Our political leaders in the ruling party are getting old, and soon we will need younger, dynamic ones to lead our country.
But as I watch our netas thump their chests and roar into microphones, I feel like putting out an advertisement in the classifieds: “Wanted – A Statesman. Age no bar. Community no bar. Must be able to think beyond the next election.”
Because while politicians are aplenty, statesmen are rarer than pothole-free roads after the monsoons.
A politician, you see, is busy counting votes. A statesman counts people. All people. Like Vajpayee did. Remember him? He didn’t just speak, he soothed. He didn’t just roar, he reassured. He didn’t look at one community and say, “You are mine,” and at another and mutter, “You are not.” He stitched India together with words, not wedges.
Now, I do see a tall, energetic, and ambitious figure rising in Maharashtra—Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. A leader with charisma, energy, and the ability to command attention. A potential statesman, perhaps? And then—just as I began to hope—came the poke. Not in Mumbai, mind you, but in Bangalore.
Fadnavis thundered that the metro station should remain Shivaji Metro Station and not be renamed St. Mary’s Metro Station. And he warned that this would spark religious tension.
Why, sir? Why?
The whole area is already called Shivaji Nagar. No one’s taking that away. But right there stands the famous St. Mary’s Basilica, visited for over a century by lakhs from every faith—Hindus, Muslims, Christians alike. Shouldn’t the metro station reflect that inclusive spirit? Why does a train stop have to be turned into a trench line?
Statesmanship, dear sir, is not about whipping up storm clouds where none exist. It’s about finding common ground, like Vajpayee did when he reached out to Pakistan even after war, or when he embraced coalition partners who were poles apart.
A politician will always say, “How do I keep my vote bank intact?”
A statesman asks, “How do I keep my nation intact?”
And in today’s India, more than flyovers or metros, what we desperately need is bridges. Bridges between communities. Bridges between faiths. Bridges strong enough to carry us into the future without collapsing under the weight of suspicion.
So, Mr. Fadnavis, you are dynamic. You have the stature. You have the makings of a towering leader. But towers that lean towards only one side topple. Build instead a foundation that rests on all communities. Because only then will people remember you, not as another noisy politician, but as the statesman this country so badly needs. Because today instead of stretching out to fan communal tensions in Bangalore, you may need practice to stretch out from Delhi to put out communal fires all over India.
And if you practice wisely, then maybe, just maybe, we won’t need to put out that classified ad after all…!