Don't know how many political leaders are supposed to be wise and hardworking, but the founder-chief of a successful political party has to be both. There are no two ways about it.
Political wisdom is not about pretentiously mentioning names like Bhagat Singh, Subhas Chandra Bose, Che Guevara, Gaddar and Gunturu Seshendra Sarma at rallies. It's about understanding the pulse of the voter. It's about knowing what your cadres are thinking. It's about building an organizational set-up by ceasing to be a part-time politician.
Pawan Kalyan knows all this like how a dull student knows the importance of Mathematics but doesn't work towards honing his Math skills. Like a dimwit Tenth-grader who is distracted by PUBG and IPL, Pawan is distracted by his acting commitments, etc. He overcompensates his lack of understanding and his inability to do hard work by recycling his old, dreary, tiresome speeches.
Pawan's best-kept secret is that he knows he is ignorant and dense. He knows he doesn't have it in him to speak about policy. He understands neither finance nor budget. He has no firm stand on issues like reservations and populism. He knows it takes lots and lots of clarity, loads and loads of focus, tons and tons of grassroots connection to build an organization. He never cared to do all this for years.
Pawan's electoral debut happened in 2019 but he entered politics way back in 2009. He must have interacted with thousands of individuals in the last 15 years. What insights did he take from them?
Let's take the example of Narendra Modi, a leader who emerged from the grassroots. He was an organization man in the BJP for years before becoming the CM of Gujarat. And that practical experience shows in the way he speaks at rallies. In contrast, Pawan's speeches are littered with anecdotes from his childhood, performative threats to political rivals, and mouthing banal things like 'If I make a promise, I will die to fulfil it'.
His supporters have been frustrated with his generic platitudes. A well-read journalism student would be able to share more insights than the supreme leader of JSP. Pawan's best-kept secret, to reiterate, is that he knows he is ignorant and dense.
