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Where have all the leaders gone?

September 11, 2001. The world watches in horror as two hijacked airliners slam, one after other, into the twin towers of New York's World Centre. Overcome by the intense heat, the towers collapse in a heap, trapping thousands beneath the debris. A large number of New York's firemen and police, who had rushed to the site, become victims of the tragedy. The eventual death toll exceeds 4,000. The vivid scenes of the aircraft entering the tall buildings, the collapse, the dust covered bodies of the citizens and the rescue efforts receive wide video coverage for the next month. Yet what remains in the mind is the near absence of panic, the quick recovery and the methodical return to normalcy within a very short period.

February 27, 2002. A train full of kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya is attacked and set on fire outside Godhra station in Gujarat. More than 60 people are burnt alive inside four bogies. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad calls for a bandh on February 28. Ahmedabad goes berserk on March 1. Rampaging mobs target Muslim homes and shops and set them on fire. The police turns a blind eye and more than 400 people are killed in three days of violence across the entire state. Eventually the army is called out and a semblance of peace restored.

Two events, six months, ten thousand miles apart. In both cases a city and a government faced a crisis. With totally opposite reactions. The main difference was the near absence of any leadership in Gujarat.

In New York, Mayor Rudi Giuliani was at the site in minutes. Within a short time he had established a control room in close proximity of the disaster area. From here, during the next few days, he provided exemplary leadership to the people of New York and America. He did not sleep for 56 hours. He organised the rescue effort, consoled the victims, arranged alternative means of transport and residence and encouraged the people to get back to their normal lives. He ensured that law and order was maintained, that there was no looting and no major backlash against Arabs or Muslims. His face was seen everywhere and his calm demeanor reassured everyone that things were in good hands.

Now switch to Gujarat. In India, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. In Mumbai, nine years earlier Chief Minister Sudhakar Naik went underground for four days while the city burned. Here too, Chief Minister Narendra Modi was nowhere to be seen. Neither were any of his ministers. There were no scenes of any leader trying to control the mobs. The so-called leaders closeted themselves in their offices and discussed strategies.

'The price of greatness is responsibility,' said Winston Churchill. Gujarat 2002 will be remembered when the nation's leadership, central and state, shirked responsibility and allowed a state to burn. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned himself to making a weak appeal on television. Home Minister L K Advani took four days before he made the trip to the state. By that time, of course, everything was over bar the shouting. As usual, it was left to the government's man for all seasons, George Fernandes, to rush to Gujarat and provide a modicum of leadership. He may not have achieved much but at least he had the courage to get there when the mobs were still out. Even he lamented the total lack of leadership and the absence of 'tall men' today.

Where have India's leaders gone?

Fifty-five years ago violence had erupted in the Noakhali district of East Bengal. It was the first real flare-up in a rural area. Roving bands paddled over the flooded fields from village to village, killing Hindus, looting and burning their property, abducting some women, and registering conversions from Hinduism to Islam. Into this cauldron jumped a 77-year-old frail man. British journalist Philip Talbot who was with Gandhiji at the time says, 'It was revealing to watch Gandhi throwing himself during this critical season into the remoteness of East Bengal's Noakhali district for a barefooted village-to-village pilgrimage in search of Hindu-Muslim amity. Here was a 77-year-old ascetic, rising above the physical ordeal, immersed in a peculiarly Indian approach to the cleavage that threatens the country.'

Of course, the Mahatma did not undertake his trek in an air-conditioned Rath nor in a fleet of Ambassador cars surrounded by Black Cats. It says a great deal about his leadership that he continued to remain in the area right through Independence Day. Neither did he bask in glory at the Red Fort nor did he forget his responsibility.

It is India's misfortune that a country of one billion people has failed to produce a national leader for the past two decades. Indira Gandhi was the last leader of any stature that the country had. Today, in her place, we have a number of petty warlords, each with his small army of toughs, who rule by fatwa and fiat and who ensure that their will is enforced by terror and coercion. Their influence runs up to the border of the state and their vision only up to the horizon. Their only reaction to any crisis is to call a bandh, which they then enforce by terrorising the people. They talk tough but run for cover at the first sign of an emergency.

Why has this country of Ashoka and Shivaji, of Tilak and Gandhi failed to produce a single significant leader in the past 50 years? Where are our Maos and De Gaulles, our Roosevelts and Churchills, our Thatchers and Lee Kuan Yews?

There are, of course, a number of reasons. But the most significant one is the fact our leaders of yore failed to nurture and bring up a new generation of leadership. Burdened with their sense of insecurity, they ensured there was no one around to unseat them from their coveted positions. Rajiv Gandhi once described Indira Gandhi as a gigantic tree. True, but sadly it is also true that nothing can grow in the shade of a giant tree. The Indian Army's multi-tiered and hierarchical organisation has many defects. But it ensures that officers are trained to be leaders throughout their careers, taking on greater and greater responsibility as they progress through the ranks. Unfortunately, in all other activities, whether sports or politics, India lacks a systematic organisation for finding, training and developing successive generations who will replace the existing leadership. If someone comes up it is more by accident than by design.

Inevitably, the vacuum in leadership today is being filled up by unworthy timeservers, who are more interested in carving out fiefdoms for themselves than in national interests. Unless we make a genuine effort to prepare a pool of worthy leaders for tomorrow many Gujarats are liable to take place in the future.

Admiral (retd) J G Nadkarni