Every country deserves the government/leaders it deserves, that I think was said by Aristotle and applies 100% to India
Manmohan Singh cant get elected to even save his life, and he is far more qualified as a individual to be a leader than Barack Obama, and that speaks volumes about the citizens of India. But Manmohan Singh was elected as a the Prime Minister of India by the politicians, that talks enough of a judgement of the politicians
More than 90% of India's elected contests go by the caste/religion of the candidate. If a candidate is of the wrong religion/caste the citizens of the country wont elect him and still those same 90% will say caste system is bad
There is a electoral contest, A man who fights to stave of caste system, who is a poineer for fight against superstitions, who is a orator who will wake up even the dead people loses his deposit against a politician who hands out bicycles/money to people who vote for him.
What is Barack Obama, he is a polished version of Pramod Mahajan or any good leader in India, promise the world to get elected, doesnt matter whether the promises are something you can keep
You talk about Lal Bahadur Shastri, he was a gift to India from the generation who won us our freedom. Today we have citizens who like to whine, whine, whine, dont show up for elections and whine, whine and whine
The biggest hypocrites are
1. The NRI's who whine about things but when they return to homeland, go back to their old habits. If you disbeleive me, take a poll on a plane about to land in any International airport about corruption and then have someone pose as a customs agent asking for a bribe for a smooth clearing from customs
2. The Educated folks in India, who will complain about how bad politics is, but find every excuse not to show up for the voting process
3. The media who shamelessly pander to their interest while reporting, they keep on ridiculing a man who turns a multicrore loss company into a multicrore profit company just because he dresses and talks weird
The poor or the minorities vote by their votebank for the person they most identify with(in short who offers them most goodies) and the educated folks keep whining about people who get elected.
The people who really need to learn are the educated folks who need to learn from the poor or the Americans to go and vote by their single important issues
America was in financial trouble they voted for a democratic novice over a war vet
America hated the man who got them excellent economic times and voted for someone running on better morals over a man of reason
America voted for the guy they thought was a moron but delivering on their security over someone who is a war vet but waffling on security
America when in bad financial times ditched a war veteran at the time of war and voted for a democratic novice who promised economic solace.