Ramesh Pandita
Political wisdom always acts as a jugular vein between the ruler and the ruled and the lack of same one or the other way lets whole system fall numb. If we go through various political schools of thought, especially those whom we owe all across globe, we may see that they do have advocated of adopting and embracing to such political practices which otherwise even a layman would reject for a justified reason. In politics prioritizing things is a very common practice and rightly so, else the whole purpose of having political setup or political establishment at any level gets defeated, and as a matter of fact this practice has become one of the fundamental principles of political actions all across the globe.
The accepted fact is that larger interest is always held as supreme over an individual interest and here unarguably it is not the question of survival of fittest but the survival of largest. Politically there is nothing wrong in it to move ahead by overlooking individual interests or by crushing them while moving to protect the larger interest, but at times contrary to this fact there is equally nothing wrong in it if the individual interest of a person or for that matter of a politician becomes a reason for serving a broader issue or interest. Political wisdom or tactful operability is the sole reason which lets even the wicked ones to rule and prevail, and to regulate the behavior of people only to abide by all socially accepted beliefs and norms or even by enforcing such principles should no way be looked down upon when the larger interest is to protected and served.
If we see the political wisdom from the contemporary politicians point of view then whole politics at all levels revolves round the individual interest of each politician and the politician who does not abide by it or uphold it can be definitely termed as suffering from lack of political wisdom. This is so for the fact because people in general have grown so much immune to political upheavals that practice of wicked politics has become routine and endemic to society, and people won’t react to it as they deem it the actual face of politics. Here one can draw parallels between a politician and a criminal, where the question is more of what you chose for self. If one has chosen to be a criminal and doing crime is what we can term as the person is moving on the expected lines and same holds true about a politician, who also moves on the expected lines of a society if he is able to protect most of his personal interests, crosses all limits at whatever cost.
It won’t be inappropriate to say that political wisdom is more about political diplomacy, because political diplomacy supplies oxygen to political wisdom and former has got no existence without lateral. Wisdom in itself means applicability of highest degree of mental faculties. Wisdom is more about having objective approach towards the society at large and to put the best foot forward is where the rule of thumb applies. We as humans’ day-in and day-out fiddle with so many diplomatic tricks which are detrimental in prolonging our individuality and politics without it is inanimate, especially when political carriers are so rewarding in present day world.
Roots of political diplomacy can be traced even in mythological works of most of the faiths and this as a reason if we see has actually come down the line in prevailing socio-political setup. In most of mythological works diplomacy has been the key component in defending good from evil. We come across stories of struggle between demons and holy-men and how holy-men used to use their diplomatic wisdom to defeat demons. Since most of us consider to be belonging to same holy-men lineage, as such having diplomatic wisdom is somewhat inherent or genetic to us, no matter our conduct and activities makes us more resemble and belong to the linage of demons. Chankya the most revered diplomat of all times is known for his diplomatic abilities. Even advocating of taking up to arms, defending self, territory and other dependents has been the cornerstone of political diplomacy in all ages.
In the present political scenario, political wisdom is more about political opportunism and if a politician is not able to exploit the conditions for ones political gains he is bound to face the criticism of lacking political wisdom. Modern political wisdom gets reflected from the type of people being introduced and welcomed in political circles, mostly know for their criminal background, their notoriety, convicts, men from mafia and many more similar kind of people. Survival of both mainstream and other political parties without having affiliation with such people is more about questioning one’s own existence. Politics is more about thrift towards power and those who taste it ones get addicted to its essence and to remain in power ever drags them to those dens of evil which always seek their roots in and among politicians and without each other’s patronage either of them cannot survive for longer.
Though political wisdom is required at all levels equally but still when one is operating in a federal structure that too laced with diversity at all levels, be it religious, regional, cultural, linguistic or other socio-economic one is bound to operate more carefully and to keep all tied with a common frail thread is where the political wisdom gets reflected. Imbibing the spirit of unity, brotherhood, nationalism and living in harmony with equal satisfaction among varied faiths is where the key of political wisdom lies. It is more about not losing the touch of one in the play of many, so should not one forget the need and importance of interdependence among social beings on each other and losing touch of day to day life while analyzing any undesired social development leads us only to put a blind eye to a bleeding eye. We all know how far we are dependent on each other in our routine affairs and how perhaps the recourse of life will suffer without it.
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