Vishwakhabram: Why are aged leaders ruling everywhere in the world? Modi, Putin, Xi, Biden, Saud, Khamenei… Why is there rule of more than 70 leaders wherever you look?

Is the age of 70 now becoming a new standard to become a powerful leader in the world? We are raising this question because if we look at the rulers of big and powerful countries of the world, we will find that all of them are 70 or more years of age. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is 73 years old. Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo D’Souza is 75 years old. Chinese President Xi Jinping is 70 years old. Russian President Vladimir Putin is 71 years old. US President Joe Biden is 81 years old. Ireland’s President Michael D Higgins is 82 years old. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdullah Aziz Al Saud is 88 years old.

Similarly, if we look at the age of the people ruling in some other countries, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina is 76 years old. Malta’s President George Vella is 81 years old. Ivory Coast President Alassane Quattra is 81 years old. Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is 81 years old. Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei is 84 years old. Guyana’s President Alpha Conde is 86 years old. Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas is 88 years old. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is 72 years old. Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebon is 78 years old. Ghana’s President Nana Akufo Addu is 79 years old and Cameroon’s President Paul Biya is 91 years old.

However, if we look at the reasons for the way older people are ruling the corridors of power at the global level, they are different from country to country. In China, President Xi Jinping has complete control over the Chinese Communist Party and keeps making changes in the Chinese Constitution as per his wish. He has been able to become the President for the third consecutive time because he got the rules amended by applying pressure and it is possible that he will remain the Chinese President as long as he lives. Similarly, if we look at Russia, there too President Vladimir Putin is in power because he is running the democracy as per his wish. When he assumed power in Russia, he was 47 years old, but even today at the age of 71, he continues to remain the supreme center of power in Russia. If we talk about America, then in the two-party political system there, the youth often have to start from the bottom. In America, to get the party’s nomination for the presidential election, one has to win various primary elections and it requires resourcefulness, popularity and networking, therefore, by the time they achieve all this, young leaders grow old. In recent times, it was only Barack Obama who reached the White House at the age of 52. The next presidential election in America is also certain to be held between aging leaders – Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

On the other hand, if we look at Europe, one thing can be seen that here the youth leadership is taking power in most of the countries. French President Emmanuel Macron became the President of the country at the age of 39. Gabrei Atal, who has been appointed by Macron as the Prime Minister of France, is only 34 years old. Similarly, if you look in Britain, the Prime Minister there, Rishi Sunak, is 43 years old. When Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni became the first woman Prime Minister of her country, she was 45 years old. Similarly, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is 46 years old.

However, if we look at it, age is just a number. Elements like willpower, commitment and ability of the person leading to take everyone along are more important. If we talk about example in this regard, all these qualities are visible in the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. The way he is taking different ideas together while keeping democracy strong is unprecedented. Along with moving forward on the path of fulfilling the resolve of making India self-reliant and developed, Modi is also doing the work of helping the poor countries of the world and showing a mirror to the developed countries when needed and guiding them. Due to that, he has remained at the top in the global approval rating of global leaders for a long time.

-Neeraj Kumar Dubey