Saturday, December 30, 2006

To Be or Not To Be

In the last post I wrote about our railway minister Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav. This man is one of the most talked about (good or bad, it’s a different issue) leaders of present India. I thank readers of this blog for their valuable opinions on the subject. I am glad to have received both-sided views.

Well, it is not a concealed fact that this person, for his own selfishness has ruled and ruined an entire state for more than a decade. Bihar is the state which became worse from bad under the leadership of Laloo Yadav. With unearthing of different scams from time to time, we all came to know of some of his ‘good’ deeds. And I am sure there would be many more undetected ones. Kidnappings, ransom, extortions, corruption, booth capturing, mass copying, mass murders, blinding in jails are part of daily affairs in everybody’s life and where bribing is considered infra dig and is laughed at?

I was shocked to see when his dumb wife was made a puppet chief minister and once again the whole world helplessly watched it happening. Nobody could do anything or should I say ‘did not want to do’ anything ? Self-interest and self-centeredness was the only motive of his life.

Aren’t we ashamed of this ? I would be the last person to see him as prime minister of India.

But but but.. there is other side of this coin too. As PM and Alok rightly mentioned, this man has some very good qualities. Leadership is one of them. He is a leader par excellence. Also he is an excellent manager and manipulator. He knows exactly how to take along a group of hooligons with him.
I think we should always appreciate and learn the good qualities of a person even if he happens to be our enemy. Don’t get me wrong. Look at the way he continues to achieve what he wants to... by hook or crook is another point of discussions.
Like Arjun of Mahabharat, he concentrates only on his target, doesn’t think twice about the mean strategies he is going to adopt to. He knows very well how to get the work done, how to be in limelight and how to take the credit. We must admit the fact that he is very sharp and shrewd. He constantly thinks of the future and his future moves just as in a game of Chess.

Concern - If only he utilized his these qualities in improving the affairs of his country. If only we could make him lead a clean team for betterment of India. If only we can make him change his personal goal to a national one. If only...

Current song- Love Me Do – Beatles

9 comments:

Ketan said...

Like Arjun of Mahabharat, he concentrates only on his target how can you compare this crap with Arjun ? What a waste. What a pity.

Amey said...

I don't agree that he is a good leader or a good diplomat, but I agree he is good politician.

And as for how he or his wife can be elected for years,vox populi est vox deo , as they say.

Deepak said...

I agree he's extremely shrewd, a superb manipulator and has done extremely well as a politician.

But I would definitely not compare him with Arjun of Mahabharat - as they say in Hindi - "Zameen aasmaan ka pharak hai ". The goals are totally different.

Yeah if only...

Prax said...

I dont think we should look at the entire issue as a Lalloo issue. The fact is that this is the truth of Indian Democracy.

If students from Wharton come to meet Laloo, there is something we are seriously missing or they are really stupid! But what concerns me more, is that after 15 years of 'destroying' a state, making his wife a stand-in chief minister, running the fodder scam, the only question that comes to the fore is this - Isnt there even one person, just ONE person, who is smarter, shrewder, more intelligent than him? I think it should not be difficult to find one. But they are somewhere else, buying a steel company, answering phone calls of other countries problems of washing machines or writing softwares for MNC's.

Apne des ko chod diya, laloo ke jaise aaloo ke saath!

Arjun or Shikhandi, in the end, Jo jeeta woh hi sikander!

SiD said...

how can you say he is a good leader???
the state Bihar is in right now - that is mostly attributed to this good leader...
He 'mislead' people in his own state for his own good.. so many of his family(not only his wife) have joined politics...some despite having crimial records...on his daughter's wedding in Patna, car shops were ransacked and the new cars taken from showrooms for the CM's guests... i can go on and on...
the point is that this is not the stuff good leaders are made of.. he is just a charmer...he knows how to talk - that's it...and regd railways - many times it is the case that it is the team - comprising of IAS officers and financial advisors who make strategies...LAlu may have a role in transforming the shape - i dont deny it... but for me, I cannot trust him...

