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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Manufactured Martyrs

The attempt by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) to turn activist Sonam Wangchuk into the next Anna Hazare has exposed how manufactured symbolism cannot compensate for the absence of genuine public outrage. What began as a grievance over the NEET paper leak, one of India’s gravest examination scandals in recent times, has drifted into an exercise in political pageantry, where the cause has been eclipsed by its chosen mascots. Wangchuk’s indefinite hunger strike was plainly meant to recreate a...

Manufactured Martyrs

The attempt by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) to turn activist Sonam Wangchuk into the next Anna Hazare has exposed how manufactured symbolism cannot compensate for the absence of genuine public outrage. What began as a grievance over the NEET paper leak, one of India’s gravest examination scandals in recent times, has drifted into an exercise in political pageantry, where the cause has been eclipsed by its chosen mascots. Wangchuk’s indefinite hunger strike was plainly meant to recreate a familiar script where an allegedly unassuming public figure embraces personal sacrifice and a reluctant government buckles under mounting moral pressure. But history does not repeat itself on command. Anna Hazare’s fast in 2011 succeeded not because fasting possesses mystical political powers, but because it rode a tidal wave of public anger against corruption. Millions identified with the cause. That equation is conspicuously absent today. The platform that ought to have belonged to students who suffered from the NEET paper leak, or to parents whose children bore its consequences, instead became crowded with the usual constellation of professional activists, ideological campaigners and political fellow travellers. The faces dominating the stage were not those most directly affected by the scandal. A movement demanding educational accountability gradually came to look like another gathering of Delhi’s permanently aggrieved activist class. Even Wangchuk appeared to sense the contradiction. During the protest he reportedly lamented that while he was observing an indefinite fast, many around him were happily eating meals, urging at least a token one-day fast in solidarity. Successful protest movements depend upon authenticity. Once the public begins suspecting that an individual is being deployed less as a leader than as a moral accessory for someone else’s ideological project, sympathy quickly evaporates. Nor does Wangchuk arrive without controversy. Questions have been raised over the cancellation of the FCRA licence of SECMOL, the educational organisation associated with him, and over allegations regarding subsequent foreign funding arrangements. Critics have also challenged aspects of the carefully cultivated public mythology surrounding his achievements, from the origins of the ice-stupa concept to the popular belief that he inspired the protagonist of 3 Idiots. These matters deserve scrutiny on their own merits rather than hagiography or character assassination. The greater failure here surely belongs to the protest’s organisers. The CJP has mistaken optics for momentum and symbolism for public sentiment. Instead of allowing the victims of the NEET scandal to speak for themselves, they attempted to manufacture another national conscience by placing a familiar face at the centre of the stage. Political legitimacy cannot be outsourced to celebrity. Nor can mass movements be assembled from social-media influencers and habitual protesters. Anna Hazare became powerful because the public chose him. Attempts to manufacture his successor merely underline how rare such moments really are.

What Indian SMEs Must Unlearn Before 2026

The first few days of a new year carry a strange mix of hope and honesty. Founders look at numbers. Second-generation owners look at legacy. Leadership teams look at targets.


And somewhere beneath the spreadsheets, a quieter question surfaces: Are we actually ready to grow… or just eager to grow?


Over the last year, through The People Paradox and The Boss Paradox series, we explored something many Indian SMEs experience but rarely articulate: growth does not fail because ambition is low. It fails because human systems don’t evolve at the same pace as business intent. As we step into 2026, this is the cost of growth most leaders underestimate.


One of the most persistent myths in business is that growth will “fix” problems. More revenue will ease stress. More people will reduce workload.


More structure will emerge naturally. In reality, growth behaves like a magnifying glass.


Whatever is unclear at 20 people becomes chaotic at 50. Whatever is informal at Rs 10 crore becomes political at Rs 50 crore.


I once worked with a fast-growing manufacturing business where orders doubled in a year. On paper, it was a success story. On the ground, supervisors interpreted instructions differently, managers bypassed each other, and the founder found himself approving even routine decisions.


The business wasn’t failing. But it was fraying. This is the hidden cost of growth: it exposes the limits of leadership behaviour, not just operational capacity.


Old Habits New Bottlenecks

Many Indian SMEs are built on extraordinary personal effort. Founders step in everywhere. Second-generation leaders carry both respect and pressure. Decisions happen fast because one person “knows best”.


At a certain scale, this becomes a liability. Delegation feels risky. Letting go feels irresponsible. And yet, holding on creates silent bottlenecks. In one logistics firm, the founder insisted on approving every exception. His intention was quality control. The outcome was delay, stress, and decision fatigue across the organisation. What he saw as responsibility, the team experienced as dependency.


Growth requires a difficult psychological shift: from being the best problem-solver to becoming the best system-builder. That shift doesn’t happen automatically. It has to be designed.


Before They Revolt

Most businesses don’t experience people problems as open conflict. They experience them as drift. Managers stop pushing ideas.


High performers disengage quietly. Meetings become longer, but outcomes thinner. This is where The People Paradox becomes visible. Teams that once felt like family begin to feel uncertain. Roles evolve faster than capability. Titles change without clarity. People wonder where they stand — and whether it’s safe to speak up. Founders often interpret this as lack of ownership. In reality, it’s lack of psychological clarity. People don’t need constant motivation. They need stable ground.


Unintended Pressure

In parallel, The Boss Paradox revealed another uncomfortable truth: leaders often create stress not through aggression, but through unseen signals.


A quick override here. A late-night message there. A preference that’s never explained.


What feels normal to a boss feels evaluative to a team.


Pace becomes pressure. Kindness becomes micromanagement. Informal influence becomes invisible authority.


By the time leaders notice burnout or disengagement, the damage has already compounded. This is why people issues rarely respond to surface-level fixes like town halls or incentives. The problem sits deeper… in behavioural patterns that no one pauses to examine.


As 2026 begins, most leaders will ask: What should we add? New markets? New hires? New targets?


A more useful question is: What behaviours, assumptions, and structures must we stop carrying forward? Because growth is not about doing more.


It’s about doing differently. The SMEs that scale sustainably are not the most aggressive. They are the most reflective.


They invest early in role clarity. They make decision rights explicit. They slow down pace before it turns into pressure. They separate loyalty from authority. They build systems that don’t depend on constant founder presence.


This year will reward businesses that grow with intention, not impulse. Those that evolve leadership behaviour alongside business ambition. Those that fix the people story before scaling the growth story.


The cost of ignoring this is invisible at first. But by the time it shows up, it’s already expensive.


(The writer is Co-founder at PPS Consulting. He patterns the human mechanics of scaling where workplace behaviour quietly shapes business outcomes. Views personal.)

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