A pragmatic, popular leader

The drab, dull, deary, boring and primitive image that the clique feared would thwart her progress to the top is now bygone history. Over the past six years, she has had to steer Germany through some difficult times, yet remains very popular.

Yes, Ms Angela Dorothea Kasner (her full maiden name), who is today known to the public by the family name of her first husband Ulrich Merkel, was misjudged.

These days, she is considered one of the most charismatic, pragmatic politicians who inspires confidence and has incredible ability to compromise.

Born in Hamburg, her upbringing was in a rustic bucolic area outside Berlin - in the Communist east.

Even at a very young age, she showed a great talent for science, maths and languages and later, she earned a doctorate in physics. She had never been drawn in politics but, in 1989, at the age of 36, she got very involved in the mushrooming democracy movement.

Subsequent to the fall of Berlin Wall and the first democratic elections, she got a job as government spokeswoman.

A rapid rise

Later, Ms Merkel was hand-picked by then Chancellor Helmut Kohl for the most condescending job in his post-reunification cabinet: Minister for women and youth.

She was perceptibly inconspicuous in this post and in the next cabinet, as Minister for climate and environment.

But soon, Ms Merkel began the process of cutting the cord from Kohl, her ueber-mentor in the party, who once affectionately called her “ mein Maedchen ,” or ‘my girl'. Ms Merkel's move was tantamount to a rebellion within the Christian Democrats.

Her rise to the top came as the result of personal doggedness and political fortuity.

As a Protestant East-German, Ms Merkel soon broke the leadership mould of the Christian Democrats (CDU), conventionally under the control of Catholic West German men. As a Chancellor of Germany elected to the office in 2005 with a wafer-fragile majority, Ms Merkel won the hearts and minds of her fellow citizens by hard work and incredible results in ameliorating the destitution of the common man.

She successfully steered Germany out of the iniquitous, wicked economic recession and made the German economy the largest in Europe leaving erstwhile economic giants, way behind.

In the European Union, she has come to be known as a go-getting high-flier and one who solved vexatious problems in an affable manner.

These days, when in trouble, other European nations look up to her to lend a helping hand and find solutions to problems of colossal nature.

When she came to power in 2005, she invited the opposition politicians, including her challenger to the high office, to join the coalition government. And, they did!

Coalition Dharma

Countless people thought the coalition would break apart, but the Chancellor, Ms Merkel has managed to hold it together. That is indeed the art of running a victorious government for the sake of the country by making mutual sacrifice and finding the middle ground. In India, we need to learn from Ms Merkel's Coalition Dharma.

The German Chancellor has the envious record of topping the Forbes list of 100 powerful women for three years, consecutively. She is known for her meticulous but, elegant attention to detail and inborn, intuitive pursuit for consensus.

Courage, character and political savoir-faire are what she carries naturally and that has become a trailing paradigm for her political adversaries who have come to admire her, surreptitiously.

Standing Ovation

For instance, in 2008, Ms Merkel became the first German Chancellor to speak before the ‘Knesset' (Parliament), in Israel, when it celebrated its 60th birthday. During her speech, she expressed “shame” over Germany's role in the Holocaust. When it was over, the audience — which included Holocaust survivors and children of Holocaust survivors — gave her a standing ovation.

In September 2009, speaking at the Westerplatte peninsula in Gdansk, Poland, she paid tribute to the 60 million people who lost their lives in the war unleashed by Germany.

By contrast, so far there has been no formal apology from the British monarchy or, the government, for the several atrocities and the Jalianwala Bagh killings, during then British-rule, in India.

multiculturalism

Chancellor Merkel has never hesitated to speak her mind out – even if it meant political unpopularity and catapulting herself into controversy.

In October 2010, she told a meeting that attempts to build a multi-cultural society in Germany had “utterly failed”.

This started a growing debate within Germany on the levels of immigration, its effect on Germany and the degree to which Muslim immigrants have integrated into German society. In September 2007, Ms Merkel met the Dalai Lama for “private and informal talks” in the Chancellery, in Berlin, amid protest from China.

And, just two weeks ago, she blasted Greece and a handful of heavily indebted southern European countries calling them “lazy” and demanded that they raise the retirement age and reduce vacation days.

Wit and Warmth

I have had the opportunity of accompanying her to India during her 2007 state visit and have experienced her sense of humour and warmth, in private.

Indubitably and despite her humble beginnings, Ms Merkel is a noteworthy successor to a line of titans in German post-War history.

Today, Germany has the world's third largest economy - and business is rolling while unemployment has sunk to post-reunification lows.

Not only is Chancellor Merkel in control of the largest and most powerful country of Europe, she is also ushering in her clout and supremacy to tackle challenging issues facing Europe.

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