Author: S Gurumurthy
Publication: The New Indian Express,
Chennai Edition
Date: June 15, 2002
The ordinary Indian is thrilled
at Dr Abdul Kalam becoming the President of India. For, he regards Dr Kalam
as the symbol of India's claim to super power. Of its Agni, Prithvi, Pokharan.
For him Dr Kalam is an ideal choice for the office of the President.
For him Dr Kalam represents all
that he would like to see in a great man _ humility, simplicity, honesty
and transparency. For him Dr Kalam is a new and the ideal role model for
Indian Muslims who are burdened with Shahi Imams, Banatwallas, Nadvis and
Shahabuddins as the alternative role models. This is the popular mood about
Dr Kalam.
±But some others, small in
number, but not in influence, think totally differently.``He is not a tall
leader like Rajendra Prasad. Not a philosopher like Dr Radhakrishnan. Not
a politician like Giani Zail Singh. Not an intellectual like Dr Zakir Hussain.
Not a fighter like V.V. Giri. Not just that. He is too simple, too humble,
too transparent,''they say. ``How will he fit the high office?'' they ask.
Some, respecting the popular upsurge in favour of Dr Kalam, do so mutely;
a few like the foolish Left, openly.
This is how the popular nation and
the influential exceptions have contrastingly responded to Dr Kalam's nomination
for the high office of the President. Let's examine the influential marginal
opinion.
Yes, they are right. This man is
too humble, too simple and too transparent. But he is not just that. He
is more than just a combination of simplicity, humility and transparency.
He may not be a philosopher, or a politician, or a statesman as their definitions
go. But he has a vision for the country that is rare among celebrated philosophers,
statesmen or politicians, if there are any, in the horizon today. That
vision is born out of his understanding of India's philosophy, history
and people. He speaks with conviction which no leader, no statesman, no
politician and no intellectual had had the courage to speak in Independent
India.
An example. In the famous book `India
2020 _ A vision for the New Millennium,' he says that he and his co-author
``asked ourselves and others why India in its several thousand years of
history has rarely tried to expand its territories or to assume a dominating
role.'' He says that the enquiry revealed that some special features of
the Indian psyche could partly explain this. What are those special features?
Says Kalam, ``greater tolerance, less discipline, lack of sense of retaliation,
more flexibility in accepting outsiders, adherence to hierarchy, and emphasis
on personal safety over adventure.'' He holds as our undoing what our great
leaders have celebrated as the great virtues of India.
This is not the scientist in Kalam
speaking. But the Indian in Kalam with an understanding of the past, on
which alone future vision can be built. Count one leader in the national
scene today who would see the celebrated national virtues of tolerance,
lack of sense of retaliation and ready acceptance of outsiders as weaknesses
also. Only a nation builder would see the potential of virtues turning
into weaknesses and ask the people not to trumpet its impotency masquerading
as virtues.
Yes what Kalam will lack is the
wily skill needed to deal with the polity, political parties and their
leaders. He has dealt with mighty minds in the field of science. He has
built great teams of scientists. He has achieved for India what no politician
has done in recent times. He can acquire the needed skills easily. But
what the detractors of Kalam fail to understand is that it is not possible
for the skilled ones to acquire the values and character that Kalam is
known for.
Whether this great man will make
a successful President in the sense in which our polity defines success
or not is for the future to decide. This question will be on any candidate.
It is however a two-way affair. Even as Kalam would need greater caution
to deal with te ruthless polity, the polity must also acquire the sensitivity
to deal with a man of values and character like Kalam.
But the nation must be thankful
to whosoever made his nomination possible. A boy who was vending the Dinamani
newspaper in Rameswaram when India became independent, and turned into
a scientist of repute, is today heading towards the Rashtrapathi Bhavan
in Delhi. This scientist and academic, a Muslim playing Veena and influenced
by Koran and Gita together, is too precious a man to be put in controversy.
But the danger is that those who sow the seeds for the controversy today
will work to establish that they are right. This is what Kalam should be
cautious about. He must be aware that any slip by him will be the failure
of goodness, and it will establish that skill is more important than character.
And that is a trap he must scrupulously avoid, and guard against.
