Professional Documents
Culture Documents
nature and the quality of the democracy. There can be right or wrong democracy
depending on the nature and content of the leadership to carry the democracy forward.
None can doubt the success of the experiment of democracy in India. However, none can
swear on the quality of the democracy India has grown in its backyard. The problem lies
Leadership Culture
It is rather facile to contend that people in a democracy get the leadership they
deserve. It is specious in theory, but need not be necessarily true. Leadership of a country
s’orienter distinct from its people and perforce creates the leadership culture. It is true
about the USA, it is true about the success stories of democracy in European countries
and it is true about India. Though sittlichkeit, patriotism and intellectual calibre of the
people do have a bearing on such matters, it is the leadership culture that mostly decides
the nature of the leadership that emerges. People are just prisoners of this pernicious
limitation. Their will makes little difference in a preordained setup and given system.
India sadly lost in this vital department while building the edifice of its democracy.
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Multidimensional Leadership
Political leadership is its only one dimension though most important one and in that
effectiveness. Popular segment covers miscellaneous fields including films, cricket, other
sports, industries, science and research and similar professions. Leadership basically
functions as creators of the public opinion and ideally expected to lead from the front.
balances. USA showed it; major European countries lived it. An egregious Watergate
scandal pulling down the flamboyant presidency of Richard Nixon can happen only in the
democratic institution under the very nose of the royalty can take place only in a
European country like Britain. These are examples of right leadership evolving right
democracy.
India of the first half of the 20th century too showed right leadership in liberating
the country from the foreign rule. It was the combined thrust of the Indian leadership in
fields, intellectuals and patriotic elements in the administration working in tandem made
Independence made Indian leadership taste money, power and the luxuries of
serving the people and the endless possibilities its diverse permutations and combinations
provide. Nothing is like a mammoth lure and nothing is like a gargantuan greed.
Leadership in India appeared like an endless foison of opportunities to rob and grab.
Those who had the sinew and mental sturdiness to exploit jumped to the wagon in
streams and created a new set of leadership for India at the cost of the ancien regime
inspired by lofty ideals and guided by the motto of service. Corrupt and ruthless to the
core, the new leadership easily cornered the scrupulous old order in opportunistic
political games of money, power and muscle gained in the process. Leadership in the
milieu became nothing more than a daring massive investment for multifold returns, a
pure commercial venture. Crime paid. Deception and flamboyancy became sine qua non
for leadership. That is why leadership became a dirty word in India. And Indians as they
are, accepted the reality to the extent that they now think twice before accepting anybody
without the merit of a criminal past as their leader. It is more so in the leader of the
leaders segment of the politics. That is how Phoolan Devi or Pappu Yadav succeed as
leaders and Veerappans dream their glory in political leadership. Criminals constitute the
spine of the political leadership in states like Bihar and Uttara Pradesh.
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards he sets for himself. “Integrity
is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership” says Brian Tracey. “The prime
role of a leader is to offer an example of courage and sacrifice” says Regis Debray. This
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is rarely to be a case in the Indian leadership in whatever field. The reason is that the fall
in the political leadership perforce percolated into lesser fields and binged their
leaderships with similar mesquinerie and base pursuits. It is true of media, non-
both worked in the process. Though sparks of freedom and true leadership surfaced from
time to time in all these fields in the last six decades, they are far in-between to a country
of India’s size and diversity and mere isolated initiatives like fishes out of water and soon
died down literally and figuratively. The fallacy lies in apostasy, either for greed, or poor
accurately both reinforcing each other as models from one generation to the other.
However, true attempts at right leadership do exist here and there in all fields and they
are succeeding. This is important. This gives the hope of regeneration in the future.
Right Leadership
According to Dr.John C.Maxwell, a leader is one who knows the way, goes the
way and shows the way. He is the guide and philosopher to those below him. A leader is
the personification of trust to his followers. He is their hope and future. It is sin to let
them down to seek own ends. “A leader is a dealer in hope” said Napoleon Bonaparte.
W.H.Auden says, “No person can be a great leader unless he takes genuine joy in the
commitment to people and values, and ability to blend with their dreams. Right
leadership is ability to guide and lead people in right path. Leaders are models to others.
Self-seekers and criminals have no place in its scheme. Commercial angle has nothing to
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do with it. Sensationalism, claptrap and partisan approach never feed leadership qualities.
Leadership qualities flourish in right values, right decisions and right actions. Concern to
those below is its main mantra. All these key factors of the right leadership are thrown to
The celebrated Chinese Philosopher of the 6th century BC, Lao Tzu opines, “A
leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and
acclaim him, worse when they despise him”. Leadership is service au fond and exposure
comes only as a derivative. It is just the opposite in the extant Indian leadership where
service is a front and tool for exposures, self-aggrandizement, further boost upwards and
to that at all fronts. It no way fit in to the frame laid down by Harold J.Seymour for a true
leader when he says, “Leaders are the ones who keep faith with the past, keep step with
the present, and keep the promise to prosperity.” Extant variety of Indian leadership has
neither a past nor a future and only has a greedy present. Ca ira. No aberrations last in
Praveen Kumar
pryveen@yahoo.com
Bangalore