To keep a party together you need a binding force.
It could be fierce ideology.
It cld be ability to lead the charge against the rivals w/o fear.
It could be ability to speak the truth each time w/o fear of being targeted, attacked, abused & constantly rubbished damaging..1/n

..reputation etc.
..It could also be a settled brand.

True leaders will do all of this ALL THE TIME. Look carefully to see who does this consistently. It'll be pretty apparent to you, one doesn't have to look hard.

Ignore those who tell you, one has to be a 24x7 politician. 2/n

Thats nonsense. Its like saying an employee is good merely becos he spends lot of time at work. No watch how certain leaders unfailingly create a flutter among rivals. They set hordes of Ministers to target 1 man whatever he may say & whenever he says it. Thats his impact...3/n

Now, look around for other leaders who have this constancy & ability to evoke such sharp reactions. The reaction is proof of rival insecurity. That's a +ve. They're afraid. They want him out.

There are leaders who will stay silent conveniently allowing a single person to...4/n

..lead the charge w/o others supporting him. Of course they'll make the statutory noises every often to show they're still part of the flock. But these noises are well calibrated & barely sufficient to pass the test. This is not leadership. Its clever existence waiting for..5/n

the right moment to topple and fulfill their ambition.

The worst ones are those who don the robes of loyalty to the party, the principles & even the nation but speak on publicly against their own org but also to praise the rivals they've been criticising all along. They...6/n

.will tell you, that this is their honesty speaking. They will also tell you no one listens to them. Really? You must check out the importance they receive in the org.

At this point u must ask, if their honesty gets activated to speak all the time or this honesty pops up...7/n

..only once in a way to pull down their own leader.

You'll also notice that similar talk will begin to emerge from other leaders, voicing discontent about leadership almost on cue. About the behaviour of the flock against some perceived issues. The timing is important. If..8/n

..you are clever, you will begin to wonder if its orchestrated.

Mind you, even after that, they'll tell you how important the orgn is, how impossible it is for them to divorce themselves from cherished principles. But do watch them closely.

Leaders get validated if they...9/n

..stay with the group, fight & make things better when the chips are down. They dont threaten you for higher positions to satiate thr ambitions or hunger for power.

This is called good followership. Good followership is not Bhakthi. But the opposite of bhakthi is not this..10/10

One small addn. You know why Janata Party (BJP in late 70's) crumbled in less than 3 years? They had great leaders. Morarji, Chadrashekhar, Charan Singh, Madhu Limaye, Vajpayee, Philoo Mody, Madhu Dandavate, Acharya Kripalani, George Fernandes, Biju Patnaik etc. They had a... 1/n

..standing of their own. They were good individual leaders by themselves. That's precisely what the problem was. They were individuals with strong individuality which didn't leave much room for collaboration to achieve the organisational objectives.
Very soon there were...2/n

.. clashes arising from strong views & individuality. They often aired views in public defiantly unperturbed by impact of thr actions. This broke the party. By 1980, Janata Party which was a dream team of leaders were ready to be taken by Indira. Indira took them. In style....3/n

This is the imprtnce of followership. Followership as I alrdy said is not bhakthi. But defiance or challenging leadership is just poor followership. Its also a mark of inability of individls to raise issues responsibly except thru an adversarial process which is direct or sly.4/n

The more recent example of how a leadership gets rid of poor followership is the Margdarshak Mandal. Of course that example is not really an ideal one, or ideal party or ideal leadership to emulate. Its just to illustrate and not emulate....5/5