Mrinal Pande 
Somewhere one had come across a story about ageing penguins. It said that a sleepy penguin may float atop the water for a while and then sink slowly to the floor of the sea. Then he rises again to the surface only to fall asleep again and then again revive himself in the same fashion. He thus enjoys a sort of perpetual rest in motion. It is embarrassing to watch ageing world leaders sinking similarly shaking themselves awake after suddenly touching the bottom, then rise to the surface to declare in stentorian tones that they will fight the good fight yet.
After touching rock bottom in the first Presidential debate in an assertive and mostly error-free speech, US President Jo Biden, at NATO, suddenly rose to the surface and pledged strong support to Ukraine till Mother Russia was brought to her knees. Yet pressures on him from those who witnessed him falter earlier are mounting to step away from the Presidential race.
Two high-profile Democrats, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, a long-time ally, and actor George Clooney, a major fund-raiser for the Democrats, have just joined the ranks of those gently and respectfully urging the President to quit the race while there is time. At the time of the writing of this column, the President is firm about holding on to his candidacy even though he addressed Zelenski as Putin before correcting himself.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
Mahabharat (Adi Parva) carries a bone-chillingly precise tale about the unreasonable power hunger of ageing men. King Yayati, son of Nahush, rose to be a powerful king and ruled for a long time. When the time came for him to make way for his successor, however, he refused, saying he had not yet lived life to the fullest. He asked his five sons if one of them would transfer their youth to him so he could live on and enjoy his kingdom and his women. Only one son Puru volunteered and Yayati was rejuvenated while Puru turned old and feeble. Eventually watching him bide his time quietly for a thousand years, Yayati handed back the son both his youth and the throne saying, “One cannot go on like this.”
The accursed Yayati syndrome still surfaces in politics, films and performing arts. Everywhere stars rise to power as charismatic demagogues and risk-takers, but these very qualities breed in them an implacable desire to control all power and push away all they see as worthy replacements. It does not matter whether the nation is democratic or not.
From the US to the USSR and in nations in Asia and Africa a strange totalitarian tilt in leadership has revealed the same primordial lust for unlimited leadership as Yayati. In each case around the neo Yayati three protective rings are visible. The aristocrats (comprising of big land and business owners), the bureaucrats (enlightened well-educated group that can speak in many tongues that manage works and intricate correspondence in ministries and institutions) and the innermost but also the most low profile ring of “trusted people” from the Party, capable of acting the Bad Cop and take on the undesirables from the first two groups. The principle of loyalty is the core of this group’s close relationship with the supremo who permits them proximity denied to the other two groups.
The imperious leader while giving the acts a nod and a wink sees to it that his own benign image of a philosophical and passionate People’s Leader remains unsullied. The last group of bad cops also manages state secrets about the finances and families of the political Opposition and any individual or groups seen to be threatening the status quo by uncovering uncomfortable stories.
The real decision-making power, in all such governments, remains in the hands of the Supreme Leader. And soon he (or in some cases she) sells himself as the soul of his/her nation. He will represent the country on all National Days, address the people from historic halls or ramparts of monuments on TV, and lead the gaggle of ministers and bureaucrats at all top international get-togethers and their bargaining platforms. The visits are intoxicating and invigorating shots in the arms of ageing autocrats tired of facing pressures from the domestic Opposition. Here is a chance they feel, to symbolise power in the shape of large exclusive planes, dancing drum-beating crowds cheering them at airports, cascades of flowers, bear hugs and viewing regal march pasts standing next to the host. Every such move is choreographed along protocol and explained to viewers on telly by yesteryears’ bureaucrats and anchors who accompany the Leader.
After the Big Speech, it’s the usual sightseeing (wearing the host country’s ethnic dresses), tweaking the ears of smiling school children waving flags, selfies with comely young leaders. All negative coverage now can be explained as the impropriety and malice of the Foreign (read white) press who do not respect “our” culture.
A decade ago no one (except maybe the inner circle of loyalists) could have foreseen that the world leadership if it lasts would face several ageing bumbling and unfocussed or tense and insecure world leaders. And that new media tech will make the embarrassing images viral within minutes.
Yet the Yayati moment does not go away.
Changing times
In June of 2024, when the US presidential elections were just a few months away, our own government managed to return to power at the centre for the third time, but with a major reduction in its numbers in the parliament. It is now unexpectedly dependent on allies from other states not always known to have been steadfastly loyal to their coalition leaders.
Watching the daily news now one feels a bit insecure, as though from Capitol Hill to Raisina Hill, the world is standing over seismically active unseen faultlines. One jolt, one major incident and it will all unscramble! In the pantomime of power at election time or during world body meets like G20 or NATO, the Big Brotherhood that had been doling out assurances about beating back famines and civil wars and separating warring nations like quarrelling school boys with a few subdued threats, has aged visibly.
Also read: Are Aging Politicians up to the Task of Solving Global Issues?
The energetic confident Yayatis of yesteryears now look cadaverous parodies of their old selves, with sunken cheeks, receding hairlines and paunches even a good tailor is unable to hide. But like Yayati, many are refusing to read the writing on the wall. When they begin to speak a hush still falls, but they now use auto cues that barely help them manage the flow of their sentences in a sequence.
The problem with palaces of power is that the King within and his men have little to no access to the truth of the times and a few who dared point this out are now either behind bars or invisible in the tightly monitored media. As long as Sustainable Development was the idol chosen by the power pack to bow to, dignitaries in Lutyen’s Delhi, north and south blocks all stuck together, slapping each other on the back and saying on TV how we had at last broken the jinx of poverty and were well on way to beating China at its own game in Asia. They didn’t even bother to consult professional diplomats, psephologists and economists outside their charmed circle, what they thought of India’s fast-paced Vikas and its future as Vishwa Guru.
And now with the monsoon rains and global rise in temperatures, the centre literally can not hold. From Bihar to Uttarakhand and Maharashtra to Gujarat, roads, bridges, Mandapams, temple towns and tunnels seem to be collapsing. Food prices are at an all-time high and the young students and short-term soldiers are increasingly agitated about gross mismanagement of their vital entrance exams and contractual terms that confer a second-class status in the army upon lakhs of young soldiers.
The world of 20th-century Yayatis is ultimately reduced to a world of appearances in 2024. In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, George Clooney strongly urges the Democrats to urge Biden to step aside and make way for a new nominee, not to stand by and wring their hands quietly. He said he still loves Biden but if he were to stay on now, the Party was sure to lose the Presidential race. “This isn’t only my opinion,” he writes, “this is the opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor that I have talked to in private.”
Ultimately fudging of ageing is sterile, its movers and shakers who bullied nations for long now seem incapable of thinking out of the box. Political parties all over sadly have a very limited arsenal to prevent an ultimate coup. The inner rings have tried demoting some, promoting others, locking up and the releasing those dubbed anti-national. All in vain. The day is close when each Yayati must step aside because the system they built was geared to defeating time. It crushed genuine youthful claimants and now the three rings of aristocrats, bureaucrats and inner circle only knew how to defend themselves.
Of course, you’re all aware/A king must have an heir../Will someone tell me where/I’ll get an heir/ If a king can do no wrong? (Groucho Marx in Duck Soup)
Mrinal Pande is a writer and veteran journalist.
Saakhi is a Sunday column from Mrinal Pande, in which she writes of what she sees and also participates in. That has been her burden to bear ever since she embarked on a life as a journalist, writer, editor, author and as chairperson of Prasar Bharti. Her journey of being a witness-participant continues.