Dear Friends,
When we were young-in school-one of the most frequently asked questions was "what will you do if you become the Prime Minister". At that time, this question was abstract...unintelligible...and, mostly perceived as a barb from elders which was designed to expose the lack of knowledge and humiliate in public. In short, I am amazed that at that time, when it was most asked, the question was as irrelevant as it could be and now, when we are all grown up, experienced and much more equipped to answer this question, it is never posed to us ! For so many days now, this question has been coming back to me..."What would I do if I were the Prime Minister??" So, I have decided to answer this question...
I will try to attempt answering this question in parts, and will post the parts on this blog as I write them. So the answer to this question will be serialized. I hope that when I am done with my answer, I would have written down a document giving the views of a common Indian on what he thinks that the Prime Ministers of this country should be doing for the betterment of its people. However, before I come to the actual answer, allow me the luxury of writing down my views on the attributes that should be present in a Prime Minister.
ATTRIBUTES OF A "PRIME MINISTER" ?
Funny..isn't it ? We are so used the words 'Prime Minister' and so completely used to having the man around that we hardly ever pause to think what the office means and what should be the attributes of the 'Prime Minister'. To me, the words 'Prime Minister' signify all that is good and noble. I feel that the man occupying the chair of the 'Prime Minister' should practically be a saint. He should be above suspicion, universally respected and a person who leads by example. For the Prime Minister, the welfare of the people and their continuous betterment should be the only goal. ALL other activities that he does should merely be means leading to this goal. Existence of poverty, inequality and illetracy should pain the Prime Minister on a daily basis like three thorns stuck into the flesh. Ideally, the Prime Minister should be on the younger side, highly articulate, with a vision and the administrative acumen plus the will to transform his vision into reality. In a nutshell, the Prime Minister should be a leader who is able to capture the essence of the collective consciousness of the nation and to channelize the latent energy of the population towards the achievement of seemingly impossible goals.
