Wanted: An Orator Visionary!

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.