Folks! It's "Election time" in India. But, I would like to extend the phrase to "The Election Time Again." You may wonder why "Again" is so important. In reality, it's because of the number of times we have this "Election" taking place in our country. Regional Election, Panchayat board Election, and National Election to name a few. Schools, colleges, and offices are also not spared. They have their own elections. I would often think: For God's sake! How many elections do we have!..
Well, here are the facts about our national elections.
1. India spends more on elections. We all know this. They spend more than the US presidential election. I am converting from rupees to dollars. Still, India spends more.
2. Fewer educated people contest elections in most places.
3. Most people vote for the leaders. They personify the party's essence, transcending their roles as lawmakers. The problem is that most people don't know who MLA or MP is.
4. The number of people voting would be the highest ever recorded in the country's history.
I've identified these points as the most prominent ones upfront. A statistician would recognize many more points within them.
Credentials should be the basis for electing a person. You earn these credentials by public service over time. You earn them by listening and solving people's needs. By doing this, the person would become recognizable in a group. Afterward, he contests an election. People would accept him as their representative at a higher level. They would do so because of his good deeds. You'd now be thinking, what the heck, who's doing these things nowadays?
We Indians have grown accustomed to shortcuts. We have a lot of them. Shortcuts in keyboards, mathematics, and roads. Shortcuts can save time. Yet, using them, we often lose the main point. For instance, we use the shortcut in math to get the results faster. Now we get the right result. But, when the actual situation for these problems arises, it seems quite spooky. Our so-called leaders use the shortcut in our context. Mass media introduces them to people. Then, they gain stardom and run for elections. But, the right way is the other way around. Movie actors, rowdies, and religious figures dominate our leadership positions.
The need of the hour is a leader who is charismatic, and who can take the country forward for some years to come. I would say a leader like Nehru in the Indian context after independence. I have met no leader with Nehru's captivating presence. They were able to envision a united India. This is key for a prime ministerial candidate. A candidate from a regional party is not good at seeing the problems from a national perspective. Many divides exist in our country. Region, caste, and religion form the basis for them. They will hinder the rise of a true national leader. But for the betterment of the country, this has to happen in reality.
The quest for the national leader has begun. But, human history is peculiar. Leadership emerges only when we are in a crisis. This has always happened, and sometimes this fact seems strange. Martin Luther King Jr. faced the crisis of discrimination. Nehru and Gandhi fought for Indian independence. Hitler led Germany out of World War I's destruction. The US turned to Obama to help them out of recession. This crisis has not hit India till now, so will that mean we have to wait for the leader till the crisis strikes us? Or can we make history by bringing out the leader without a crisis? ..... ??
