If today the United States has the audacity to give a pat down to our elite travelers, hold back our top actors at the airport and call our Prime Minister an 'underachiever' – India is in no position to take counter steps. The lack of which is less to do with international politics and relations, and more to do with the absence of a strong leadership backed by a strong opposition – both unified by a single cause – the benefit of the nation.

India is at a crucial juncture - it needs strong leaders – both in the ruling and the opposition party. At a time when every party's primary response is to oppose, we probably need a landmark coalition for the sake of the country’s development. Many have projected the Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi fight for the seat of Prime Minister in 2014 election. 

As a common man I care less about the party I support and more about the country I belong to. It is not about choosing a car that I have to pick between Mercedes or BMW. It is not about choosing my office shirt - whether I am choosing between a lighter shade of Blue and a darker shade of blue. For me, it is also not about choosing between Congress or the BJP. It’s about choosing a leader and I like both.

I wish of a situation where Mr. Modi is the Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi is the Foreign Minister or vice versa. For political analysts – it may seem like wishful thinking, a dream that may hardly come true. But for somebody who loves India, I am sure they will understand that a nation stops progressing if countrymen stops dreaming. Why can't I have the two apparently firebrand leaders to lead the country at the same time? Why does a win for either one of them necessarily mean a loss for the other?

Is it just because they belong to two different parties? Does that mean a political party’s agenda takes priority over the benefit of the nation?Beyond party politics, it's high time that India have a national government to shine as it is destined to do.

Though my reading of the personalities of both Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi is based on my perception I created by observing them and their work through various media, I believe none is lesser than the other. I see Rahul as a representative of youth in the country. His ability to converse and connect with the people in the country has been proven well. Whereas Modi had been the representative of growth and development of his native state Gujrat. Both of them are visionary and able administrator - two things that we dearly miss in Indian leadership today. While Rahul can find a powerful visionary leader's guidance in experienced Modi, Modi can benefit from Rahul's youthful energy of doing things. Today when every political party leader has a personal agenda to take care and resort to blackmailing or agitation as mode of survival, I do not see either of Modi or Rahul to be successful at  individual level. With all their abilities they will be busy tackling the allies and a policy paralysis will continue.

Today, we are divided by opinion, divided by cause and divided by philosophy. As a common man I see accusations of scams and money laundering thrown at each other by the politicians. The dissent spreads among their followers and gets down to the streets. Now, imagine a situation where the followers of Modi and Rahul are working hand in hand for a common objective – nation building. If this happens, more than half the nation is unified for a cause.

From a policy paralysis point of view, if Congress and BJP comes together there are fewer chances of any other political parties finding any chance of holding the government to ransom over every policy Bill that needs to be passed. In politics there are not supposed to be permanent friends or enemies. So if the people at helm are listening, please give it a thought.

At the same time the country also needs a strong opposition to raise constructive debates about the policies – for this let there be a Third Front that does the job of an able opposition in this case.