"Some are born great,some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them" William Shakespeare

 

                           Addressing a meeting of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha,BJP's youth wing at Vrindavan, BJP chief Amit Shah on 5th March 2016,made fun of fromer PM. Dr.Manmohan Singh. "Manmohan Singh visited more countries than Modi but his visits made little impact.He would read from two pages he carried with him which were written in English. At times he would read the speech meant for Thailand in Malaysia and the one meant for Malaysia in Thailand. Modi spoke in Hindi in the UN and the whole country felt proud" 
                        The soft spoken Sardar made umpteen speeches in the UN, Universities like Yale,  Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton and Harvard, conclaves of scientists, artists and law makers abroad with dignity and grace. Dr.Singh never spoke like a juggler or goof,when he spoke the entire world heard him with seriousness. To comprehend what Dr.Manmohan Singh spoke needs no erudition but education and intelligence.
                        We had other great PMs as well, our first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru was loved and venerated by all the world leaders. A reading of the book "The Tryst Betrayed: Reflections on Diplomacy and Development"by the former foreign secretary Jagat S. Mehta will help those who have scant knowledge of our history, to learn what our legacy was. Winston Churchill who had a pathological antipathy for Indians and its leaders wanted to see Jawaharlal, when the latter went to London to participate in the meeting of the Commonwealth leaders. Nehru immediately sent a message "Sir I shall come to you". After meeting Nehru Churchill said "Mr.Prime Minister I had shown great injustice to you, you were like the lost prodigal to us. 
You saved the heritage of the British empire".Next time when Nehru visited England Churchill took him to the school at Harrow where they studied and they sang together their old songs.
                         When Nehru visited Switzerland, he went to the house of Charlie Chaplin, the great genius of 20th century filmdom and they had dinner together. Chaplin said to Nehru "I love  whatever I heard and read of you, but I have a complaint,"You are a teetotaler". Nehru replied "if that is your only complaint I shall now drink a sherry for you". Mr.Mehta narrates his encounters with other PMs like Morarji Desai,Indira Gandhi and Vajpai who have done this country proud.
                        Mega shows staged and stage-managed at Times Square and Wembley, the Barack, Jukker (Zuckerberg) calls or the selfies taken with the celebrities standing on toes putting an arm on their shoulder are no signs of greatness.