It was Martin Luther King who stated that “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moment of comfort but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy”. This was defined as the quality of a leader in times of crisis. Many world leaders are going through one of their toughest phases in the career as a politician and a leader during the Covid-19 crisis. The leaders are now being watched closely and are rated based on their actions as well as reactions. In India too there is a healthy and robust fight being fought by many state leaders in taking their respective state out of the pandemic. Who will come out in the front is something only time will tell? For now, let’s look at some of the leaders in prominence in this list,
There should be no doubt that our PM Modi, is in the forefront leading the entire nation in the fight against corona. He has shown his way of handling the crisis by taking strict action is the only way that works in a country like India. Most of his actions are thought out but some are not been listened to or followed resulting in discomforts to some section of the society. (Migrant Crisis). One of the outstanding features of his leadership during this crisis is that he never took a decision since the opposition or some in the media shouting at the top of their voice. He is holding back on the economic package is something which I am sure is a well thought out strategy and for me, and the untimely package will be nothing but like adding salt to the sea.
The first in the list of state leaders who have done a remarkable job is from the far southern state. Pinarayi Vijayan has taken almost a similar role as our PM when it came to the fight against the corona. His total dedication to the instructions from the central ministry and implementation of the same from the very beginning made sure the state has full control over the virus situation better than any other state in the country. The enforcement of lockdown, as well as systematic easing of the lockdown and the migrant issue management and repatriation, are all done in a manner that could have been replicated by other states under duress. For his hard work and leadership in times of crisis, he stands first in this list of state leaders.
The next in line is Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, even though Delhi is one of the worst affected states he was never in denial of that truth and has done everything appropriate to the situation as well as taking into consideration of the directive from the central ministry. The issue of Markaz and the fallout is one of the major stress factors for him and he didn’t take the easy way out but made sure almost 4,000 of the Markaz members are put under quarantine which I am sure has drastically cut down the chances of more people getting infected. He has closed down all of Delhi’s borders to prevent any interstate migration and travel so that his team can concentrate on the ways to reduce the infection and take control of the ground situation. It is still a work in progress for Delhi and I am hopeful sooner we will see Delhi winning over the fight against corona.
Then few other leaders are at par in this fight against the virus which includes UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Telangana CM KCR, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Karnataka CM Yeddyurappa, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, and Maharashtra CM Udhav Thackeray. These leaders are not only fighting against the virus but they were also in the fight which was created by some in the media and Congress. On one hand, most of these states are fighting a high number of infections due to the presence of proximity living in slums as well as poor hygienic conditions and self-distancing concerns due to overcrowding. Most of these states were also dealing with millions of migrants who are either living in their cities and want to return especially from Maharashtra, Telangana, and Karnataka whereas states like UP and Bihar are under stress to accommodate these people in quarantine before they were let go free. Not an easy task but these leaders are trying their best to make sure they have the upper hand in controlling the situation soon.
There has to be another extreme to this list and the one at the bottom of the list as a state leader is none other than West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Her constant requirement of showing one-upmanship and her unnecessary ego and fight against Modi and BJP has pulled down her efforts in controlling the pandemic. The manipulation of the data and not so systematic implementation of lockdown norms and self-distancing made sure the state is lagging far behind all other states when it comes to the fight against the virus. Her need for being the only one to take decisions and not delegating has not only hampered the state’s fight against the pandemic but also forced her public health care official to manipulate the critical data about the number of infections and the death toll. It is a pity she had to do go down so low in the list of leadership just because she doesn’t like Modi and doesn’t want to be part of team India in the fight against the virus.
The list will be inconclusive if we don’t consider the performance of the opposition especially the congress party and its leaders. They were never a good opposition in good times but in times of crisis to they showed India that they are all about petty politics and has no intention to be anywhere helpful or are for the good of the people. Their constant interaction along with some of the media houses have created troubles to many state leaders including the ones belonging to their group. It was not surprising when many of these state leaders decided to take a different line from the ones propagated by Sonia and Rahul and that in itself shows when it comes to a crisis the whole of India will not see politics and those who try to do that will be left far behind.
One thing is for sure this crisis has shown the capability of many state leaders and that in itself is a revelation to our country. We have always thought about the central leadership when we talk about India and its growth but the truth is that every state leader plays an important role in augmenting that growth and enhancing the image of India across the world and for that we all should be proud of the majority of the state leaders we currently have. JAI HIND.
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