RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP

It is popularly believed that good governance only stems from good leadership. The fate of a country as much as that of an organisation rests in the hands of its principals.  So as and when one observes the stagnancy of his nation, without hesitation he points his finger at the ruling party and the elected head of the nation. But is this a fair exercise?

When all-inspiring leaders like Lord Rama in Ramayana and the Pandavas in Mahabharata were exiled to the forest, their subjects were naturally aggrieved. But they went beyond expressing grief; they offered their will to stand by their masters in the most testing times.

One must note that in both the epics, the subjects shared the responsibility of running the state with their leaders. The pleasure of the leaders was that of the subjects and vice versa. And the concern of the subjects was that of the leaders and vice versa. To believe that leadership is the only root of strong governance is unreasonable. One may compare it to a strong man attempting to pull a big cart full of people who won't cooperate. For how long can he continue like that? The cart needs cooperative and collective effort. What truly gets the ball rolling is inspiring leadership and responsible citizenship.

Today, as we mostly see, the educated class has little or no interest in understanding the dynamics of politics. Their participation in politics is just about making sweeping statements like, 'politics is useless', 'politics is for the goons', 'if you don't know anything then you become politicians', etc. They seem to have no concern about who gets the chair and what does he believe in.

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana illustrate the significant power of maintenance. Lord Vishnu appeared repeatedly, mostly amidst political turmoil and anarchy to establish orderly governance. He induced moral leaders, who were sometimes even reluctant to head the administration because freeing the subjects from an anarchical situation indeed requires a sound mind and intellect.

Honesty towards one's work is not connected merely to honesty towards oneself. One may be an honest and genuine person, but working for somebody who is ruthless towards his duties - maybe national, political, environmental, etc. Such honest people, as they say, make the dishonest flourish. Establishing governance is a greater challenge, and a very exciting one. And everyone has a part to play it in - a small role, if not big. A soldier once stated at an interview, "Sir, even if I cannot make a substantial contribution at the border, I can at least take a shot and reduce the enemy's bullets by one."

Good politicians are born in the mindset of the subjects. An alert and informed citizen of the country may not want to be a politician but must aim to create greater responsibility in the hearts of the potentially honest politicians. As citizens, unless we assign that importance to politics, how will the sincere and concerned take the leap and help us run the nation right? If the collective mindset is that politics is only a dirty game of greed, that is all the others will make of it. The world is a mirror of our mind. We will only see things as we perceive them. And we will only get what we truly deserve. That is the real miracle.