Between wisdom and exuberance
Approaching parliamentary election and the changing fortunes
IMPRESSIONS
BINOO JOSHI
Age is not tied to wisdom, nor it is other way round. Some of the young men are quite wise and have better solutions to problems than their elders. But these wise men should realize that there is no substitute to experience, no matter how much intelligent the young men may be. It is good to make way for youth, for they have a lot of energy and some bright ideas, after all they are not the men from the 20th century, hostage to the old thinking. But these youth, especially the ones who are ruling different states, should know that their predecessors were also young at some point of time. Take for example, Uttar Pradesh, the most populated state of India, ruled by Akhilesh Singh Yadav- his father Mulayam Singh Yadav is a veteran politician in his right. He made way for his son, presumably voluntarily, knows that how to oppose FDI in retail and at the same time back the UPA government, which is corrupt and disgraced in the eyes of the poor and middle class. The nation is not only waiting but also praying to see the end of the UPA II government. It is he, who can live with contradictions and change his stand, be it nuclear deal, or the choice of president of the country. Everyone knows that his word cannot be trusted. Veteran BJP leader Arun Jaitley was right in observing that “ let first Mulayam Singh Yadav know that what he wants.” Akhilesh, by contrast tries to offer a different perspective to the things, but when it comes to opposing the FDI in retail and other issues, he also changes his mind as many a times in a day as his father does. So where is the difference between the young and the old.
The young men who feel that they can make difference to the Indian politics are hostage to their own contradictions. Some of them are escapists. They don’t face the situations and have no answer to the problems facing their territory and population, rather they pick up excuses, a plenty of them, to blame others for their own failures. If farmers are not happy in Punjab with the their Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, the law and order situation in the neighbhouring state is deteriorating like anything, the heir apparent to Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, is indifferent. This attitude of indifference that characterizes the young men with “wisdom” always run down the elders, and this unfortunate factor stems from two factors:, first, they live in the world where they think that it is their divine right to be something, and since the 20th century politicians who have made way for their 21st century generation, are devoid of any fresh ideas. The cardinal principle is that the elders too have their wisdom and experience.
Whenever there is a crisis, they turn to the wise old men, for resolving the situation. Apart from wisdom experience the experience matters. Because these 20th century politicians did experience many ups and downs in their life. They knew what is coming and what kind of role should be played in a particular situation. To be fair to them, elder Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, and the elder Badal in Punjab, have seen all aspects of life. They are the bridges between the 20th century and 21st century generations. It is their experience which has kept them afloat in the politics in their states and beyond it. It has been observed that when the crisis is over, the younger lot returns to their belief that they are the most intelligent people on this planet who have solution to every problem. Their elders used to travel on cycles, as Mulyam Singh Yadav used to do, the young ones are fond of flying machines and give a damn to the poor and the middle class. For them a particular class of people, elite and wealthy are the best people and they should get all the benefits, while the poor will have to wait for their turn until next elections. The only consolation for the poor, whose destiny stays as it was years ago, is that the next general election is round the corner.
Feedback at binoojoshi61@gmail.com
Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:00:00 IST
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