26 January 2013, 06:00 AM IST
Did Beyonce lip-sync or did she actually sing America's national anthem on Monday at the inauguration of President Barack Obama? This momentous issue remains unresolved at the time of writing. But whatever she did, she mesmerized the million-strong crowd with an extraordinary performance.
As did the lead actor of the day, President Obama, who stirringly laid out a vision for the kind of America he hoped to promote in his second four-year term at the wheel of leadership. It was a quintessentially liberal view, which the American right dubs leftwing but is considered a moderate, enlightened position by the most of the world. He followed up his re-election rhetoric by boldly stating where he wanted to take the nation. No lip-syncing there.
On January 26, we Indians mark the day as a milestone in our 63-year-long journey as the world's most diverse and complex democratic experiment working within a republican Constitution. The vision laid out in that fine document is no less bold than the soaring view of life-as-it-should-be in the two-centuries-old American Constitution. Yet, if you would allow the metaphor to be stretched, India's leaders across the board seem merely to lip-sync the spirit of that remarkable document.
President after president gives insipid addresses to the nation year after year. Not surprising, since the position of a ceremonial president itself is insipid and may have outlived its purpose if it ever had one. The president takes the salute on Raj Path from a parade that is spectacular for the most part but rather reminiscent, with its tanks and missiles, of Soviet-style hubris that is unbecoming of a democratic republic. And, invariably, the person taking the salute is elderly, occasionally infirm.
What every president utters to mark Republic Day is uninspiring and resonates the falsity of a lip-syncing act. This is not to belittle the current president; it's true of every occupant of the office and of much, not all, of our political leadership. Old politicians in power deliver tired rhetoric, usually read inarticulately, to a nation that lives in a harsh daily reality that frustrates its citizens, especially the young.
Americans in the past half a century have thrice elected, and twice re-elected, presidents in their 40s, Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, without disregarding the claims and appeal of the relatively old, such as Ronald Reagan, who was an inspiring leader whether you agree with his politics or not. We, despite being a nation in which a clear majority is young, genuflect to geriatric hierarchy when selecting our political leaders in the timeless tradition of an ancient civilization.
The young have to wait while the elderly carry on with their dithering ways of leading and governing. The fortunes of the nation meander along at a stately pace like the eternally flowing, dirty and choking Ganges. This is not to assert that the young alone can lead us out of the morass, but relatively young leaders might better reflect the dynamic aspirations of a youthful population than very old people.
Because the guidance of the elderly, however mature and wise, hasn't delivered the goods for India. We don't have to look at America. Look east, urge our mandarins. Well, East Asia including China has a population of 2.15 billion compared to South Asia's 1.66 billion of which 70 percent live in India. East Asia is far ahead in every significant measure of life-improving development, including poverty rates, life expectancy, literacy, schooling, and nutrition. Many exasperatedly blame democracy for our ills. But is democracy the problem? Or is it old, hesitant leadership and poor policy choices made over six decades that we should blame?
On the website of the East Asia Forum, Razeen Sally of the National University of Singapore compares the performances of the two distinct parts of Asia and concludes that the South Asia region, most prominently India, has made numerous wrong public policy choices and has been incapable of enforcing the rule of law.
Steven Rattner, writing in the New York Times last Sunday after visiting India, says Mumbai is not in the least likely to become Shanghai any time soon. And a host of other observers, including several Indians, have recently drawn similar conclusions.
But, can the elderly hear? Can't be sure, getting there myself…
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Still a country for old men
Dengan url
http://osteoporosista.blogspot.com/2013/01/still-country-for-old-men.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Still a country for old men
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar