There are two kinds of leaders. One who leads by example and other who motivates others to  set examples. India as a country has seen many such leaders. Gandhi was probably the only leader who fell in both categories. He showed his resistance against foreign rule himself first and then motivated others to join him.

But that is indeed rare. People like APJ Abdul Kalam and Sachin Tendulkar have led by example. They have shown ordinary people how dedication, determination and talent can make us shine. People like A B Vajpayee, Subhash Chandra Bose have motivated, inspired others to set an example. 

So what kind of leader does India need now? I believe that Indian youth have more or less realised the importance of good life and a country with good governance. What India needs now are leaders who can lead by example. We do not need any more motivational speakers screaming in every rally asking us to wake up. The time has come for the leaders of the country to step up and set an good example by showing their skills in administration, governance, economics and science. Instead of talking about big dreams and asking the country to vote for them let them show us some meat.

• We want the leaders to show us the detailed plan they have for each of constituencies. We want to know the list they have in hand containing all the problems we as people are facing. The plan must be concrete and not just ‘words in air.’ It should be published either on a site or a blog.
• We want to know how competent their team of ministers are in governance and administration. Like will they be taking into account the experience a leader has in the ministry which he will be allotted?
• We want to know what their plans are in controlling the spiraling population, what is their ‘big picture’ plan to improve the literacy rate of India. Again a detailed concrete plan.
• We want to know  what they are doing about the rising gas prices and power hikes. If you say you give gas at subsidy rate we also would want to know how will you compensate the hole in treasury.

Only then we will vote for them. We do not want any more leaders to talk about theories and achievements. We don’t care about anybody’s oratory skills or whether they wear khadi bandgalas. Let them wear shirt and pant but PLEASE first show us that you are competent enough to do the job.

For every job we apply, our qualifications right from tenth standard are needed. We need to have experience and on top of it we need to go through five rounds of interviews and only then we get the job. You leaders must show us also, that you deserve to get this job of leading us and making decisions for us!

The parties are setting a bad example by giving tickets to murderers, rapists, criminal (we don’t care if their cases are still “on trial”). We don’t need such bad examples. They need to select competent people to stand for their people and show us they are indeed leaders who have the ability to judge who is good and who is bad.

The big question is does India have any such leaders? Anybody else?  I am still thinking!