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dated June 19, 1956: Morarji on hero-worship

Answering questions put to him at the Harold Laski Institute of Political Science at Ahmedabad on June 17, Mr. Morarji Desai, Chief Minister of Bombay, said hero-worship could not be completely eradicated from any society for the simple reason that it was deeply rooted in human hearts. A leader was the symbol of the society he lived in. The evil arose when the leader himself began to think he was indispensable or the society became over-enthusiastic and began to make him an idol of worship. Mr. Desai referred in this connection to a question frequently asked, "What next after Nehru?" He said he failed to understand why even men like Mr. Adlai Stevenson, the Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the last US election, asked him this question. "Did Mr. Stevenson raise the question of what next after Roosevelt?" He did not. Though they could not have had another great man like Roosevelt, America did not stop its march to progress in his absence. This showed that the society created the leaders it wanted and nobody should be over-worried about this question.

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