Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Brain is more important than skin colour' that was published in Newsband

Brain is more important than skin colour

Bharatiya Janata Party Minister and MP Giriraj Singh made a comment that had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman the Congress would not have accepted her leadership. In his choice of example he revealed an Indian reality: our obsession with fair skin. Sonia Gandhi didn’t possess any quality other than the colour of her skin that made the Indians accept her as their leader.  

Brain is more important than colour of the skin. But brain is not visible to the onlooker. The colour of the skin is visible to him or her. A person whose mind is not developed tends to go by what is visible. A highly educated person can see beyond the colour of the skin. He or she can see the hidden brain. So it depends on the mental development of the onlooker.

America is a country dominated by fair people. But they are highly educated and advanced. Hence they elected Barrack Obama as President of USA in spite of his black skin. They elected him because they were able to see his highly developed brain although it was hidden behind his black skin.

In India, it is a fact that Nehru-Gandhis have been ruling India for most part of the time in the past owing to their skin colour. I think the comment is valid though it has nothing to do with Mrs Gandhi. We are a racist nation. Face it. No less a person than Subhash Gupte India's top spinner in cricket was compelled to stay back in Jamaica because he married a black Jamaican woman. His family in India turned its back on him. He lost his place in the Indian Test side as a result and had to give up international cricket. The same logic applies here.

Generally in India people have flare for skin complexion though our culture taught us to glorify the inner beauty and not the outside. What administrative capabilities were demonstrated by Sonia Gandhi or even Rahul Gandhi? They have not even run any organisation or state government or town council or social work. They should have shown their leadership capabilities before claiming posts to head the country.

The whole concept of preference for fair skin is widespread all over India. Even Shahrukh Khan has advertised a bleach product that supposedly 'lightens' the skin. So it is entrenched by Bollywood and media. Secondly what leadership or knowledge-based skills does Sonia Gandhi have? None, she had MMS leading the party, even though she pulled the strings. She did not have the political or economic acumen to take India forward like Modi did.

To conclude, in order to lead a country, a brainy fair person should be preferred to an ignorant dark person or a brainy dark person should be preferred to an ignorant fair person. The question should be not - whether fair or dark? The question should be - whether brainy or ignorant?