In my last blog I said that India is in a leadership crisis and we need a leader but one question that comes to mind is do we deserve the leadership we have now or rather has the democratic system, the collective mechanism of choosing leaders failed in giving us a leader or is it we that have failed in choosing and electing the right leaders and hence are responsible for current leadership crisis that we find ourselves in.
Actually, there are two points of view that come to my mind. In a way I do feel that we have failed in choosing the right leader and have brought upon ourselves such a situation. We have the right to vote and are responsible and accountable for the government we elect and even be a part of it. The latter however may not be feasible for all of us but with a voter turnout of around 60% and dropping to 30% we don’t use our rights effectively and hence are responsible if goons get into the parliament. We are at fault. We have an active media that allows us to raise our voice and show collective leadership as in the case of Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Mattoo etc and more recently after the Mumbai attacks etc., where our collective action shook the upper echelons of the government and judiciary. Given that we have such powers and are unwilling to use it on a regular basis makes me feel that we deserve to be blamed for the leadership vacuum.
However on the other hand I have two questions, we have a right to vote but not the right to choose who we want to vote. I mean I am given a list of candidates where none may be worthy of selection, in that case am I to be blamed if we don’t have effective leadership. It’s like an MCQ with all wrong answers! Votes are also rigged, money and muscle power used, petty populism tricks are applied, passion are flamed in the name of religion, caste and vote-banks are created. We can’t always vote in a rational manner in such a situation. These are the two issues which make me feel I am not to be blamed for the mess.
All in all , I am a firm believer in democracy and believe that it is the only system of governance that has the avenues for self correction and believing on its ability to improve itself I think taking active part in this “system” as opposed to being passive observers is the best way to discover the next INDIAN LEADER.
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I think you are right in saying that we are resposible for the leaders we get. This stands very true for the educated middle class which does not participate in the election process actively. We tend to rely on the choice of others and then we find fault with them that they have not elected a good leader. I think the educated middle class should change its mindset regarding elections and actively take part in it. Then only leaders of integrity and character can be elected.Given the fact that the politicians can easily misguide the illeterate voters in the name of religion, caste or region, the middle class has a greater responsibility to shoulder without which we cannot achieve the goal of effective democracy.
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