The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly – Jim Rohn
The biggest lesson we learned from the recently held election in Manipur, as one believes, is you cannot take the public for granted. As Abraham Lincoln once said you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. As the dust of the Lok Sabha election settles down slowly in the muddy Imphal Valley, people are scratching their heads pondering what just happened. Truly, Manipur witnessed one of the biggest referendums yet, for a better society, which has never been seen in its political history. Surprisingly, the end result was what we all noticed that you just cannot bully all the people all the time.
The second, as great thinkers have told us, is that people are the ultimate source of the authority of the government. Unfortunately, they chose to forget it.
As the violent ethnic clashes entered 13 months this week with no end in sight, there was at least an expectation from the public that those in power should be able to present at least a credible proposal that brings a conclusion to the unrest. Regrettably, it didn’t happen. After all, whose fault it was? The public or the government? The choice is yours.
Now, as a democratic country, elections have to be conducted. People have to choose someone – either Bimol or Basanta or whosoever – who they believe is capable of doing something for the public. Again, there was man-made sectarianism called “us vs them” everywhere – a precedent that ultimately brought us to downfall.
The recently concluded election was not at all about BJP vs the Public or Congress for that matter, but rather an aspiration of the public who felt ‘enough’ of ‘wrongdoing’. This was a manifestation and pulse of that desire, which you can’t ignore anymore.
Without a doubt, there are still hundreds of thousands of people who believe in the ideology of the saffron party and its main rival Congress. But ideology can never override reality. What to say – stay strong and you will have your time one day.
