We have been hearing so much about this guy over the last couple of years. He started out in the public domain as a hitherto unknown character - He began by associating himself with an anti-corruption movement (started out by Anna Hazare), stuck with him for a decently prolonged period of time before he realized that months of hard work by Team Anna led them to where it all started. Nothing seemed to have changed. I personally remember newspapers and TV channels actively covering the protest marches, demonstrations/sit-downs at Jantar Mantar during the initial couple of months. There were leaders and aspiring leaders who came offering support, everyday mainstream discussions started focusing more on corruption and there was a rising energy within us which was probably unseen in the more recent past. Then came the fake political promises to get Anna off the podium [Manmohan and his entire cabinet virtually shut office for few days to manage the crisis] and somehow the political diaspora managed to shut it down. No longer were people so actively talking about it. People were somehow getting tired of seeing the same scene play out again and again. It did not die down entirely, however the flames were no longer visible. It was ashes all around.
Then this guy thought of taking a different path. Yes, he had propagated against taking this path earlier. But when conventional methods do not work, one has got to do things differently. This is also what is known as Innovation. This guy did nothing but innovate and did a marvelous job at it. He stormed Delhi to power within 2 years beating the likes of multiple times Chief Ministerial candidate hands down and by a margin which is humiliating. How did he do it? How is it possible for a newbie political party to win such an extravagant voteshare in such a short period of time [I think there is no more interesting case study than this one. Harvard, you listening?]. There have been instances of individuals (celebrities, social activists) winning seats previously but I do not recollect any activist movement hitting it so hard and so quick. To be fair, the Delhi election results was a shocker. There was immense disbelief as to what had happened. The political parties who had virtually dismissed the the new outfit as fly-by-night phenomenon suddenly seemed to have awoken from a deep sleep. The citizens (likes of you and me) were shocked too. What had happened was that the Delhi junta had voted for a party solely based on the themes which they fought over the past two years i.e. Weeding out corruption, taking power out off the hands of the political masters and bringing in more transparency. And we cheered them on. Everybody cheered the newcomer.
Coming to Power: Many among us condemn this guy for accepting power and taking support from a political party which they so vehemently opposed. Some think that he became power hungry, some think of his party just being a B-team of the incumbent party, some opine that he had no option but to accept it as it was a mandate given to them. I also assume that had he not accepted responsibility, this guy would still have been criticized. Maybe the criticism would have been manifold. However, the truth is that he came to power and he came with a purpose.
49 days in Delhi: This would probably go down as one the most happening period in Delhi's political history. There was action, drama, lights, sound ! Just all of it. There were new announcements everyday by the new government. Starting with their poll promise of free water, reducing electricity bills to ordering CAG Audits of power discoms to creating night shelters using abandoned buses to the swift creation of a strong Anti-corruption bureau. There was action everywhere. It seemed that Delhi was the new India for a couple of months and there was no news from anywhere else. And then it happened with a bang. The guy resigned over the non-passage of the Janlokpal bill (which btw was the seed of the party's emergence) and declared his intentions to contest nationally.
Did he do wrong by resigning? I do not think so. The fact is that we are at a stage where we do not have a luxury called time. We just cannot afford to let one more corrupt government rule for another 5 years. Its not in question anymore. Many critics (among them my many friends) are simply voting for a major political party because they think India needs a stable government. My friends, I simply ask that what use is stability if it would not lead to change from out current state of distress (We are currently 94th on the Global Corruption perception index, we are in the bottom quartile in Asia with respect to the entrepreneurial climate, we have massive economic inequality in our system which breeds out millionaires as well as criminals at a same speed, we have a crawling judicial system which leads to court cases pending in the system for tens of years, we have a defunct police system where ordinary citizens are asked for bribes for as things as simple as lodging an FIR or getting a passport, we have swathes of people from the rural and semi urban India who are unemployed and gradually veer towards the criminal side and not to mention the extremist developments in most of India's hinterland and the list would just go on). And I sincerely believe that both the mainstream political parties lack the political will to challenge any of these grave concerns. Had they been concerned about the state of affairs, we would not be in this situation post 66 years of our independence. One party is gracefully accepting tainted leaders of the other and projecting the image of a Gujarat leader as the one and only messiah for the nation. Really?
I believe that from here on, we have two choices in front of us. One is a more fundamental change which changes the very way we live our daily lives and can bring on a a prosperity which would be unseen in world's history. Prosperity which not only focuses on a few industrial houses but to the common man as well. This change cannot happen overnight as it calls for a systemic shift in the way we think and behave. This is the change which this new guy (ex-Delhi CM) is trying to bring upon. The other choice is a get-rich-quick scheme which may lead to a stock market boom for the next couple of years but would not help us truly shift from our status quo.
