Leaders or bullies?

The recent incident of a Shiv sena MP repeatedly hitting an Air India manager with his footwear was the last straw, in a series of incidents when our elected leaders have shocked us with their demeanor. What kind of leaders are these people? Are we, the people responsible for electing them?

The Shiv Sena MP, Ravindra Gaikwad assaulted the flight manager on Friday for the reason that he was not provided a business class seat in an all economy flight from Pune to Delhi. He was barred from Air India and many more domestic flights, following this shocking incident. His party which won the recent municipal elections in Mumbai has also reprimanded him.

What kind of leaders are we electing?

The number of politicians with criminal records is only growing, and people like Irom Sharmila who stood for a cause in Manipur , getting only 90 votes is a mockery of our electoral process and this democracy.

As far as the Shiv Sena is concerned, it has a history of violence-just as many other parties in India, whether it is the Congress or the BJP. The difference is that some are more violent than the rest and their very existence is because of pure muscle or threatening postures.

The late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray used to publicly remind people how Sena workers had beaten the CMD of Air India in the 1970s in his own office after he refused to hire Maharashtrian workers in the airline. The Shiv Sena has a long history of bullying top hotels and hospitals in Mumbai.

No wonder the saying, “Power corrupts, Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

-UDAAN