Patricia Mukhim
The largest regional party of Meghalaya – the United Democratic Party (UDP) which has some semblance of following across the state is heading for its organisational elections. It prompted me to read up a few books on Leadership including one by John C Maxwell called ‘The Power of Leadership and Influence.’ Maxwell has written this book after studying the characters, words, deed and lives and of some of the great men of this world. He has recorded his thoughts in quotations. After reading this book I realised that many of the people we lazily term as leaders are actually not so. They have neither charisma to effect change nor the courage to go off the beaten track and walk the path less travelled. Many of them ride on readymade bandwagons of emotionally surcharged public outbursts.
The leadership vacuum at the moment is most clearly visible in the Congress Party at the national level. Someone commented on social media that she is totally confused as to why Rahul Gandhi the crown prince of the Congress has jumped in to the JNU imbroglio where students are shouting pro-Afzal Guru slogans and using words like “Go Back India.” She says that Afzal Guru was hanged during the UPA regime and not a single Congressman demurred on the Supreme Court ruling. Perhaps there was a need then to prove to the world and to the hyper-nationalistic BJP that the Congress is more loyal to this country than any other political party. Afzal Guru;s hanging then, when the atmosphere was surcharged with patriotic fervour, and a weak UPA dispensation, was, for the Congress an opportunity to score brownie points. If Rahul Gandhi felt a twinge of conscience against capital punishment for Afzal Guru (for the crime of attacking parliament, thereby leading to the loss of lives of several security personnel) then the time to express that remorse was then, not now. Now he is jumping from issue to issue for opportunistic reasons. And so too the Left parties! It’s a typical copycat scenario. Predictable and not preceded by any thought or intellect! How can such a leader lead this disparate country of 1.3 billion Indians?
Yesterday in a tete-a-tete at someone’s home, a wag ventured to add that Dr Mukul Sangma has more grey matter and is better informed on many issues than Rahul Gandhi is at any given time. Recently in my interface with Jairam Ramesh the former Environment Minister in the UPA regime, a man who got one degree from Harvard and another from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I asked him about the future of the Congress party. He gave a benign smile that spoke a thousand words. Congress has now been reduced to partnering with regional parties and coming second or third in every election since 2014. One wonders what will happen to the Congress in Meghalaya in 2018 if this trend continues.
And this is where the UDP as a regional party that is fairly well accepted is expected to rise and fill the vacuum. But can it do so under the present leadership? Dr Donkupar Roy is a good human being but I may be forgiven for stating that he lacks the charisma of a grassroots leader. John Maxwell says leadership is influence. How many of our political leaders actually influence our thought processes? Would they be able to hold their own, if for instance they are asked to deliberate on the current situation in JNU and on the different notions of nationalism; on what it is to be anti-national; and the very idea of the nation state? W Fusselman says, “Today a reader – tomorrow a leader.” Maxwell avers that one of the principles he tried to practice is to be well read, adding, “I believe every meeting I enter without the preparation of good information is one where I can’t easily assume my leadership role. Knowledge is power. As the leader I must know more about the options in front of us than my boards and committees. Reading helps my leading.” This sums up a large part of the leadership role which is essentially to help the followers exercise their options and arrive at an informed decision.
Leaders don’t just pick up issues from the streets and join the cacophony of the unthinking. That is not leadership. That is simply being an opportunistic politician. That is exactly what the UDP has done vis-a-vis the Rangbah Shnong imbroglio. Does the UDP believe that the mode of functioning of the Dorbar Shnong as of today is a fit model to lead us to manage future challenges? Many of its thinking members know the problems in the so-called traditional institutions which have shut themselves up from absorbing and imbibing new ideas, but not a single UDP leader has come out to voice what he believes is a model of governance that will provide the public goods in the most efficient manner. And this is where the leadership vacuum is evident.
Some of the UDP bigwigs, many of whom are also holding the post of Rangbah Shnong are rigidly resistant to change. They want the status quo to persist where a Rangbah Shnong holds office for four decades. What sort of new ideas can such a Dorbar Shnong have? So far the post of Rangbah Shnong was treated as an office of burden where one does pro-bono work. But some Rangbah Shnong have been able to convert this office into a power centre and a remunerative one at that! Hence the disinclination to allow someone else to occupy the post!
We are in an era where redundancy sets in very quickly. Those in the Information Technology sector would know this better than most. This is also the world of Information. Governance can benefit from the use of technology. But would the redundant Dorbar Shnong ever want technology to be introduced in their day to day transactions, especially when many of them don’t issue receipts for money received either by way of an NOC given to some person or a land deal transacted clandestinely?
There is a definite need for creative disruption of the status quo whether it is in politics, political parties or traditional and non-traditional institutions. Political parties with no courage to speak their minds at the appropriate moments and those that slyly encourage a visionless institution to continue to function will sooner than later become redundant. Their circle of influence will diminish. The reason why we have a retirement age is because at a certain stage in life most of our neurons (which are left unused because we are too lazy to think out of many boxes and to tease them) have ceased to function. This is where young leadership is needed to infuse life and charisma into a political party and the UDP is one such party. The Congress too is led by a paternalistic figure but I guess no one heeds him any more so the damage is not too visible as it is in the UDP.
“The essence of leadership is a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet,” says Theodore Hesburgh. What is the UDP’s vision for Meghalaya? Do they have such a vision? Is there a mission statement that every worker (cadre) can rattle of off the top of his/her head? Sometimes it’s good to learn from companies and their market strategies. They are the best purveyors of ideas. Sample the Pepsi Cola Company’s jingle… “The taste of Pepsi Cola on the lips of everyone in the world.” At the time when this was envisioned it might have sounded far-fetched but now in every corner of the world you have a Pepsi bottle or can being sold and people consuming the fizzy drink despite health warnings. At the Pepsi Company every employee knew the jingle, internalised it and worked hard to achieve the goal of seeing Pepsi on the ‘lips of everyone in the world.’
Pray what is the cutting edge slogan of the UDP? In the elections we only hear one slogan, “Ha ka bom” (On the drum). That’s not a good enough slogan because the drum by itself is a dudd. It cannot deliver anything. And people are getting wiser today. But is the UDP geared up for a population of 65% youth with sky high aspirations? I guess not! So where does that leave the Party? Can the UDP bigwigs answer? It would be interesting to listen! After all, the dictum, “Perform or perish” is what keeps companies afloat. A political party is also a company of people who believe in something and have got together to attain those common goals. The UDP has two MLAs who have been charismatic youth leaders in their time. They should lead the Party now.