Significance of his leadership
V. V. DRAVID
Labour Minister, Madhya Pradesh
I HAVE had the good fortune of coming into fairly intimate contact with Shri Yeshwantraoji Chavan. I certainly like him. Even so I would not have thought of writing a personal anecdote for publicity. For, I am rather allergic to the personal cult. In the present instance, however, not only was there no hesitation at all, but in fact, a positive desire to pay a deserving tribute publicly. This is because I feel convinced that Shri Yeshwantraoji represents a very significant and most welcome phenomenon in the development of our body-politic. In fine, it heralds the phase that we can all wish and expect to arrive after the Independence and the period connected therewith.
In this new phase we cannot do merely with sentimental nationalism with its attendant hunt for scapegoats on the one hand and the patronising attitude towards poor people on the other. These old attitudes have to be dropped. A fresh and careful look at the modern and fast changing world has to be taken and the problems, opportunities and tasks presented before the country in this comprehensive and dynamic setting have to be approached with new insight and resilience.
It is not always humanly possible to make a drastic, almost basic re-adjustment and such inability in many of the Congress veterans should not be castigated as personal failure, especially when the individuals concerned are very much past the eventful prime of their lives. It is however one thing to be fair and even appreciative on the personal level and another thing altogether to assess the impact of the lacunae, inadequacies and maladjustments in positions of leadership of the country’s affairs. From this latter point it has to be realised that at least on the short-run the situation is indeed serious.
The members of the old guard of national stature are superannuating. Apart from infirmity of age quite a few of the elder statesmen are suffering from the difficulty in readjusting their attitudes and approach as already mentioned. On the other hand, there has not been any worthwhile effort at training other Congressmen, even on a selective basis, so as to enable them to re-orientate their outlook and undertake the new responsibilities. Consequently there is for the present a considerable weakness and confusion, if not vacuum, at positions of leadership in Congress.
