With power, comes immense responsibility. But the aura of leaders lies in their humility
In the workshop at Surajkund for the newly elected ruling party MPs, the Prime Minister rightly emphasised the need to abstain from ahankara (arrogance) and bhrashtachar (corruption). Though copious management literature on leadership identifies the many qualities that leaders need to possess, the one that outshines all others is humility. And often times it proves critical.
It is this quality that differentiated Rama from Ravana and Yudhistra from Duryodhana. From Mahatma Gandhi to Sardar Patel to lal Bahadur Shastri, all exhibited humility. Humility helps a leader not get inebriated by power and gives him the ability to get along with people by focusing on conduct and character — this is what the Prime Minister had tried to emphasise. Ahankara and bhrashtachar have led to the fall of many empires and rulers. Pride comes before a fall. Whether Ravana or Duryodhana, all were consumed by arrogance. It has been very aptly brought out by Barbara Tuchman in her famous book The March of Folly, which says, “The three outstanding attributes — obliviousness to the growing disaffection of constituency, primacy of self-aggrandisement and the illusions of invulnerable status — are persistent aspects of folly.” Humility is an antidote to these.
Understanding humility, however, may not be easy. Practising it is even more difficult. Instances from scriptures may help in understanding humility. When Ravana is lying vanquished on the ground, about to die, lord Rama tells his younger brother laxmana that Ravana was a great scholar and knew the art of state craft well. He asks laxmana to go to Ravana and learn. laxmana goes and stands near Ravana’s head. Then Rama suggests that laxmana must stand near Ravana’s feet if he has to learn. Similarly, when Duryodhana and Yudhistra had gone to meet lord Krishna, and were waiting as the lord was sleeping, Duryodhana chose to wait by the side of the head while Yudhistra waited by the side of the feet. And it did make a difference in deciding the battle of Kurukshetra.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But the question is why not everybody. The answer lies in one word — humility. Great leaders do not let power enter their head. Rather, power makes them even more humble and they become more amiable.
There is a very interesting incident from the life of Sardar Patel. As a senior leader and Home Minister of the country, Patel was highly respected, and Congress workers often went to meet him. On one occasion, a Congress worker Ananta Shayanam Ayengar took an appointment to meet Patel.
He was asked to see Patel in the evening. As he was entering Patel’s room for the meeting at the stipulated time, Patel’s sister Maniben entered to tell Patel that the Maharaja of Patiala had arrived and wanted to meet him too. Ayengar, an ordinary Congress worker as he was, volunteered to go out and wait, while the Maharaja could meet Patel. To this Patel said that it was Ayengar who had sought the appointment. So, the Maharaja will have to wait. The gesture reflects Patel’s humility and his respect for an ordinary person.
The writer is a professor, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (Jharkhand). He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com