We want everyone to uplift, not just the leaders. That is when the society will progress. We live in an opposite world where wealth is in the hands of a few. The divide between the rich and poor is increasing.
One section of society is splurging while another is barely surviving. One section is a slave to the treadmill of society with all the laws and rules, paying taxes, and bailing out the riches.
The gospel of equality died long back, and we are more divided than before in the name of caste, religion, region, color, and whatnot. If we look objectively, the only divide is between rich and poor.
What our forefathers did to uplift us was simple: get educated, the cure to uplift future generations.