I know this is not a long list. And that I am writing this blog partly bcos of the hate that i have against the politicians. Without writing too much on why and venting my anger against them all, I thought it would be a good time to pick my set of leaders who I think could change the country, who seem honest, upright and hardworking! Not too many that I see.
1) Nitish Kumar : He might seem a stupid choice but I put him above all others partly because I am from Bihar. The condition of governance is the worst. Add to that the worst flood in a hundread years. This man is faced with the challenge not many poeple can take. To me, he really can do or should I say in some sense is the last hope Bihar has. People mock him but in him I do see real dedication and values that can take Bihar to a better condition if not the best!
2) Sheila Dikshit: Well in one sense of the term she is Miss India? Another person I really like for the work she has done in Delhi. I visited Delhi after 7 odd years for a couple of days and I could see the change in Delhi. To be very very true, I could not recognise half of the roads. Not because of the bad memory my friends relate me with but because of the flyovers above them. Of course it is not about flyovers and things. But yeah she has done a lot and ppl living in Delhi may not realise it but I was impressed!
3) Manmohan Singh: The best person in Indian politics. The reason why he is not the number 1 on my list is that he is too good. A prime minister needs to be sharp as the queen on the chess board and have the same persona that the queen has. He does enjoy the love of a lot of people but he is not “wicked enough”. I think that is the only difference between him and an Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Read his degrees and posts held, and if you can show me even one of those in your CV, you have the right to critisize him.
4) Rahul Gandhi : I have seen a few debates in the Parliament. I am impressed by the way he talks (if that is the reflection of the way he thinks). Just imagine yourself being the son of Rajiv Gandhi. Tell me ofa single son of an IAS or any other politician(1/10 the stature of Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi) who could be as low profile as him. But that is not the reason he is here. In him I genuinely have started to see a future leader of the country.
5) Chandrababu Naidu : Well Mr Hyderabad? or Mr I.T. He single handedly changed the way Andhra Pradesh used to appear on the India map. I think from whatever I know about him that he is one forward looking politician in India.
6) Omar Abdullah: A brilliant person. I admire the way he thinks about things. Leave a few things that he needs to talk out of political compulsions, but I genuinely believe that he is one of the people who could have a huge influence in bringing the people of Kashmir into the real mainstream of India. The way he talked during the No confidence motion was really great. It showed a person who was concerned about the country and not merely a state party representative.
7) Mani Shankar Aiyar: Wont say too much. He was a wonderful person. Did a lot for the country and I loved the way he used to function as the Petroleum minister of the country. Unfortunately the crude prices souring and him persuing the IIP pipeline meant an end ot his stint. But he did really well to try and make India’s future energy secure.
I know that many of you would like to put a lot more people, but in my list there is no place for communal dividers. (Narendra Modi would be a candidate if only he had no blood in his hands! I dont believe that he was clean.. But then how can I pass that judgement? L K Advani. I hate him more than any other politician. He is a double faced power corrupted and power greedy person.)
Just missed out! Praful Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Arun Shourie, Sitaram Yechury
6 responses so far ↓
1 Suryansh // Dec 15, 2008 at 2:50 am
How about Narendra Modi ? Discount the Godhra fiasco, I think he is the best administrator in the country without a doubt. To understand this, visit a government office in Gujarat and you will know what I mean ! Unfortunately, he is too xenophobic to be a PM but he is an administrator par excellence. Another good candidate is Dr. Raman Singh, Chattisgarh CM.
Also, no party in the country is secular. 1984 Sikh riots belong to Congress if Godhra belongs to BJP. Being communal is a fault with EACH and every political party in India. The communal riots have long been abetted by one party and exploited and given more fire by other parties. You can search the net for details of the action or rather inaction of each party .
About your list, Omar Abdullah is a great choice. His speech during the No-Confidence debate was one of the most inspiring speeches I have heard from any political leader in a long long time. Sheila Dikshit is good and she has really changed the face of Delhi. Sitaram Yechury would be good if only avoid blaming USA for all problems in India. Rahul Gandhi promises so much but has delivered little(rather zilch) for me to even think of him as a leader. He is just a good orator right now. Manmohan Singh, for all his qualifications, lost my confidence the day he supported reservations in graduate schools and extinguished one of India’s brightest spots. And yes, I do have the right to criticize him [:P]
2 nishantsah // Dec 15, 2008 at 5:22 pm
On the whole i agree to whatever you have said about parties being communal.
That is why we dont like ppl like jagdish tytler and others.
Manmohan Singh would have been the number one on that list! About the reservation thing, I do agree that Congress messed it up big time. I am not against reservation as such, but against reservation by caste. It should be solely based on the financial condition of the person.
He is in the list inspite of that incident!
Yechury missed out exactly because of the reason you pointed out. I could see him so correct and liked a lot of his interviews and views. But for the US rhetoric that the left cant get out. That too was because he is a party loyalist. I had the feeling that at his heart he knew there was some wrong!
Rahul Gandhi is indeed a future bet. I dont disagree to your observation (but then i did not find any other young person. Its like why facebook is valued at 15 billion dollars! The cashflows would probably not justify anything close… would it?)
I havent followed Raman Singh enough.. I am sure there are many other leaders who must be missing!
3 Amar Mainkar // Dec 15, 2008 at 6:17 pm
The list seems good, and I could not agree more with names like Chandrababu Naidu, Omar Abdullah and Manmohan Singh. The problem with some of the charismatic leaders is that they are not leaders of the parties they belong to. It is a major handicap that the people who pull the strings are actually unfit to lead the country. It hampers decision making because the state machinery does not look to them for leadership. It is also a source of discontent to young guys who might actually want to join politics. As some of the names here might be intellects in their own rights, their all round leadership at the helm of a nation is a suspect. But then again, they might never had the chance to show their talent and character and forced to resign to the shadows. I am reading a book, ‘In Spite of the Gods’, by Edward Luce, South Asia Bureau Chief of the Financial Times, that traces the author’s experiences with a myriad of ‘leaders’ from Narendra Modi to Lalu and Mayawati. The author successfully brings out the inertia that has encompassed the people and their ‘leaders’ and brings to fore the stark reality that none of them have an opinion on foreign policy, the Indian economy, the security of the minorities and the general law and order. The so-called leaders hold sway over the masses and the more intellect ones are left behind watching in despair as the electorate dances to the tunes of Ram Mandir, Reservations, Religious and Caste identities.
4 nishantsah // Dec 15, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Yes Amar your last point was a good one. But if these “charismatic” leaders that you talked about go about their business and let the people in the office let them do their work, it would be more than sufficient! Say for instance I believe strongly that Lalu was able to turn around the railways bcos in his first year he was busy with Bihar Elections. So the ppl in the Railway probably did everything. he din say or try to change their way of functioning. This turned out to be a success formula and Lalu latched on to it and let them function the way they thought was efficient!
May be he gave some broad outlines.. But then this is my own theory that I have cooked up
5 nishantsah // Dec 15, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Of course this is not the desirable thing!
6 Amit Khandelia // Apr 10, 2009 at 4:33 am
I agree with all your leaders but Rahul is not my choice. You may also add Mr. Modi to the list. Gujarat will soon surpass Mumbai and may become commercial capital of India, if you had been there and experienced the growth.
Well !! Even I was an admirer of Rahul but a person who has faked his degrees can not be looked upon as future leader of India. Atleast, not by name.
http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2009/04/rahul-gandhi-and-his-dubious-cambridge.html
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