Prax said...

sid,
one question - is Bihar's population of 8 crore not able to denounce his leadership? whatever the way he uses. Politics is a battle of the mind. He wins, everybody else looses. The fact is that, till the moment he is not overthrown, he is a leader responsible for changing the face of the state he is ruling. It can be good or bad. People have elected him, and re-elected him... If the state is full of dumb idiots, so be it, they deserve a dumb leader!

SiD said...

arrrrrey... where is my comment in which I replied to Pyare Mohan???????

ok will try again...
@PM:
when lalu can charm his way through IIM and Harvard students... then what are poor people of Bihar for him...

"POlitics is a battle of mind" - yes.. so Lalu is a politician.. not a leader.. a good leader tries to grow with the growth of his team(in this case junta of bihar)... here he is growing at the Expense of them...
and u can say people of bihar are dumb but by no way their leader is dumb.. he is street smart, a charming person.. and if it works that dumb ppl shud get dumb leaders - tab to ho gaya kaaam...if bihar grows, India grows (take the case of a city Jamshedpur)

Cuckoo said...

Fleiger,
I don't agree with you on his or his wife's selection to rule Bihar. If they became the rulers, it was OUR (the people of this country) mistake in not being able to stop him from doing so. It is his this zeal which never allows him to take or accept defeat & he constantly works towards achieving the win, come what may.
Niki,
Yes dear, you can ask any of your Indian friends on this.

SiD,
he is street smart, a charming person… Yes, I am talking about his this quality.

Hi All,
It feels good that I could generate a discussion here. Maybe sometime I’ll update the post with these comments. I think only PM could somehow, understand the meaning and intent of my these two posts. :)

I agree with you all when you say we should not compare Laloo Yadav with any other person or character but my purpose was NOT to compare 'Laloo Yadav' as a person. I was only talking about the strong characteristics he has. As a person, I think I would not even use the word 'hate' for him.

He might be utilizing these characteristics or traits for his own benefits in a wrong way.. that's another issue. But we must agree, he has something in him which attracts people to know more about him and learn & after learning sometimes they might have more hatreds towards him(that's another matter).
Sometimes I wonder how can a person be such a shameless crap openly.

And I still maintain, he is a leader, but, of a different breed. Don’t compare him with Narayan Murthy or Ambani’s or Bill Gates, they are class apart. What do you think if I say Veerappan and Saddam Hussein were also leaders in their own way ? To me they are all leaders because they are able to ‘lead’ a group of people.. be it a group of hooligans, innocent public, dumb idiots or intellectuals.

SiD, I am not denying what all he did for his daughter's marriage or anywhere else but that is not a pt of contention here. Read my reply to Fleiger, it is our fault if we can't find anyone else to become a leader. I wish KT was here, I would like to know his views on this.

As I said earlier, we should grasp & learn from these traits, find out why don't we have any other person around us who can apply these traits in a positive way for betterment of country and humankind.

And mind you, sometimes we NEED such clever, shrewd, sharp minded, goal oriented people to run the country BUT in a different way, positive way.


If only we can find someone among ourselves...
If only..

Prax said...

Sid,
It is not about charming away people from Harvard... Is it that easy to get admission into harvard? forget teaching there... there must be something about him... i dont think he might have had the slightest of idea to display his worth by pointing a gun to the dean of Harvard and forcing him to send people here... there must be something

Leaders are leaders... they lead only if people follow them, so yes he is a leader being a politician, because there are people following him, good or bad is not the question.

Streetsmart people and charming.... hmm... he is charming. He knows how to brand himself. He is a good brand manager. There were laloo dols available. There was a movie made with his name... so even though this chap looks crude, he somehow does things for himself without getting the help of an Ad agency. Whether you like it or not - For me he is a star and no, i am not a bihari or a goon or a Harvard student, or his party worker!

Cuckoo,
PM could somehow, understand the meaning and intent of my these two posts. :)
*bows down*