Dr A S Bhatia
I am a staunch follower of the teachings of Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Sahib, the tenth guru of Sikhism. Right from my childhood, I have been deeply influenced by Guru’s teachings and with whatever little literature available in that era of No Internet, I tried to go through and imbibe whatever I could understand. I still remember I read poetry book written by my father Sardar Surinder Singh, an engineer graduated from Madras University in 1953, on the life of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Sahib, hundreds of times, when I was a grade seven student. What influenced me most and helped throughout my life is the beautiful phrases written by Dashmesh Pita, “Dev Siva Bar mohe eh- hey Subh Karman Te Kabhu na taro. Na daro arr seo Jab Jaye Laro Nischey kar apni jit Karo. Arr Sikh ho apne he mann ko, eh laalach hou gun tau ucharo. Jab aav ki audh nidan bane att he rann me tabh joojh maro II. This means Dear God, grant my request so that I may never deviate from doing good deeds. That, I shall have no fear of the enemy when I go into battle and with determination I will be victorious. That, I may reach my mind to only sing your praises. And when the time comes, I should die fight heroically on the field of battle .
I am Sikh but not an Amritdhari Sikh, the Khalsa, the pure, because I found so my faults in my personality during my adulthood that I could not gather the courage to adopt and live the life a true Khalsa, that should have been lived. But even then sayings of the Great Guru ji had a tremendous impact on the transformation of my personality. In a research paper published in IOSR Journal of Business and Management(IOSR-JBM) volume 18, issue 9 ver IV (Sept 2016) pp-30-34 by professor (Dr) Markanday Ahuja, Vice Chancellor Baba Mastnath University, Asthar Bohar, Rohtak, on the life and teachings of the tenth Guru sahib, the academician has concluded that the lessons of managerial sagacity from the life history of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Sahib can sensitize the global leaders towards value based management for sustained growth and success. He was an iconic leader.
Now once I look back towards the present world leaders and their actions, reactions and their comprehension of the current pandemic engulfing the whole world, it becomes clearly evident the people of that respective country have to pay back in accordance with strategies adopted by their leaders. To start with, after Wuhan the starting point of the eruption, the Chinese leadership did not disclose the actual facts to the world community and the aftermath is for all to see. According to some news channels the Mayor of the Wuhan has claimed that about fifty lakh people had moved out from Wuhan to different destinations in the world leading to spread of Deadly virus in almost all parts of the planet. The leadership of China showed lack of emotional intelligence, lack of empathy and lack of accountability, the most important characters of great leadership.
Now moving towards Italy, the country with the second most developed health care infrastructure in the world. Once it was clear the corona virus is spreading and is a highly contagious disease and after the US president Donald Trump called it a “Chinese Virus”, The Mayor of Florence, Italy, Mr Dario Nardella committed suicidal blunder by becoming a part of the “Hug a Chinese” campaign launched by a Chinese youth holding a placard saying “I’m a Human. I’m not virus. Free me from prejudice.” Even the mayor circulated his own images on social media, showing him embracing a Chinese person. This led to a development of a feeling of false confidence among the people of Italy and the aftereffect is there for the whole world to see. Here the Italian leadership miserably failed to take a right decision at the right time, again another important quality of a good leadership.
After Italy, another country which has emerged as a new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic is United States of America. Everyone is well aware of the initial reactions of Donald Trump about corona pandemic. His under estimation of the real threat and his attitude of not listening to the advice of experts have led to exponential spread of the deadly virus in America. In fact Mr Donald Trump had dismantled a special team for pandemic preparedness which was created after Ebola breakout a few years back, at National security council. There was total lack of readiness, when the first case appeared in America. His actions has put the world super power in great embarrassing position with more than fourteen thousand Americans succumbing to the contagion with millions infected. The Americans who changed the world history after losing about more than three thousand citizens in the twin tower attack and ultimately succeeded in eliminating Osama Bin Laden, the founder leader of Al-Qaeda in Abbottabad area of Pakistan, fell prey to the corona virus. It will be worth watching whether the American are going to change their strategy after the pandemic is over and whether, will be investing more in healthcare system rather than the military or NASA projects. One thing more fearful is that whether the superpower now will divert to developing weapons of Bio War rather than going for more nuclear bombs, It will be interesting to watch after few years and the future of coming generation will depend upon the secret decision to be taken by American leadership.
