Shastri Philip

I have met numerous crusaders, reformers, and visionaries. I have seen them toiling all their lives, sacrificing all what they have. Yet, to my regret, I have seen many of them failing in their mission.

How is it that so many good, sincere, and committed men of integrity who devote all their lives to the benefit of others fail. How is it that their goodness is not recognized, and how is it that good people ditch good individuals.

There are no first-principles of philosophy from which one can deduce the answers, but there are plenty of case-studies from which one can draw conclusions based upon empirical observations, or at least upon observations that are as empirical as possible.

Madhaorao Scindia was a person whom I had seen from my childhood. I was a teenager when he got married. I  conversed with him freely during many professional and formal meeting. He sas intelligent, patriotic, and a very upright man. He was also a great visionary, exactly like his father the Late HH Jiwajirao Scindia. Yet Madhaorao never attained his full leadership potential in politics whereas lesser souls and people of no integrity rose to positions which should actually have been occupied by great statesmen like Madhaorao. Herein lies one trap of a democracy: democracy is government by all and for all, but the system is susceptible to manipulation by the shrewd so that often the good ones are left behind and the manipulators get in control of things.

I was brought up in the town in which Madhaorao Scindia and his ancestors lived. Most of them were wise and benevolont rulers. Gwalior attained great financial, social, and spiritual prosperity under them. Standing in the same line, Madhavrao was more educated, more capable, and was very very far-sighted. Whatever responsibility was given to him, he delivered result beyond any person’s wildest imagination.

The man, his attainments, his agonies and his movement within political circles are very lucidly described in this book. Particularly absorbing are the portions that deal with the Emergency days and his intense concern for the safety of his extended family.  One cannot keep it down after the reading the first page. It is hisotry as well as analysis. The analysis is accurate, straightforeward, and eye opening. I would recommend everyone aspiring to be a leader of any movment to read this book both to understand the man as well as to understand how any democratic system can hinder a person from performing all what he can, or what he wises to do.

The ruler and shepherd of people, Madhaorao, never realized that one can do all what one wishes in a democracy only if he manages his commitment as well as his political. He was committed, but he ignored political realities. Thus people of far less vision and commitment often sidelined him. Thus the nation lost the potential services of a great statsman. The book is a must read.

Madhavrao Scindia, Vir Sanghvi and Namita Bhandare, Penguin/Viking, 2009, 354 pp, Rs. 550

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