The Statue Politics.

Reaching across to people has never been easier as it is in today's world. Cities are fast embracing the Internet age and the IT highway has started making inroads into the Indian villages, yet it seems that many leaders these days have little faith in the power of the electronic/print or mass connect mediums. Connecting with one's subjects has been the top priority for all great rulers, the Fatehpur Sikri has the Diwan-e-aam, which was the platform for the Emperor to meet his subjects. Kautilya in his book the Arthashashtra recommended use of spies to sense the atmosphere among his subjects. Two generations after Kautilya wrote his treatise, India saw one of its greatest emperors - Asoka.

Emperor Asoka was a brilliant administrator, his empire spanned from Kalinga in the east to the Hindu Kush mountains in the north west which posed an administrative challenge of a gigantic proportion, yet he found a unique way of spreading the message of righteous living to his subjects across his empire. Asoka understood the importance of communication, he knew that he needs to be aware of his audience, the mode to get the communication across to them and the language that he needs to communicate in; he addressed the challenge by issuing edicts, these edicts were erected in places frequented by his subjects and were usually form of a text in the local language inscribed on rock. It is not surprising then that Asokan symbols can be found in India's national flag and national emblems.

Two millenia ago an emperor had created an effective system of reaching out to his subjects, yet today that system seems to have been lost in the pages of history. Leaders find it easier to communicate with statues as compared to reaching out to the people in person. There was a status erection spree in Uttar Pradesh a few months ago which the country's apex judicial body had to put a stay on, then were was the proposal to install the statue of Chattrapati Shivaji maharaj in the sea off the coast of Mumbai. The more recent and rather ironical development was the announcement that 30 statues of the late CM YS Rajashekara Reddy will be installed across Andhra Pradesh.

The helicopter in which Mr YSR was travelling crashed, because he decided to brave the inclement weather and keep up with the appointment with his people as part of his mass connect program, it is ironical that instead of taking a cue out of the importance that Mr YSR set on communicating directly with his people, the government is busy planning installation of his statues. Mr YSR won two assembly elections back to back, he was very efficient in implementing NREGS which endeared him to most of the people, his legacy will live whether or not there are statues of him across his state. What is essential now is that the schemes he had initiated and worked on are continued with the same efficiency and that can be only achieved by reaching out to the people like he did. The age of communications makes it simpler to reach out and while a statue may be worth a thousand words, reaching out to your people either personally or via electromagnetic waves is priceless.
(Had sent this article for publication in a daily but it was dinged).