The Absent Leadership

Maoist insurgency

Inflation

Food Shortage

Railway Accidents

Kashmir

Ayodhya

Un-Common Wealth Games

The list continues to increase.

Issues are plenty, leadership is empty...

Howsoever inappropriate the above sentence may be from the language point of view, it is a sad but brutal truth on the current absence of leadership in India.

Never before have so many problems faced India at the same time and never before the absence of response from the leaders has been so much felt.

Indians know it all, Indians discuss it all, but where are the leaders?

Incompetence, indifference, impotence, careless, apathetic..I don't know which of the adjectives ( or all of the adjectives) describe the present Indian leadership.

Let's take one issue at a time.

The most serious challenge to Indian democracy in the recent times has been the Maoists challenge. Innocent lives have been lost, policemen have sacrificed their lives, property belonging to the state and private parties have been destroyed, and yet the response from government of India has been.. what?

confusing?

anything but unanimous?

incoherent?

a shame?

 We have a Union Minster who spends more time in state politics than (her) department, and one who goes in the bastions of Naxals singing paeans of them. It is more aimed to get the votes rather than address the Maoist menace. It is a shame that one can think of votes even at this time. In one of my earlier articles I have mentioned about how (her) department would be better off without (her).

Ministers of the government fight out their battles in the open.Union Home Minister sings a different tune and his party officials criticize him by writing articles in newspapers !! The funniest thing is that the Congress party justifies this as a sign of democratic values within the party ??

To talk of flimsy reasons like party democracy at a time when one united stance against the Maoists is the need of the hour is utterly disgusting.

I am more dismayed by the response of the PM who has not been able to keep a tab on his ministers and who is keeping mum over this charade.

Lets now talk on inflation and food shortage.

India has been truly blessed to have a superman, one-man-army, a multitasking Power as the minister looking after Food supplies and Public Distribution, and Agriculture (and also looking after the affairs of ICC) all at one go. ( more on Power Factor here).

The oldest of excuses : subsidy to farmers is being again played out now.

Produce is allowed to rot in the godowns and when the Supreme Court asks it to be distributed, the minister says that not all "suggestion" of the court are to be followed !!

Indian minsters have all the time in the world for everything but their concerned ministry !!

The PM is mum on this too. He simply does not appear to be in control of the situation. He is simply not able to arise confidence in the public. Inflation is rising and there does not seem to be a cohesive approach from the government to tackle it.

Moving on to Kashmir now.

The most beautiful state of India is in a disarray at the moment because the government does not know what to do, when to do and how to do.

Should it withdraw AFSPA now or later, or should it allow the agitation to continue until it loses steam on its own. Unfortunately the government seems to follow a strategy of allowing things to go uncontrolled thinking that somehow things would come to normalcy. The matter is getting more and more serious and complex day by day. The more delay the Indian leadership does in tackling the issue, the more alienated the Kashmiri people will feel and the more chance the "extremists" and the "opportunists" will get to incite the feelings and emotions.

I feel hurt and shattered that of all states, Kashmir can be allowed to wither in such fashion.

 This attitude (or the lack of it) of the Indian "leadership" may prove to be costly for India in future. One should now hope that the recent all party initiative helps in bringing back the situation to some sort of normalcy.

A bit on Ayodhya now.

More will be known on it in a couple of days, but the past experience does not make one confident that this government at the center will tackle this in an appropriate manner. The response from the other political parties have however been encouraging but it remains to be seen how they react once the decision is out.

and finally coming to the Loot of the century !!

Bridges are falling

Roofs are toppling.

Others are laughing. and what about the Indians??

If at all there was one instance of loot in the open, it is Commonwealth Games 2010.

To have delay is one thing, and to make a bridge like that despite delaying is another.

That India was to host CGF was decided 4-5 years back and no argument or excuse could justify the delay in the first place. And to have all this collapses just now is all too much.

Was this shoddy work causing all the delay?

and how audacious are the Organising Committee officials who dismiss questions over living standards in CG village as " the difference in perception of foreigners" and who believe " collapses are normal, it is good it happened now".

The UPA government has been in power for the entire duration during which the committee was formed and allowed to operate. That it decided to meddle into the affairs when less than 100 days were remaining is a testimony to the fact that it is indifferent, or it is incompetent or simply it can't do anything !!

Indians are being let down by their "elected leaders" in a big way.

The curse of the Absent Leadership is being felt a big time !!