640. The Man Who Delivered Victory

Election results were announced. People's Democratic Party (PDP) won the majority of seats and emerged as the party entitled to form the government. 

A meeting of the newly elected legislators of PDP was called to elect the leader of the legislative party, who would become the Chief Minister of the state.

While it was widely expected that Thirunavukkarasu, the seniormost leader of the party would be elected to lead the government, to the surprise of many, Manivasagam was elected the leader.

Manivasagam offered the post of Deputy Chief Minister to Thirunavukkarasu, but Thirunavukkarasu declined the offer.

"You have been given the mandate. Use it well and provide a good government. If I were to be the Deputy Chief Minister, you would often feel my shadow falling on you. Such a feeling won't be good for governance" said Thirunavukkarasu.

Three years passed since Manivasagam had become the Chie Minister. A meeting of the party's legislators was convened, in response to the demand made by a few legislators. 

Alageasan, the President of the party, who presided over the meeting said, "Mr. Manivasagam has been functioning as the Chief Minister for the past three years. Some legislators have written to me, demanding that he be replaced. I request Dhandapani, one of the legislators who have made this demand, to speak."

Dhandapani spoke:

"The major factor that contributed to the victory of our party in the last elections was our election manifesto. The manifesto prepared by Mr. Manivasagam outlined the schemes we planned to implement in elaborate details, in an exhaustive and attractive way, no other political party had done till then. It was an excellent blueprint that was appreciated both by the ordinary people and the experts. The media gave it a lot of publicity by telecasting a lot of discussions about it. The opposition parties were stunned. Realizing that by criticizing the manifesto, they would only be giving more publicity to it, they tried to ignore it, but they couldn't stop it being discussed by all. Till the time we came out with the manifesto, the pollsters were predicting that we would lose the election. It was the manifesto that turned the tide in our favour and facilitated our win. 

"It was by way of acknowledging the role the manifesto played in our electoral victory that a majority of our legislators chose Manivasagam, the architect of the manifesto, as the person who should lead the government. 

"But, during the past three years, Mr, Manivasagam's performance as the Chief Minister has created considerable discontent among the people. Today, our party has an unfavourable image among the people. 

"Mr. Manivasagam is a good leader, no doubt. Though he had displayed great skills in preparing the election manifesto of our party, he doesn't seem to have the skills needed to implement the plans devised by him. We now understand that the skills needed to implement a plan are vastly different from the skills needed to prepare it. So, it is the wish of the majority of the legislators that Mr. Manivasagam should step down from his position of Chief Minister and pave the way for a person having the competence to implement the plans in an efficient way, making the benefits to reach a large number of people, to be elected in his place."  

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 64
Being A Minister

Verse 640 (in Tamil):
muRaippadach chUzhndhum mudivilavE seyvar
thiRappAdu ilAdhavar.

Meaning:

A minister who lacks the ability to do things will not be able to execute his projects properly, though he may have conceived and planned them the right way.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'mudhalvarai mARRa vENdum' by the same author.) 

Verse 641
Verse 639