While politician-bashing is one of the most common Indian past-times — indeed it often becomes a major occupation as politicians are a breed that most ordinary folk love to hate, and when things go wrong they know whom to blame — wonder of wonders, some leaders have been making all the right noises of late, and all in the span of a few days. The “right noises” began with the declaration by Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh’s controversial new chief minister, that there would be no school holidays on the birth and death anniversaries of national figures. A few of us had always wondered about the futility of such holidays. Apart from reducing an already inadequate number of working days in the academic year, such holidays do not result in our children commemorating these leaders. It is more than likely they will visit malls or enjoy the current blockbuster at a movie hall. Far from paying homage to these leaders, we end up disrespecting them — the routine garlanding of portraits and busts by current leaders doesn’t count. In a country where various religious and regional groups must be kept happy, a rash of festivals dots the pages of our calendar through the year. Moreover, in these days of intense groupism, a holiday to mark a particular festival often represents the triumph of the lobbying by a particular group.
Yogi Adityanath has said many other curious things, but in this case he deserves to be supported. I do not know of any other leader who has commented thus on holidays. I find it far more meaningful for children to learn about these leaders in school through talks, performances, assemblies and celebrations. Most schools in West Bengal had observed Rabindra Jayanti on Tagore’s birthday till a holiday was declared for that day a few years ago. It was the same with Swami Vivekananda. His birth anniversary in January gave schools an opportunity to celebrate his life and in the process children got to know about this great national and spiritual leader. Such holidays merely upset our work schedule. We must therefore salute the wisdom of the UP chief minister for risking personal unpopularity by doing away with such holidays. Then there was the sweet music to our ears of Rajnath Singh, the Union home minster, ticking off bureaucrats for arriving late at a function to observe Indian Civil Services Day. The programme started 12 minutes late and even after that officials continued to trickle in at their own pace. Punctuality is definitely not one of our national traits. And this is why we have a saying that when somebody is late that he or she was following “Indian Standard Time”. Indian VIPs are not expected to be punctual — neither politicians nor other celebrities couldn’t care less about your time — they will choose to arrive at their own sweet will and you should consider yourselves lucky that they have put in an appearance at all! Yet in school, teachers entrusted with the task of character-building are told to be punctual and to teach their students to be punctual. Children are told that being punctual means that you are reliable and that you respect your host. One of the first instructions that was given to me by my chairperson was that school functions and governing body meetings must always start on time, and that we were not to wait for her or for any other special guest. She felt that we should not penalise all those who had come on time. That is why we should commend Rajnath Singh for bringing up the matter of punctuality with bureaucrats.
On the very same day the same bureaucrats had been exhorted not to be “yes men”. They should be able to tell their political bosses if a particular directive was not legal, and could not be followed. I have always believed that an intelligent and self-confident boss would welcome independent thinking on the part of his junior colleagues. In school, similarly, our children must not be expected to be passive listeners and learners. They should ask questions of their teachers, engage in discussion, and certainly not accept the content of their textbooks without question. I realise that this needs courage, and you can get into grave trouble if you don’t comply and obey because those in power can teach you a lesson if you don’t toe their line. But it is truly uplifting if you are able to be true to yourself. Then there is our Prime Minister’s advice to use social media “properly”. For example, you can publicise an Anti-Polio Vaccine Day but not your photograph after you have administered two drops of the vaccine. Mr Narendra Modi also commented on the obsession of some officers with their smartphones — in fact, he mimicked the way they furiously type away on the phones, oblivious to their surroundings. In school too, we want our students to be tech-savvy, but also to be balanced in the way they use their devices. So, it’s thumbs up for our PM on this one. Finally, there was the stunning announcement that the red beacon atop VIP cars would be done away with. Three cheers to that one! But frankly, we are somewhat sceptical about the outcome. It is the trappings and accessories of office that these VIPs aspire to. And my misgivings were soon confirmed by the shameful act of the Uttarakhand Sanskrit University’s vice-chancellor, who protested by sitting on a mattress because his choice of a branded chair costing Rs 60,000 had not reached him. People at the top do not think that they have been put there to serve the public. They are immersed in a sense of entitlement and their behaviour and actions reveal this at every step. Unfortunately, the public too has been conditioned to be servile and fawning to this breed. The truth is that it is the work and character of a leader that earns them genuine adulation. I remember attending a workshop where we were made to answer the question: “Who are you without your business card?” While we continue to teach our students the meaning of “the last shall be first and the first last”, let us be happy that at least the red beacons are off for the moment.
