Apathetic Leadership

Dr. Rajesh Bhola
India
Jan 04, 2013

 

 In the Bhagvad Gita, Lord Krishna, at the time of delivering the historical ‘gyaan’ to Arjuna—being his ‘Sarathi’—vowed to take all beings with him to the other shore. What did he imply? If the other shore was not the abolition of suffering in this world, then what was it? What sort of new world was the Lord trying to create?

The ‘Gita Saar’ is summed up by two key adjectives – ‘noble’ and ‘true’. An enlightened person is not someone who has no personal problems, and certainly not someone who never suffers. To stand on the other shore is not so much to go to a different world, but to see this world from a different standpoint.  The Lord is not telling Arjuna that, ‘This world is terrible, let me help you escape from it’. He is saying, ‘Come and look at it this way, and you will have a quite different and much more satisfactory experience’. Arjuna saw the light and said, ‘When I am enlightened, all beings are enlightened with me’. The enlightened see the noble truth of others’ lives.

Today we need such people as leaders – people who can listen deeply, and hear the cry in the common person’s heart. That cry expresses a deep and universal truth. The ‘speech’ given by Manmohan Singh, to assuage the feelings of a grievously hurt people against the gang rape of a 23 year old woman, was listless and lacked connect. He spoke words without any display of feelings. Being the father of three daughters, why did it take him so long to speak on the issue? His statement sounded ‘empty’; his daughters are hardly at risk. The speech of the PM should have been more noble and authentic, and should have sounded more heartfelt. It seemed to lack genuine empathy. The government appears to have become indifferent and unresponsive. The lack of energy in speech, and the lack of genuine interest in handling issues related to others, is now a generic problem of the political class. Today’s politicians lack the ability and desire to communicate directly with ordinary people, to strike a chord with them. Can leaders not feel the pain and torment of the ordinary citizen? 

Lord Krishna was not saying, ‘When I am free from suffering all beings are free from suffering.’ He was saying, ‘When I am noble and true, all beings are noble and true’. A noble person, what we expect our ideal leader to be, is one who sees the nobility of others – the courage of ordinary lives. The leadership should have publicly acknowledged the unrelenting courage displayed by the victim and her friend, and should have immediately responded to their needs in their hour of physical and emotional trauma – as they would have done if the victim was their own daughter. We need our politicians to be enlightened in their own larger interest. 

Due to economic globalisation there is an on-going social transformation in India. The people are self confident, assertive, demanding and restive. They are also increasingly becoming irreverent of the political class. They expect politicians to be responsive, efficient and empathetic. The politicians need to read the writing on the wall, to mend their ways, be in step with the times,  and try to raise themselves to the soaring expectations the people have from them. Unfortunately,while the Gen-Next is organised and interconnected through unprecedented and astonishingly effective means of communication, the politicians still remain inaccessible and completely disconnected with the common citizens. Instead of becoming more isolated behind the curtains of power, we need them to be more engaged with the general masses and their woes. We need politicians with deep empathy. The deeper their empathy, the more readily will come forth their positive regard, and the solutions.

Dr. Rajesh Bhola is President of Spastic Society of Gurgaon and is working for the cause of children with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities for more  than 20 years.

Source : http://www.fridaygurgaon.com/news/2730-apathetic-leadership.html