Time For the Old Order To Yield To New!

The domination of older people, be it in politics or government is a spectacle very common in India at a time when the picture is completely opposite in the Europe and other countries. It is undeniably true that relative young age could not be the sole criterion for leadership which demands an altogether different set of qualities like vision, insight, energy etc. But we have developed a few notions which are apparently flawed and illogical .To most Indians old age is synonymous with wisdom. And if we are to take this to logical or illogical conclusion that would imply all wise men should be necessarily old . Whenever any vacancy arises in the top office of presidency, it is amusing to see that all the political parties engage themselves in an intense search for a person who must possess the most important criterion of all - an age of plus seventy to be eligible to become a candidate. And the older the better! It is a competition among the parties. In the last presidential election, Smt. Pratibha Patil, who was into her mid-70s was the candidate for the UPA faced the opposition candidate Mr. B.S.Shekwawat an octogenarian.

But the scenario is refreshingly different in the west and other parts of the world. It would be appropriate to recall how the legendary African leader Nelson Mandela voluntarily stepped down from presidency and such precedents are not uncommon elsewhere. It would be interesting to note that most of the 14 prime ministers we have had assumed office after sixty. It is a typical Indian phenomenon that most of our politicians nourish ambition to hang on to public position till the very end of it. Late Morarji Desai who became Prime Minister as an octogenarian even had a firm believe when he was nearing his 90s that he would be Prime Minister once again because his astrologer convinced him.

Given to complex nature of the problems of the world which confront us today, it is not the the so-called wisdom believed to be possessed by the older generation which can see us through we need the dynamism and vibrancy of youth to meet the challenge effectively. Look at the US, Germany and other Western countries. The time has come for the baton to change hands. Let us not make a fetish of old age. The old order must yield to new.