Last week I received an email from Prakhar telling me that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been chosen the best head of state in an international poll by people none other than other international leaders. That came as a pleasant surprise, not because I have ever doubted MMS’ credentials regarding the parameters that were involved in the poll but because our PM had gradually and rather inconspicuously had slipped out of national headlines and with it my mind too, as headlines are all I have been reading in main section of the newspaper ever since I decided that business news was going to be my diet till the MBA entrance exams are over and done with.

When the head of a state ceases to be the newsmaker, it’s time the country pauses to think as to who is leading them, if at all anyone is. Is there someone to guide us or are we to just wait and let everything just take its own course until the problem resolves itself or the unresolved problem outlives its severely limited space in their memory. Although I have not tuned into Arnab Goswami’s The Newshour for well over a week now, but whatever abridged political news that The Economic Times had fed me this past month was devoid of any reference to MMS, if one were to overlook the cliched rhetoric of Left and BJP about the PM’s Independence Day speech being uninspiring and devoid of any real substance.

Manmohan Singh, this month, became the longest serving Prime Minister of the country, from among those rare ones whose name doesn’t end with a Nehru or a Gandhi. His honesty, integrity, modesty, dedication and a dozen different enviable traits have been acknowledged by one and all. So his continued absence from public eye is surprising, more so when combined with the prolonged abstinence of Sonia Gandhi from making any statement or public appearance of note. Rahul Gandhi too has not come up with any of his media friendly gimmicks, for a long time now.

At a time when country is faces flash floods and droughts in its different parts, prices continue to their unrelenting skyward march, our ever enigmatic neighbor has leapfrogged to become the second largest economy in the world, our reputation is at stake due some games to be held in Delhi, trouble in valley is worsening by the day and we are just milliseconds away from finalizing a dubious and Nuclear Liability Bill, expecting an apprisal of the situation from the people we have entrusted our country to isn’t asking too much. We can certainly use a statement from PMO, just to clear the air about where we as a country are headed from here and what do people at the helms have in store for us.

Since we no longer have a President who could inspire us or had a vision for the country and regarded his post important enough to not dedicate its duration to unveiling a statue or attending a function as the chief guest, the entire responsibility of addressing the nation, of telling us that all is not unwell falls onto the shoulders of the aforementioned core group.

Despite the massive mandate accorded to it and despite some individual bright spots like Pranab Mukherjee or Chidambaram, the government has seldom looked like a united front with a centralized command (read Digvijay Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar). Left in UPA-1 despite all its differences with congress seems saintly now when compared to Mamta, who had left Home Ministry high, Dry and embarrassed with her olive-branching to the Maoists (described once, as the biggest threat to India, by the PM himself). Having mentioned both Obama and Inspiration earlier in the post I would reiterate the importance of inspiring speeches from Leaders without stressing any further on the Obama and inspiring address’ connection and signing off with the lyrics from the song ‘Krishna’ by Colonial Cousins.

“….Darkness coming round
 And everybody fighting with their brothers
 Everybody wants control
 Don’t hesitate to kill one another….

 

…So come down and help us
Save all the little ones
They need a teacher
And you are the only one
We can rely on
To build a better world
A world that’s for children
A world that’s for everyone…”