A Leadership under lens - Emergency Versus Lockdown

During the present Nationwide Lockdown to contain and control the Corona Pandemic, a lot of trolls were doing their rounds on the net & WhatApp. Once such message sent by one of my contacts in the group was a picture which compared a similar curfew like situation that people had to undergo in 1975 clamped by the then Indian Prime Minister who called it "Emergency"..

When the picture was sent to me, it conveyed lot of hidden emotions of the person who perhaps wanted to communicate to the readers of his post. Though the truth was there in front of the eye i felt it was still a little obscure in meaning what it should. 

Therefore, these are the 2 lined thoughts that i tried to pen to move thoughts beyond blunt truth to a more understandable meaning.     

In Kannada we usually have proverbs which communicate the meaning with exactitude and hence i used a similar method to portray the opined meaning 

Just like you have "ಆರ್ತಿಗೆ ಒಂದು  .... ಕೀರ್ತಿಗೆ ಒಂದು " I'm sure you'll agree that this pic too says something in a similar sounding way....

ಲಾಠಿ ಗೆ ಒಂದು....  ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಗೆ ಒಂದು 

ಒಂದು ಮಾರಾಮಾರಿಗೆ ರೆಡಿ ....  ಒಂದು  ಮಹಾಮಾರಿಗೆ ರೆಡಿ 

ಒಂದು sterilization ಗಾಗಿ .... ಒಂದು  sanitization ಗಾಗಿ 

ಒಂದು ವೈದ್ಯರಿಗೆ ತ್ರಾಹಿ  .... ಒಂದು ವೈದ್ಯರಿಗೆ ಸ್ನೇಹಿ

ಒಂದು ಜನರ ಪ್ರತಿ - ನಿಧಿ .... ಒಂದು ಜನರ ಪ್ರತಿನಿಧಿ

ಒಂದು ಹುತಾತ್ಮರಾಗಲು  ಕಾರಣಾ .... ಒಂದು ಹುತಾತ್ಮರವರಿಗೆ ಕಿರಣ

ಒಂದು ಇಂದಿರಾ only .... ಒಂದು ಇಂಡಿಯಾ only

These phrases also indicate the leadership type and suggest a conducive approach that can possibly rouse a nations population's commitment. In both the cases people followed it but in one it was out of fear and in the other it was out of concern. Now this is how a leader defines himself and comes across to the person who has elected him into power. It also relates the use of power - is it coercive or was it reflective. the response from the people says it all. There is another strand that i noticed "does prohibition work, of does freedom work or does freedom influence prohibition?" - The way the media was given freedom to sensitise the people,.. the way the people were given freedom to choose between "restrict mobility and care" versus "unrestrained freedom and catastrophe"... the very power of choice placed in the hands of people (indicated freedom) influenced self prohibition whereas in 1975 people unwillingly were restrained beyond any doubt and were laid with innumerable forced prohibitions. 

The world has changed, the times have changed and the younger generation share a greater maturity these days which enables to implement freedom based changes and nation centric policies to be easily implemented provided they are well educated and enabled. I refrain from using the words "Informed" and "empowered" is simply because they are redundant in this context - youth today are well informed (they have access to any information at a click of a button) but they need to be educated which raises their level of comprehension and understanding in a holistic manner rather than being biased or one sided). Empowerment is about taking right decisions which comes only with maturity (inexperience can cause a lot of painstaking outcomes) hence what is needed in enabling which simply means enhancing the power of his mind to seek ways to apply providing platforms to try it with least resistance and supporting them to monitor the outcomes that build confidence and encourage him to take the right decision. This has perhaps made Narender Modi the present Prime Minister of Bharat to be a leader that stands out in the minds of the youth today. Hoping many more wonderful leaders occupy this great land of Bharat in the coming years..