Justin Trudeau's Apology Illuminates The Un-Inspiring Standards Of Indian Politics
23 May 2016 11:49 AM GMT
Justin Trudeau’s apology is not unprecedented but worth pondering
Recently the Canadian parliament witnessed an incident which created ruckus in their Parliament. The incident involved the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau allegedly elbowing a woman, the incident has been hash tagged as #elbowgate. Our area of interest is what followed the #elbowgate, where the Canadian Prime Minister publicly apologized on social media and in the Parliament and in his own words “expect better behavior from himself”. Concerned citizens of India ask, why do our politicians never own up for their mistakes? When always their mistakes end up in blame games?
A definition of true leader
The questions are valid and relevant, before we go into the Indian scenario let us understand the importance of what Justin Trudeau did, how an apology improves the tone and quality of pubic debates. The Prime Minister of any country heads entire team of people/ministers and also represents the people of the country. A quality leader would share the credit with his team, own up for any of the mistakes his team has done and defend them from criticisms, he/she should be a firewall within which his/her team could work freely and also shield them from criticisms, the true leader is more concerned about how things are done rather than who gets the credit. A true leader rises to the top to fall down, beaten on and stamped upon.
The Indian scenario
Now let us dig a little into the Indian scenario, you often see leaders crave for credit and identity, pull the other person down to make themselves appear bigger than the rest. How often have we seen political leaders appreciate each other’s work? How often have seen our political leaders own up for the mistakes they or their party men have committed? How often have we seen political leaders talk as one team called India? Frankly, honestly and disappointingly, there has only been very few instances of of such high standards in the last two decades of politics.