On the other hand, if we look towards smaller countries like South Korea, Singapore , Japan, it gives us relief to see that they have been successful in containing the pandemic by their well developed strategies and timely implementation of wise decisions showing the strategic intelligence of their leadership. It is very interesting to note that by the 5th of January, Chinese scientists have published a complete viral genome of corona from an infected patient and reported it to the GENE BANK, the genetic sequencing database of US National Institute of Health (NIH). Taking full benefits of it, South Korea, who has a very strong biotech industry, looked at the genome sequence and then rapidly developed a test kit leading to wide spread of testing in South Korea with a testing capacity of screening more than 20000 people in a single day. Their success lies in opening of test centers where people could drive in and go through. The tests were made free for all, so more and more cases could be identified and quarantined. Their leadership took quick scientific decisions and the South Koreans were saved.
I was amazed to receive a video call from my friend Dr Khalid Sammad who is emergency Medicine specialist and working in the Kingdom of Brunei, and showed me the opening of a new bridge about twenty km long and constructed over sea connecting two districts of kingdom of Brunei. I simply asked him, “Are you people crazy? The whole world is being engulfed by corona and your leadership is inaugurating new Bridges. He laughed and what he told was astonishing, the kingdom of Brunei took strict measures in the beginning itself after the first few cases appeared and stopped all international flights , even the travelers of previous flights were taken to hotels and were put on quarantine and testing and thus were able to contain the pandemic and as of 9th of April, no new case was reported for the last five days
Coming back to home, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not downplayed the severity of threat and the most important part is that, the Indian leadership is listening to the advice given by the group of experts unlike the president of United States of America. The swift mode in which Prime Minister Modi is acting to the warning signs is sure to contain the pandemic. As a true leader, the Indian leadership is taking the people into confidence at each and every decision taken by the government.
The Prime Minister made a national appeal to light lamps, candles, torch or flash lights of mobile phones for nine minutes at nine pm on 5th of April. But here in Jammu it was raining heavily at that time but even than I could not resist my emotions and with black coloured umbrella in my left hand and torch in right hand , went up to the rooftop and was surprised to see hundreds of torches and flash lights of mobile phones from all the rooftop amidst heavy rains. I could feel a thrilling wave running though my spine. It gave me a feeling that I was in a battle field and the holy baani of Shri Guru Gobind Singh ji Sahib “Dev Siva Bar mohe eh- hey Subh Karman Te Kabhu na taro. Na daro arr seo Jab Jaye Laro Nischey kar apni jit Karo,” went down my memory lane. I was more determined to participate in the fight against corona. Now I was more prepared to follow the guideline issued by health advisory organizations. I was more prepared I go into battle and with determination that I will be victorious along with my countrymen. After those remarkable nine minutes were over I came down to my room. My son, Aakash Deep was staring at me. I smiled.”Well done Papa” he said, “I was also standing there but you were so engrossed in waiving the torch, you did not see me.” I was totally drenched in the rain.
Next morning I started to have a look on the sequence of events in India and tried to analyze the strategy of Indian leadership. First it was a Janata curfew followed by taali aur thaali event to encourage the various workers including doctors and nurses for their services towards the society, which acted as a morale booster for thousands of healthcare workers throughout the country. Now it is clear it was mock drill by the Prime Minister of India to make people understand what the lockdown actually means and also was an exercise to see the involvement of public in its fight against corona. During all these times the Indian leader always remained in contact with his country man through Man Ki Baat or it may be address to the Nation but Mr Modi never lost the personal touch with common man and acted like a good communicator where every Indian felt not being left alone in the war. After the publication of this article many people including some of my friend will call me Modi Bakht, as the phrase is going on in Indian media, but I have the courage to admire the leadership qualities of a leader of my country which many other world leaders lacked and brought disaster to the people who had elected them. But strategically along with all these the government of India will have to increase the testing capabilities of the states so that more and more people can be tested, their contacts traced and quarantined in time to stop the spread of virus before it is too late.
So my request to my entire countryman especially Jammuites to believe in your leadership and even if we have to go for another period of extended lockdown, be physically and mentally prepared for it, as Mirza Ghalib said,
“Guzar Jaaega Ye Dour Bhi Ghalib, Zra Itminan To Rakh, Jab Khushi Na Thahri To Gaam Ki Kya Aoukat Hai.”
Jai Hind.
(The author is Vice president Indian Academy of Biomedical Sciences, India and professor and head department of Biochemistry, Government medical College Jammu.)
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