Every parent knows there comes a moment when raising your voice no longer works.
The child grows taller, develops opinions, discovers Google, and suddenly your famous line, "Because I said so," loses all its magical powers.
Unfortunately, some governments never graduate from parenthood.
Watching the young protesters gathering at Jantar Mantar, I cannot help wondering whether those in authority have mistaken leadership for discipline. When youngsters assemble with grievances, the first instinct seems to be to restrict timings, shut down the internet, surround them with barricades, drag them away, and hope the problem quietly disappears.
But ideas are strange creatures. You cannot handcuff them. You cannot switch them off with the internet. You cannot bundle them into police vans and imagine they will vanish.
In fact, the more pressure you apply, the stronger they often become.
Every family has seen it happen. The strict father lays down impossible rules. No discussion. No explanation. No questions. The son walks into his room, slams the door, and from that day onwards the conversation stops. Outwardly there is silence. Inwardly there is rebellion.
A nation is not very different.
Young people do not expect every demand to be accepted. What they long for is something far simpler.
They want to be heard.
They want somebody to look them in the eye and say, "Tell me why you are angry."
That takes courage.
Real courage is not displayed behind rows of security personnel or from carefully scripted speeches. It is shown by walking into a crowd that disagrees with you, sitting on a plastic chair, accepting uncomfortable questions, and answering without the comfort of a teleprompter or rehearsed script.
History remembers such leaders.
It rarely remembers those who hid behind barricades.
Leadership has never been about proving who is stronger. Leadership is about calming storms before they become cyclones.
The youth of a nation are not enemies waiting to be defeated. They are tomorrow waiting to be understood.
Silence them today, and they will return tomorrow with louder voices.
Respect them today, and they may become your greatest partners in building the future.
A government should never fear its young people. It should fear the day the young stop believing anyone is willing to listen.
Because when dialogue dies, distrust is born.
And distrust is far more difficult to control than any protest.
The quickest way to lose the confidence of a generation is to treat it like a disobedient child.
The wisest way to win it is to do what every good father eventually learns to do.
Sit down. Listen. And talk
Without a teleprompter of course…!
The Author conducts an online, eight session Writers and Speakers Course. If you’d like to join, do send a thumbs-up to WhatsApp number 9892572883 or send a message to bobsbanter@gmail.com
