The entire ongoing episode looks like a long-running theatre of the absurd
Actor J Jayalalithaa entered politics succeeding superstar MG Ramachandran through sheer dramatics. She left the Tamil Nadu scene after almost ruining the State and shaming its citizens. Right-thinking people were hoping that the era of celluloid make-believe politics has ended and the State can look forward to genuine and sincere leadership. Now another cine-actor Rajinikanth is playing dramatics through his Hamletian farce of ‘to-be-or-not-to-be’ to enter politics!
After weeks of high drama, Rajinikanth’s entry into politics has almost been confirmed by his brother Satyanarayana Rao Gaikwad from Bengaluru: “It is the people’s wish that Rajinikanth should enter politics.” He insisted that the superstar’s political foray was imminent. God alone knows what ‘people’s wish’ he is talking about! Does he mean that a small mob of frenzied cinema-zealots masquerading as Rajinikanth fans represent the seven-crore plus people of Tamil NaduIJ
In the State, the entire episode looks like a continuation of the long-running theatre of the absurd. This became bizarre when Rajinikanth gave a clarion call: “I will call you when there is war”, and his frenzied fans immediately responded: “We are ready, Thalaiva (leader)”. To prove their servile loyalty, the fans put up huge banners all over the place. These zealots have reduced politics and war into a filmy joke.
In a democracy, any adult citizen can enter politics at his/her pleasure. If Rajinikanth wants to do it, nobody can stop him. Then why is this media-propped hysterical 24x7 nautankiIJ Besides, one need to have some basic leadership qualities. Robert K Greenleaf (1977) defines a leader thus: “He is servant first… it begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve first. The conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of a need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve-after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them are different varieties of human nature.” One wonders where Rajinikanth fits in.
laub (1999) refines it further and states that servant-leader sees himself or herself as a servant first. From there the desire to lead emerges. In a sense for them leading becomes a form of serving. Servant-leadership is a state of mind and way of being rather than a concept that is defined. The true measure of the servant-leader “will be the positive growth of the people he or she leads”. Humility and lack of flamboyance are the hallmarks of such leadership.
What Tamil Nadu needs today is such a leader. The hyperbolic drama with which Rajinikanth wants to ‘enter’ politics does not fit into this bill. Is he entering politics or is politics entering him to help him grab powerIJ n