Wasted integrity

An IAS officer writes this wonderful open letter to the Prime Minister, stating the significance of action above achievement. It is action, and only action, that amounts to a great leader being remembered by history as a contributor to a nation's empowerment.

If not, then what use is it being a prime minister if, even after reaching the very top, you can’t do a damn in an hour of national crisis? Soon, all this will be forgotten and it will be back to business as usual. But then, history will judge you. If you have some conscience left, please do something. Don’t forget, “mind without heart, intelligence without conduct, cleverness without goodness are all tools, but only for mischief”. [Live Mint]

The PM is an exponent of a text-book life and glowing report cards. This is not to say that his integrity should be doubted or his honesty questioned. But when you are guided by a de-facto presence in your Cabinet, when you head a corrupt party of politicians with verified criminal records, when you can't stand up for the people of your country in times of dire need, when you represent an elite society that doesn't take up the cause of loss of so much blood until they themselves are touched by menaces like terrorism, there is little you can do but bear the majority of the blame. In this case, all of it.

It is in your hands, Mr. Prime Minister, to enforce measures and mechanisms to keep corruption and bureaucracy in check, to keep erring subordinates in control and to know when to get rid of them, to give a hard-hitting response to threats intending to destabilize a growing nation. So the fault is all yours if you don't rise to the occasion. An occasion that so desperately calls for effective activity from a position like yours.

Medals and honours are showcase material that must be deservingly publicized from the vicinity of your own home, sir. Once that door closes, you step out armed with only your focus on the next move you make and not stockpiled felicitations. "Stand up and deliver" should be the only mantra.

Keep the integrity, the honesty, the soft-spoken nature, the silence and the spongy heart for Page 3 appreciation and Congress sycophants, sir. Even Gandhiji would have shed the "Mahatma" tag so deservedly conferred upon him, if he would have failed to act on the challenges of today.

However, he didn't fail. Unfortunately, you just did.








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