Turning left as one exits the Harare International airport, the visitor is faced with what the locals call "Independence Gate". It is a gateway built to celebrate Zimbabwe's independence from the British rule in 1980. Twenty seven years is not a long time in a country's history but for Zimbabwe it has been enough to shape its destiny. And the picture looks fairly grim. The country is ruled by the same person who brought them freedom but President Mugabe has metamophosized from being a hero to the most hated person in Zimbabwe today.
India, on the contrary has been now free for sixty years. More for the better than for worse - many would think. Pakistan, our neighbor, was given independence twenty four hours before India and the country has hurtled from one crisis to another and even today is only a step away from being a anarchy. We Indians must thank visionaries like Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel who gave the country a solid foundation at birth. It requires an iron will and vision to build anything, leave alone a nation and our early executives had oodles of both. But perhaps so did Robert Mugabe.
Here is my theory on this. All leaders come with a shelf life and any tenure beyond the sell-by date has dangerous ramifications. We in India came perilously close to it when China invaded us in 1962. It was Nehru's naivety that he couldn't anticipate the threat and foolishness later on to not realize the severity of the invasion. Nehru passed away soon after, leaving the reins of the nation to the younger generation but only after he ensured the solid bedrock of sustainable growth - political, social and economic. Jinnah died too - but my guess is he died too soon, and in the shadow of the partition it was easy for the armed forces to play the role in Pakistan that the army continues to even on this day.
Perhaps Zimbabwe would have continued to be the beautiful country that it was had President Mugabe not lived well past eighty.
India, on the contrary has been now free for sixty years. More for the better than for worse - many would think. Pakistan, our neighbor, was given independence twenty four hours before India and the country has hurtled from one crisis to another and even today is only a step away from being a anarchy. We Indians must thank visionaries like Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel who gave the country a solid foundation at birth. It requires an iron will and vision to build anything, leave alone a nation and our early executives had oodles of both. But perhaps so did Robert Mugabe.
Here is my theory on this. All leaders come with a shelf life and any tenure beyond the sell-by date has dangerous ramifications. We in India came perilously close to it when China invaded us in 1962. It was Nehru's naivety that he couldn't anticipate the threat and foolishness later on to not realize the severity of the invasion. Nehru passed away soon after, leaving the reins of the nation to the younger generation but only after he ensured the solid bedrock of sustainable growth - political, social and economic. Jinnah died too - but my guess is he died too soon, and in the shadow of the partition it was easy for the armed forces to play the role in Pakistan that the army continues to even on this day.
Perhaps Zimbabwe would have continued to be the beautiful country that it was had President Mugabe not lived well past eighty.
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