gerontocracy
/ˌdʒɛrənˈtɒkrəsi/
noun
a state, society, or group governed by old people.
government based on rule by old people.
Having written about 3S's Female Politicians - thought why delay to write on the men - why not when they are alive - and in this year itself? Came across an article by Shashi Tharoor - 'In praise of Gerontocracy' which brought one more similarity among them.
As quoted by ST - 'The New England Journal of Medicine' - Most productive age in human life is 60-70, next 70-80 and then 50-60. That is the age when they have acquired skills, made and learned from mistakes, and can focus on sharpening and deploying their skills. So these men are in their best years of their life, politically very active and have been creating headlines.
The youngest of the three is one of the best debaters India has ever produced. His excellent wit, apt humor, throat slitting points, his ever lasting charismatic style made him most famous among the elite circle, he is a non-official English teacher to many, who teach through tweeter, has written 20 books' 10 of them after his 50's; and has tarnished his image for being the suspicious wife killer, - who is liked for his writings and speeches, especially in international forums. He is an example of how just soft skills are not enough to prosper in life but can give you a certain edge. When politics by itself has become a comedy show, this year he participated in One mike stand - entertaining millions around the globe. Also he won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for his book - 'An Era of Darkness' . A Malayalee from Palakad, three times MP from Trivandurm, born in UK, studied in Mumbai, Calcutta and Delhi, was the youngest PHd holder from US, he completed his doctorate in political science from Tuft University, worked with UN for almost 30 years. Shashi joined politics after his bid to become Secretary General of United Nations failed . He joined Indian National Congress and briefly served as Union Minister of state for external affairs (2009–2010) .Shashi Tharoor was all set to be next Minister of External affairs till a controversial tweet turned tables against him. IPL controvesy also greatly harm his public image.According to him if India must change, we have to re-introduce Indians to their Indianness. He believes in civilised discourse, and has been criticised for praising the opposition a couple of times. The Tharoorian Ideology rests on the three principles of Liberalism, Pluralism and Soft Power. Some belive that Tharoor joining the Congress was the downside of his career, he has been throughout seen as a level headed intellectual.
SS -
A Statistician, Number cruncher, holds a doctorate in economics from Harvard University at the age of 24, served as a professor in Harvard University and IIT, supposed to be a scholar in Chinese. He won Mumbai MP Seat in 1971. During emergency, he did a surprise entry into Parliament to keep up his MP seat & sneaked out of Delhi without getting arrested. speaks about his agility, network & guts.He was part of Sarvodaya Movement and had opposed national emergency .He was a member of Union cabinet led by Chandra Shekhar. He holds a long parliamentary career -five time Rajya Sabha member; one time Lok sabha member from Madurai (Tamil Nadu). Dr Subramanian- a Rajya Sabha member- is not part of Union Government; but is known as an influencer. His controversial views and acerbic language are admired by many in government and political circles. Regardless of his right winger image ; Dr Swamy is tolerant of all religions. His wife is a Parsee; one son in law is a muslim ;and a sister in law is a christian and another is a Sikh . Swamy is the man of action, over period of time he developed his own wit in interacting with different sections of media and Political spheres. True Indian heart and mind in action. To pull down the Bajpyee government - he brought together Sonia, Jayalalitha and Mayavathi and called them Sarashwathi, Lakshmi and Durga. His legal acumen as reflected in cases like 2G scam, coalgate, National Herald scam, disproportionate asset case...is unparalleled in contemporary Indian political and legal fraternity. He was instrumental in the Ramjanmabhoomi- Bhabri Masjid decision, and is believed to be one, who introduced the concept on faith into the decision/judgement, which was always disputed on the grounds of the possession of land untill then. His intellect in terms of economic acumen to impeccable political leadership to anti corruption crusader is well known in respective fields. He also has deep understanding in foreign policy matters. His contribution as an economist in 1991 economic reforms has been well acknowledged by none other than Dr. Manmohan Singh. His long political career has been impeccable and full of integrity. Apart from these, his insights into sociocultural evolutionary history of Indian society is remarkable. SS talks of facts and they have also supporting evidence. His first Law teacher was his wife Roxna Swamy who wrote his biography - 'Evolving with Subramanian Swamy a roller coaster ride'. A smart, intelligent man normally known to substantiate claims with proof, but deep within can cling to a charge even where it is unsubstantiated. Has a loose tongue, and is sadly a motor mouth. As he grows old, his criticism of his own party men including others not knowing Economics, and how things would be different, if he was made a Finance Minister is always mentioned by him in his interviews.
SP -
A professional politician by practice, has mastered the game over the years. He was the youngest CM in India at the age of 37 without any formal Godfather(at the background all know that Mr Yashwantrao Chavan was behind him). He was ICC Chairman, writer, Businessman who value Agriculture. He definitely would have aspired to be the PM, but could not; he was influential in having women in defense, when the cause of his oral cancel was detected to be his habit of chewing tobacca, he not only stopped that but banned it from the whole of India. For him there are no friends and enemies - very down to earth, but would stand up for what he want's - The first lot of three people who did not support Sonia Gandhi leading INC, and therefore formed NCP. The blasts, which left 357 people dead and 717 others injured, on a Black Friday (12th March 1993) in Bombay just two weeks after SP took charge as the CM and hardly a year after demolition of Babri Masjid. He foresaw the riots. He immediately held a live TV broadcast (doordarshan) and announced that 12 blasts had happened, the last one being at Masjid Bandar- a predominantly Muslim locality. He also stated that LTTE hand was suspected.The news did its job perfectly. The blasts could no longer be stereotyped as a Muslim action targeted against Hindus. - Justice Shrikrishna Commission, which later investigated the bombings, lauded Sharad Pawar for this lie. They even remarked- ‘That’s one bomb that saved so many lives.’Like a suspense thriller novel or a movie, everybody double-crossed everybody else in the recent Maharashtra elections. When the morning news papers read that the Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress Trio was to form the government - BJP had already took the oath and formed the government - SP was not to give up. Supreme Court opened on Sunday - asked them to prove majority. MLA's were taken to hotel in Delhi - They were all brought back and MLA's of all the three party was together untill majority was proved and the collision formed the government, but for him and his NCP.
Thanks to people like the 3's - Politics today is worthy of cinema, tutorial for English language and there are people out of the dynastic INC challenging the other wise majority government who has become autocratic, divisive and sham.
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