ideological failure of Indian leaders.
The function was a treat
to ears and to the soul. On one hand was a literary giant whose positive impact
on Marathi is unquestionable. However, in this context, his other quality – he was
a free thinker who did not let the traditions or social norms restrict his mind
was in full galore. And then there was Vajpayee ji – who obviously need no
introduction - a true leader, a true statesman, a true visionary and a true
politician who always played politics for the sake of betterment than
self-enrichment. But the most important characteristic of these two individuals
was that they were orators of highest quality.
One more point to note
from the perspective of their views on Savarkar – Pu.LA was avowed atheist and
Vajapayee ji , theist who strongly believed in cultural norms, traditions and
history. It is a testament to Savarkarian thoughts that in spite of coming from
opposite spectrum both Pu. La. and Vajapayee ji could seamlessly paint a
narrative on Savarkar.
These two giants
played a role of a leader through their oratory. On the stage, both of these individual not only succinctly captured
life and thoughts of Savarkar but they also presented solutions of current
issues that India was facing.
One of the key feature
of a leader is his / her ability to educate and inspire the masses. Pu. La. and
Vajapyee ji weaved the essence of Savarkar’s ideology and philosophy with
current issues in simple terms and forced audience to introspect. Some folks
are just born good in oration. It comes natural to them. Others have to work on
the skill. From the perspective of leadership is not only essential but it is
the hallmark of a leader. There are two key qualities a leader should possess –
one, to synthesize information, map it to their experience and then see the big
picture correctly. And second, it’s their duty elucidate an idea to the masses
in inspiring words – the idea that for most purposes is incomprehensible to
most. Add years of experience and the words gain weight of wisdom.
India was full of such
leaders in 80’s and 90’s. Oration was mandatory in political circles. Whether
it was chaste Hindi of Vajapayee ji or Advani ji or Bihari Hindi Lalu, holding
tens of thousands of people spell bound was quite common. But something
happened in last decade and half and suddenly there is absolute dearth of
orator leaders. Apart from notable exceptions like L. K. Advani, Narendra Modi
and Sushama Swaraj I don’t think there is any political leader left in India
who can mesmerize the crowd. Sadly this speaks to the sorry state of current
politics.
I remember going to a
general election rallies in my hometown. The rally featured both L.K. Advani
and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Unfortunately, Vajyapee ji couldn’t attend but Advani
ji spoke for more than half an hour without any notes or prompting. I couldn’t
even see him from where I was standing. But his elocution, his impeccable
command on Hindi and his vision for our country transfixed me. His words were
full of integrity, character and truthfulness. It was an election rally so
general political gimmicks were obvious yet he managed to present an idea on
how we can achieve greatness as a nation A person with incorruptible character,
his words carried weight of his achievements. I have watched many of Vajpayee
ji’s videos yet I still rue my misfortune of not listening to him live.
The current ruling
party, it should rather be called as ruling mafia, lacks public speakers of
even rudimentary caliber. This is not only because majority of these folks do
not know what to say unless prompted by high command but also because they do
not have anything worthwhile to say. They have achieved nothing and they have no
principals but to sit at the feet of high command. They do not have any
experiences that can enrich anyone’s life and they do not have any vision to
inspire anyone. They know they do not serve the people but rather rule them.
Have you heard of any of the British rulers or viceroys being great public
speakers? No, because they never had to. They ruled us, we were their slaves.
You don’t need to lead your slaves; you don’t have to inspire them. You don’t
have to make their life better. All you do is to make sure they work hard,
punish them if they don’t and crush them if they try to be independent.
In 80’s and early
90’s, the Congress leaders at least had decency to make tall claims in public
rallies. I remember Rajiv Gandhi making grandstanding statements like ‘Garibi
Hatao’. They would lie but at least had guts to stand in front of
people to do so. Now, they simply publish a press report or plant fake, paid
news through the newspapers. The Rahul Gandhi show is such a sorry state in
spite of ‘arranged’ positive press coverage, that people are simply ignoring it.
Gone are the days of political gimmicks where one of these Gandhi would at
least sweat in sun to lie in front of crowd. Yesterday government proceeded to
publish a laughable report about how poverty has been reduced in last six
years. Our ‘economist’ Prime Minster did not even bother to talk about it. Of
course, he is timid and mute but still quite clever. So instead of actually
reducing poverty by raising income, standards of living, education and health
index etc. he simply changed the definition of poverty. So now, only beggars
are officially below poverty but if you are working and yet struggling to
provide even basic food to your family or send kids to a decent public school
where they can actually learning something then tough luck folks, you are
fucked! Didn’t you read the report?
I digressed but I
can’t stop myself from ranting about current state of Indian government. My
point is that political situation in India is so dire that there is a serious
want of good leader who is a visionary, a well-read and accomplished
individual, who knows how India breaths, who knows our history, our culture,
who can lay out our problems, treat all of us like sensible individual, who can
enthrall a crowd with his oration, who can lay-out our future and then lead us.
Mod ji, we definitely,
certainly, unquestionably, 100% need you.
