Shashi Tharoor minus IPL ??

Tharoor sans twitter, OSD & IPL -- a successful MoS (Rediff)

I guess all of us will agree that Tharoor is a good "new age" leader. Even Twitter that he used is a new age communication mechanism.

See what TED has to say about him & his talk in favour of "soft power" & its influence. Actually 1 of my Finnish friend passed this TED link to me :-). Listen to him carefully, choice of words & emphasis of important points & delivery of the speect, simply great !

My reaction during DEC 2009 was:
-- He is good. He is “new kind” of politician in India who has seen the world & has lots of experience.
-- But probably more out-ward focusing person & he has to learn to see in-ward to the nuances this country has at grass-root level.
-- But we need him & many more like him who bring out-ward looking perspective to the Govt. Otherwise our “default” politicians always go to a line “they do what their voters need” & do not bother about rest of the world.

Now fast-forward to IPL 2010:

-- I guess it was ok that he used his influence to move the new IPL team to Kerala. The episode showed that he is ready to jump to extra-curricular activities. I mean other then being a white-color minister.

-- But it also shows that he was not abel to handle (or I would say "hide") the other connections, to be specific his friend.

Again this looks to be a new age politics, bold & clear!!!

We know for sure that there are 100s of MLAs & MPs in INDIA who have "connections" & they use influence to get thinsg done in their favour, even kill innocent for their gain. But then they do it the traditionla way that we Indians are used to, by hiding things.

I guess Tharoor need to learn this. The mass in India is ok (or I would say "used-to) if the leaders are doing "ghapla" only that it should be under wraps.

We of-course need leaders like Shashi Tharoor to be around. I would say, Rahul Gandhi, Jindal, Sachin Pilot, Nitin Gadkari, Mohan Bhagwat, etc. We need "new age" leaders in all the camps, ruling & opposition. With new ideas & new ways of working.