16th May 2014. I would like to record this date when a turning point was set for India. When a change in true sense was initiated. 5 years on will it be? I hope it will. For too long the country has seen weak, indecisive leadership, leadership that has been content to project weakness for sake of its survival.
As a child, watching cricket it never ceased to amaze me how countries much smaller than India were able to turn out teams that would give India a thorough drubbing. It defied common sense that a country with 1 billion people should lose in its national game to a country with less than 10 million people. Did we not have good players? Did a wider base not mean more to choose from? Or was the system that selected at fault. It had to be the latter. A growing years found out, it was the case in not just cricket, but every sphere.
Leadership and administration qualities have been a good-to-have quality, rarely a must to take charge of the high offices of the land.
Perhaps this election has brought about that change...
It is interesting and almost re-assuring to see that change come from a party that has been otherwise labelled all sorts of unpleasant names. Despite all that here was a party that was able to step aside from the heirloom mould and pass the baton to a younger candidate on merit of his administrative calibre. India saw that and voted for him.
Which other party can claim to have done that? Not one I can think of...
The outgoing incumbent, the grand old party, one would have thought could have set this precedent - depressingly it failed to. A generation grew up watching a government sit on the sides as its ministers tore and abused the fabric of India's governance for their own ends. CWG games, 2G scam, coalgate. Was there a leadership at all?
In his recent book 'The accidental Prime minister' Sanjaya Baru wrote that no minister in the Manmohan Singh Government felt he owed his berth to the Prime Minister. Manmohan Singh himself had low respect for most of his minister's administrative capabilities barring 1-2 individuals. Think of a cricket team where the captain doesn't trust any of his players, the players do not have any respect for the captain, they run amok and when they do, Captain just sits and watches. Not what you would call a Government - a 'curse' is a better if strong word.
One hopes though, they can learn their lessons from this episode. The story from this election should not be a one off wonder that India occasionally gets lucky with. It should be that if you choose leaders that matter, leaders who can deliver, the country will choose you.
One hopes for parties to embrace this simple change - Choose its leaders on merit than tradition. Listen to the sentiment of the people, show that you listen and act decisively when you have heard it. That's it
In that change, is the longevity of Indian turnaround really possible. That is the turning point I hope this election will become.
As a child, watching cricket it never ceased to amaze me how countries much smaller than India were able to turn out teams that would give India a thorough drubbing. It defied common sense that a country with 1 billion people should lose in its national game to a country with less than 10 million people. Did we not have good players? Did a wider base not mean more to choose from? Or was the system that selected at fault. It had to be the latter. A growing years found out, it was the case in not just cricket, but every sphere.
Leadership and administration qualities have been a good-to-have quality, rarely a must to take charge of the high offices of the land.
Perhaps this election has brought about that change...
It is interesting and almost re-assuring to see that change come from a party that has been otherwise labelled all sorts of unpleasant names. Despite all that here was a party that was able to step aside from the heirloom mould and pass the baton to a younger candidate on merit of his administrative calibre. India saw that and voted for him.
Which other party can claim to have done that? Not one I can think of...
The outgoing incumbent, the grand old party, one would have thought could have set this precedent - depressingly it failed to. A generation grew up watching a government sit on the sides as its ministers tore and abused the fabric of India's governance for their own ends. CWG games, 2G scam, coalgate. Was there a leadership at all?
In his recent book 'The accidental Prime minister' Sanjaya Baru wrote that no minister in the Manmohan Singh Government felt he owed his berth to the Prime Minister. Manmohan Singh himself had low respect for most of his minister's administrative capabilities barring 1-2 individuals. Think of a cricket team where the captain doesn't trust any of his players, the players do not have any respect for the captain, they run amok and when they do, Captain just sits and watches. Not what you would call a Government - a 'curse' is a better if strong word.
One hopes though, they can learn their lessons from this episode. The story from this election should not be a one off wonder that India occasionally gets lucky with. It should be that if you choose leaders that matter, leaders who can deliver, the country will choose you.
One hopes for parties to embrace this simple change - Choose its leaders on merit than tradition. Listen to the sentiment of the people, show that you listen and act decisively when you have heard it. That's it
In that change, is the longevity of Indian turnaround really possible. That is the turning point I hope this election will become.
