Freedom @ Midnight

I am reading this book with the same title authored by Dominique Lapierie, and it's really connecting the dots of India's Past with the Present. One thing that stuck me is the role of Mahatma Gandhi in this whole process. As the book is from a foreign author so his writing is not polluted with political pressures.

First question to be answered is what make Mahatma Gandhi a great leader and why that great leader lost the control over India at the time of Independence.

So what made Mahatma Gandhi a great leader:

1. Connect not just Communicate: Masses were connected with the thoughts and lives of Gandhi and he always presented that he is one of them, not a person from some other planet. Just imagine the reaction among people of Bihar when politicians land in their private jets and talk socialist ideas. Similarly I have observed similar things in our offices as well when our great leaders talk about the million dollars in kitty for a project. We all are presented a picture that this money would be transferred in our respective bank accounts over the weekend.

2. Motivate people with Hope but Motivate urself with desire: Everyone needs motivation from time to time, even the great leaders. What make leaders different from masses is this desire and hope. For people of India there was a hope that there is a better life ahead for them after independence, but for Gandhi it was the desire to fight for the self respect, freedom and equality. Architect of India's freedom struggle was not there at the time of independence.

What went wrong in his leadership

1. Create core team and future leaders: As I was going through that book I realized that Gandhi was sidelined by his own stalwarts. So for every leader creation of core team and future leaders is utmost important who stands for the same values as presented by the leader. So a million dollar question why leaders fail to do that? I don't have definite answers but one of the reason I can think of the fear that some day those future leader will undermine the current leader.

2. Chose what to compromise and what not to compromise: Gandhi never wished for a partition and he agreed to that under the duress of his colleagues and viceroy of India. Standing on your own stand is one of the most simplest and difficult thing to do in which he failed. What worse could have happened at that moment. Partition was not less than a civil which they were eagerly trying to prevent.

I know I am no where to comment on the capabilities of these great leaders but for appreciation and criticism I leave it to my readers if there are any :).