True leaders lead, inspire trust, focus on people. “To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion,” says Swami Vivekananda. At cross-roads today, India needs to pick the right leadership and regain its faith in ‘Satyameva Jayate’.
Kanchan Banerjee
True leaders lead, inspired by their beliefs, which form a religion on its own
Yes, it’s ideas trapped in the minds of most powerful humans that have liberated the world forever. Good and bad. Hitler and Mandela: one wanted to enslave, the other to free. Einstein wondered if future human societies would be wandering in posterity if not for Mahatma Gandhi.
2013 celebrates the 151st anniversary of one of the greatest sons of India, Swami Vivekananda. The world is yet to fully understand his contribution to the global ‘freedom’ phenomenon India indeed, was enslaved politically and culturally by foreign forces, for over 1000 years. Vivekananda inspired a new generation of Indian leaders, who worked on an overdrive, to earn freedom. And, that struck a chord around the world, unleashing a chain reaction.
On 4th July 1776, the West encountered its first dawn of freedom after the American Revolution. Mankind witnessed a new era of freedom and democracy. British imperialism ended in the Indian sub-continent, after around 200 years. Indian freedom actually inspired many other nations, globally. Greatly inspired by Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. worked for the freedom of the enslaved ‘blacks’ in America. President Nelson Mandela too was deeply inspired. Even President Obama personally acknowledged the influence of Gandhi, MLK and Mandela.
One may not see a direct link. But this is how the world works – in mysterious ways! The power of thoughts travel faster than light and influence the world.
Sadly, India, the land of Dharma, is perhaps at the lowest end of the ladder of ethical societies! India needs to regain its faith in ‘Satyameva Jayate’ (truth alone triumphs). But how? India needs a change in leadership. Fact is – for 67 years India has been politically free, but, is India mentally free from its past? Free fom the baggage of invading cultures? Are Macaulay’s ‘brown sahibs’ still managing the affairs of India?
Frankly, it’s not just a crisis. It is a country at cross-roads between total extinction and a new beginning! Historically, rejuvenation always follows after a downfall. It is inevitable that India will bounce back.
Who will be India’s Mandela, MLK, Gandhi, Sardar Patel or Subhash Chandra? In poet Rabindranath Tagore’s words – “Into ever-widening thought and action; into that heaven of freedom’, let my country awake”.
India is actively waiting for the right leadership now. Swami Vivekananda said: “To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.” Who is that person, whose religion is the welfare of the people of India? And, Indians must have an answer soon, if they are really serious about their welfare!
