Leadership

It is utterly disgraceful to see our Prime Minister hogging on the time and celebrations of ISRO sidelining the ISRO chief Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, who patiently waited on the side looking on. I really appreciate our PM being there at ISRO on the historical day to share the joy and pride of every India. And as for ISRO, it is a great compliment to share their success with the most important man of the nation.  His presence at ISRO cut all the wagging tongues across the world, who thought, space missions are not India’s priority owing to the nation’s poverty levels.  

Coming back to our Prime Minister’s speech at ISRO, I still think a true leader should let go of the accolades and focus on sharing and not on hogging. A lot of my friends beg to differ with me when it comes to our beloved Prime Minister. I thought I owe them an explanation, so I am sharing something that is linked with ISRO’s history. I am sure my learned friends know this, but I assure them that this will be a refreshing perspective.

I am a big fan of former Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who shared his own experience of encountering a true leader, in one of his interviews. He narrated an incident of his days in ISRO during the launch of SLV-3 where he was the Project Director of the mission. During the 2^nd phase of the launch, there was a problem and with the team of experts’ advice, he bypassed the computer and launched the second phase, which turned out to be a disastrous decision and the mission failed. As a project director he was about to meet the media persons to share the news of the failure.  That was the time, he recalled, how Prof. Satish Dhawan, Chairman of ISRO then, took the responsibility of sharing the disastrous news with the world media and owning the fault, as a leader of ISRO.

Subsequently in the next year ISRO's mission was successful and when everyone was expecting the Chairman of ISRO to share the news to the media, Prof. Dhawan asked Dr. Kalam to address the media and share the good news. Dr. Kalam recites this incident in his interview, on how a leader should treat success and failure. Prof. Dhawan owned the responsibility of failure and let his team share the success in the said mission. A sign of a true leader without doubt.

(The link to the video by Dr. Kalam is given here  http://youtu.be/laGZaS4sdeU?t=8m45s)

I believe, I do not have to go into details and content of the 23 minutes extended speech of our beloved Prime Minister, who left little room for ISRO scientists to share their success with the world.  It is not my intention to criticize an elected national leader on everything he does or not. I do admit he did get a few things right, but his silence on the Godhra riots, repeatedly defending his position, claiming innocence citing the clearance given by the Special Investigative Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India and his stoic silence when he encountered the questions from some segments of media about the moral responsibility, all sums up to the absence of the real leader within him. And now the lengthy speech at ISRO, I see this as a disturbing sign in a leader who is responsible for taking decisions on behalf of the entire nation. Not a comforting thought.

ISRO churned out some great leaders like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, Prof Dhawan, Dr. Kalam, who stood taller than politicians in terms of leadership. Least we could do is acknowledge their scientific brilliance in a respectful manner, rather than beating our chests by claiming their hardwork and perseverance as our own. I recall my father, who served as a scientist in Department of Space at NRSA, saying that ‘we launch satellites on shoe-string budgets’. I did not understand the weight of the statement as a kid, but now I could see the pain he felt as a scientist when the rest of the world thought that space research was not India’s domain.

ISRO’s scientific community busted all the myths and doubts that plagued our minds about attaining success through minimum resources. I salute each and every person at ISRO who made us look up and swell in pride for being Indian.  As to our Prime Minister and all his ardent fans, all I have to say, please do not make ‘Leadership in Politics’ an oxymoron.