A Reply to the Philosopher From the Cockroach
Why Honesty Matters More Than Performative Gravitas
It has been said that these are the desirable, indeed required, qualities for anyone who seeks to take on a public leadership role.
Pertinent, indeed.
But only so long as gravitas does not deteriorate into unanalysed bluster and discipline into targeted brutality.
Pray, who had more gravitas and discipline than Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini and their subsequent adulating satraps worldwide in the oppressive decades since?
And look where they got us and continue to so do.
Take a look back at the yield of our own decade or more of gravitas and discipline, and here is what you may see:
A cabined, cribbed and confined democracy; a cronied economy; a strangulated fourth estate; a slew of neutered institutions; a poisoned public discourse; a corrupted educational and intellectual milieu; governance outsourced to vigilante enforcers; encounter killings and bulldozer vengeance in place of judicial due process; the dislodgement of critical thought by certified sloganeering; a refusal of accountability at all levels of administration—however proven the abuses; self-regarding bombast paraded as gravitas; and executive overreach as discipline.
Just as well, many might say, Rahul Gandhi is not burdened by gravitas and discipline of the sort now in fashion.
Many might say that his ideological clarity and combativeness are virtues that have been much in need, as also the warm spontaneity of his disposition where it comes to the sufferings of the wretched of this earth.
Many might say that his fearless unpacking of officially delivered hypocrisies is a good example for the young of the realm who see no future for their efforts and remain marked for appropriation by revanchist cultural forces.
Many might say that he is succeeding in the herculean task of forging his political party into a principled grassroots force after many years of armchair pontifications.
Many might say that he is boldly seeking to return the republic to its constitutional validity and law-abiding conscience.
Many might say that he is taking on a riven polity and, against the greatest odds, seeking to sew it back into a secular unity.
Many might say, “What a breath of fresh air it is that Rahul Gandhi remains open to criticism and bases his own criticisms on proven data and visible justification.”
Many might say this form of unpretentiously forthright and truthful leadership is a better deal than a gravitas and discipline that are often nothing more than a camouflage for a job ill done.
Many might also say that it is for the party he represents to own or disown the Gandhi family, rather than for us academics, who have but only an abstract grasp of kinetic politics.
Often it is the cockroach who is wiser to the task than the philosopher.
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