MYSELF LAST, THE NATION FIRST---THIS MUST BE THE MOTTO

MYSELF LAST, THE NATION FIRST---THIS MUST BE THE MOTTO

In the murky, even perverted, political atmosphere obtaining in India one thing that is missing is a convincing voice, a man of character whose courage of conviction can inspire us unto believing in him and his delivered message. Such a person will not need to make a personality cult of himself to woo voters, need not blazon grand guarantees in his own name to seek electoral support or advertise his person in any manner that runs counter to the spiritual principle of self-effacement that he by political and philosophical affiliation supposedly stands for. Such a one need not resort to dais dramatics in delivery of address, need not dress like a dandy, changing costume every other hour to hopefully exhibit identification with the province he is visiting, need not play up to people's imagination by getting meditation in cave or seabed or a dip in the deep televised and certainly ought to refrain from hyper-affirmation of self above the collective that he represents, his party. And most importantly, he must be frugal in disposing off public funds and never wasteful in his sculptural and architectural occupations. 

People are not fools. They are discerning enough to pick the grain from the chaff even if for a while diverse ploys catch them unawares and delude them into devoted submission. But character alone stays the course. All else is cast aside in due course. Thus has it historically been, the rise and fall of emperors, empires, leaders and houses, character being their preeminent sustaining factor, its absence their sure cause of fall. And when with hyper-infiltration of material desire or power drunkenness or megalomania the original idealism has been lost and course shifted unto the terrain of arid ambition, the precipitous fall has been registered unfailingly by the law of karmic gravitation. Leaders must be aware of this and desist from delusive desire, deliberate drama and power drunkenness thus. Ultimately, whether a leader lasts or is lost to his people, it is the people's interest that matters, the people who are the source of the leader's power and status. Their welfare must be top priority and this sort of vainglorious exhibitionism must be eschewed from one's public presentation. Here if a leader miserably fails despite his other considerable achievements for the nation which are commendable, nay, in many cases crucial indeed, then there is cause for worry, both for the nation and for the leader in question. Our boundless gratitude for work well done must be attended by our constructive criticism of this build up of an unhealthy personality cult round the leader which never does augur well for a democracy. We may be lavish in our praise of achievements of a government but must reserve deserving criticism, even denunciation for its failings which with a little more heart and less self-obsession may be easily averted. One more thing. It is the Government of India and the Government of a state for that matter and not the Government of a particular person as it tends to become with leaders of dictatorial disposition. This must be remembered. Nation first, the leader last---this is ever the motto of a luminous leader and this must be our motto as a polity as well if we are to make our mark as a worthy member in the comity of nations. 

Vande Mataram! 🕉 

Written by Sugata Bose