Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Forgotten Great Leaders of world:Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

Forgotten Great Leaders of world
Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao

The role model international level leader ship of yester years is rare phenomenon these days. Not that there are none, but the kind of statesmanship, the way they represented their country and region individually and collectively, the way they exhibited extraordinary commitment to the cause for which they were fighting, is absent in the present day world leaders. Unfortunately those great personalities are hardly remembered by present day students of political science and or contemporary history not to speak of general youth. Whether it was a summit, a conference, an international meet or any such thing that used to take place anywhere in the world was all with lot of enthusiasm which too is absent these days. For instance take the Non-Aligned Movement that was founded in Belgrade in 1961, conceived by Jawaharlal Nehru, Sukarno, Nasser, Nkrumah and Tito. All five leaders were prominent advocates of a middle course for states in the developing world between the western and eastern blocks in the Cold War. Does the present day generation ever attempted to read this contemporary history? The Geneva Summit of 1955, the UN General Assembly sessions, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM), the Afro–Asian Conference also known as the Bandung Conference, the Geneva Conference of 1954 and many more such international summits and peace conferences of yester years are seldom remembered.

To name few among yester years’ international politicians and statesmen we have Jawaharlal Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Charles de Gaulle , Golda Meir, her predecessor David Ben-Gurion, Marshal Tito, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Chou En-lai and Mao, Yasser Arafat , Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Willy Brandt , Sukarno, Kwame Nkrumah, Fidel Castro and Ho-Chi-Minh.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Sukarno, Nasser, Nkrumah and Tito

Jawaharlal Nehru first Prime Minister of India from 15 August 1947 to 27 May 1964 was a champion of pacifism and a strong supporter of the United Nations. He pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement of nations professing neutrality between the rival blocs of nations led by the US and the USSR. In 1954 Nehru signed with China the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, known in India as the Panchsheel.

Indira Gandhi was the third Prime Minister of India who served from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. Indira Gandhi presided over a period where India emerged with greater power than before to become the regional supremacy of South Asia with considerable political, economic, and military developments. 

 John Fitzgerald Kennedy was 35th President of the United States from January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963 until he was assassinated. Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the African-American Civil Rights Movement and increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Nikita Khrushchev was Premier of Soviet Union from March 14, 1953 to October 14, 1964. Khrushchev sought to find a lasting solution to the problem of a divided Germany. In November 1958, he gave the United States, United Kingdom and France six months to conclude a peace treaty with both German states and the Soviet Union. If one was not signed, Khrushchev stated, the Soviet Union would conclude a peace treaty with East Germany.


Charles de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first president from 1959 to 1969. De Gaulle secured a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for France in 1945. He withdrew France from NATO military command and twice vetoed Britain's entry into the European Community. De Gaulle was convinced that a strong and independent France could act as a balancing force between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Golda Meir was the fourth Prime Minister of Israel and was in office from March 17, 1969 to June 3, 1974. She was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics. In 1969 and the early 1970s, Meir met with many world leaders to promote her vision of peace in the Middle East. Golda Meir’s predecessor David Ben-Gurion was an Israeli statesman and founding father. He was the main founder and the first Prime Minister of Israel from 17 May 1948 to 26 January 1954 and again from 3 November 1955 – 26 June 1963. Ben-Gurion led Israel during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and united the various Jewish militias into the Israel Defense Forces.

Marshal Tito was Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman, serving in various roles from 1945 until his death in 1980. He gained international attention as the chief leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, working with Jawaharlal NehruGamal Abdel Nasser, Nkrumah and Sukarno. He became the first Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement. He was the Prime Minister (1943–63), President (later President for Life) (1953–80) of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.


Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second President of Egypt, from 23 June 1956 to 28 September 1970 until his death. Nasser's retaliatory move to nationalize the Suez Canal Company in 1956 was acclaimed within Egypt and the Arab world. Nasser formed the United Arab Republic with Syria. All Arab heads of state attended his funeral. Jordanian King Hussein and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat cried openly, and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya fainted from emotional distress twice.

Chou En-lai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976. He advocated peaceful coexistence with the West after the stalemated Korean War.  He participated in the 1954 Geneva Conference. He helped devise policies regarding the bitter disputes with USA, Taiwan, Soviet Union, India and Vietnam. Chou’s leader Mao Tse-tung founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. He was also one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party in 1921, and was regarded, along with Karl Marx and Lenin, as one of the three great theorists of Marxian Communism. Mao’s contribution to history has changed the world itself.

Yasser Arafat was a Palestinian leader and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He was 1st President of the Palestinian National Authority from 5 July 1994 to 11 November 2004. Arafat spent much of his life fighting against Israel in the name of Palestinian self-determination. Originally opposed to Israel's existence, he modified his position in 1988 when he accepted UN Security Council Resolution.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike was Prime Minister of Sri Lanka several times, from 1960 to 1965; from 1970 to 1972; from 1972 to 1977 and from 1994 to 2000.

Willy Brandt was a German statesman and politician and chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his efforts to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of the Soviet bloc.


Sukarno was Indonesia's first president and was in office from 1945 to 1967. The early 1960s saw Sukarno veering Indonesia to the left by providing support and protection to the Indonesian Communist Party. He embarked on a series of aggressive and assertive policies based on anti-imperialism to increase Indonesia's international prestige.

Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana. He was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and was the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize in 1963.

Ho chi Minh was a Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954.

Fidel Castro held power longer than any national leader other than Queen Elizabeth. His personal control over a Communist revolution made him perhaps the most important leader in Latin America since its 19th century wars of independence. Since January 9, 1959, he became Cuba's unchallenged leader. On 19th February, 2008, Fidel Castro announced he would neither seek nor accept a new term as either president or commander-in-chief of Cuba.


May be many more such leaders in the past…but where are such leaders today? End

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