I strongly believe that we are witnessing a revolution. Its a revolt against all the political masters who have diligently and unashamedly kept us bereft of development and looted the public money for their own greed. Its a challenge to all those pseudo-secularists who tom-tom the song of securalism just before elections and in the hindsight threaten the unity and fabric of the nation. Its a challenge for the ugly side of the bureaucracy who have stifled the very spirit of the country by engaging in corrupt activities and making it so ever-pervasive in all forms of life. Its a challenge to all of us to vote not for the 'one' leader but to the leader in our own constituency who is not tainted and can bring upon a meaningful change.
AAP is just the face of the revolution.
Then this guy thought of taking a different path. Yes, he had propagated against taking this path earlier. But when conventional methods do not work, one has got to do things differently. This is also what is known as Innovation. This guy did nothing but innovate and did a marvelous job at it. He stormed Delhi to power within 2 years beating the likes of multiple times Chief Ministerial candidate hands down and by a margin which is humiliating. How did he do it? How is it possible for a newbie political party to win such an extravagant voteshare in such a short period of time [I think there is no more interesting case study than this one. Harvard, you listening?]. There have been instances of individuals (celebrities, social activists) winning seats previously but I do not recollect any activist movement hitting it so hard and so quick. To be fair, the Delhi election results was a shocker. There was immense disbelief as to what had happened. The political parties who had virtually dismissed the the new outfit as fly-by-night phenomenon suddenly seemed to have awoken from a deep sleep. The citizens (likes of you and me) were shocked too. What had happened was that the Delhi junta had voted for a party solely based on the themes which they fought over the past two years i.e. Weeding out corruption, taking power out off the hands of the political masters and bringing in more transparency. And we cheered them on. Everybody cheered the newcomer.
Coming to Power: Many among us condemn this guy for accepting power and taking support from a political party which they so vehemently opposed. Some think that he became power hungry, some think of his party just being a B-team of the incumbent party, some opine that he had no option but to accept it as it was a mandate given to them. I also assume that had he not accepted responsibility, this guy would still have been criticized. Maybe the criticism would have been manifold. However, the truth is that he came to power and he came with a purpose.
49 days in Delhi: This would probably go down as one the most happening period in Delhi's political history. There was action, drama, lights, sound ! Just all of it. There were new announcements everyday by the new government. Starting with their poll promise of free water, reducing electricity bills to ordering CAG Audits of power discoms to creating night shelters using abandoned buses to the swift creation of a strong Anti-corruption bureau. There was action everywhere. It seemed that Delhi was the new India for a couple of months and there was no news from anywhere else. And then it happened with a bang. The guy resigned over the non-passage of the Janlokpal bill (which btw was the seed of the party's emergence) and declared his intentions to contest nationally.
Did he do wrong by resigning? I do not think so. The fact is that we are at a stage where we do not have a luxury called time. We just cannot afford to let one more corrupt government rule for another 5 years. Its not in question anymore. Many critics (among them my many friends) are simply voting for a major political party because they think India needs a stable government. My friends, I simply ask that what use is stability if it would not lead to change from out current state of distress (We are currently 94th on the Global Corruption perception index, we are in the bottom quartile in Asia with respect to the entrepreneurial climate, we have massive economic inequality in our system which breeds out millionaires as well as criminals at a same speed, we have a crawling judicial system which leads to court cases pending in the system for tens of years, we have a defunct police system where ordinary citizens are asked for bribes for as things as simple as lodging an FIR or getting a passport, we have swathes of people from the rural and semi urban India who are unemployed and gradually veer towards the criminal side and not to mention the extremist developments in most of India's hinterland and the list would just go on). And I sincerely believe that both the mainstream political parties lack the political will to challenge any of these grave concerns. Had they been concerned about the state of affairs, we would not be in this situation post 66 years of our independence. One party is gracefully accepting tainted leaders of the other and projecting the image of a Gujarat leader as the one and only messiah for the nation. Really?
I believe that from here on, we have two choices in front of us. One is a more fundamental change which changes the very way we live our daily lives and can bring on a a prosperity which would be unseen in world's history. Prosperity which not only focuses on a few industrial houses but to the common man as well. This change cannot happen overnight as it calls for a systemic shift in the way we think and behave. This is the change which this new guy (ex-Delhi CM) is trying to bring upon. The other choice is a get-rich-quick scheme which may lead to a stock market boom for the next couple of years but would not help us truly shift from our status quo.
I strongly believe that we are witnessing a revolution. Its a revolt against all the political masters who have diligently and unashamedly kept us bereft of development and looted the public money for their own greed. Its a challenge to all those pseudo-secularists who tom-tom the song of securalism just before elections and in the hindsight threaten the unity and fabric of the nation. Its a challenge for the ugly side of the bureaucracy who have stifled the very spirit of the country by engaging in corrupt activities and making it so ever-pervasive in all forms of life. Its a challenge to all of us to vote not for the 'one' leader but to the leader in our own constituency who is not tainted and can bring upon a meaningful change.
AAP is just the face of the revolution.
1 comment:
Aptly put, but not sure our Country is ready for it. We seem take pleasure in other people's failure
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