On the 14th Feb, when mush was filling the air in Delhi and elsewhere, Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Admi Party (AAP) decided to end their romance with power after 7 weeks. When I tweeted thus, someone corrected me – “Romance??? Far from it. It was day-today bickering with power”. Well it was. From the time of Team Anna and then Team Kejriwal, I have been of the opinion that it serves best for Team Kejriwal’s values to stay out of the political system and fight. Read my earlier posts here and here. Age provided wiser counsel to Anna I guess and he refused to be even a peripheral part of AAP. His original agitation for a Lokpal bill reached its logical conclusion finally with the passing of the same. He is now gearing up for the next fight with his new charter all fighting from outside the system. (Though his alignment with and endorsement of Mamta Banerjee is a dampener)
Did I want AAP to fail like this??? Certainly not. I maintain that the time has come for an alternative way of politics in the country and AAP briefly provided that and I hope they will continue to. Some of their moves do deserve more lenient and generous commentary.
- In India political parties think of manifestos only before elections. Once elected, the manifesto is archived meticulously only to be retrieved and “Operation copy/cut/paste/find/replace” done before the next elections!!! Even in the short 49 day raj, AAP demonstrated their seriousness towards fulfilling the promises made in the manifesto.
- Once in power as seen in recent times mostly as a coalition, the mainstream parties have thrown the alibi of “Coalition compulsion” for not implementing their core party promises. Usually the larger party agrees to the conditions of the smaller party to form the government. Here the smaller party (Congress in this case) agreed to toe the line for supporting the larger party (AAP) to form the Government without seemingly extracting its pound of flesh!!!
- Time frame is something political parties never bother about except in situations which suit their convenience. One was pleasantly surprised to see AAP trying hard to do things in a hurry.
To be fair, these are things unheard of / unseen in Indian politics.
Having said that, AAP certainly could have done things differently rather than changing Delhi into a theatre of “AAPsurd” in the past couple of months. When I was in Delhi 2 weeks back, a resident told me this – “Delhi these days has become like Kolkatta. You never know what dharna is going to happen, where and how it will affect daily life”!!!  Well, that’s not a very charitable comment. Having come to power due to the strong power of democracy, there is no way the ruling party can change democracy to “dharnacracy”.  In the spirit of fulfilling the promise made in the manifesto (which in the 1st place smacks of ludicrousness) you cannot waive off penalties for those who failed to pay power bills in support of your agitation. Tomorrow a Sena can start an agitation calling for burning a few trains and when they come to power can announce lifelong free passes for all those who supported them on their agitation. How ridiculous is that???
This AAP’s fling with power has sounded a loud “Wake AAP call” to all concerned:
To AAP: As many pundits keep saying, once part of the political system which has brought AAP to power it is important to focus on governance and shed the street fighter stripes. People are yearning for change and when in power, change is best brought by using authority to bring in governance. An apple a day can keep the doctor away. But an AAP overkill a day will keep all well-wishers away!!!
To Main stream political parties: As demonstrated by AAP within the short period of existence, there is a compelling need to change the discourse of the past. Patience may be a virtue but today’s generation has very much less of it. Choose candidates based on merit, performance matters and to people nothing matters except issues related to their day-today well-being. Read as jobs, income, family’s future,…  Hence single-minded focus on Governance and carrying out things in a timely fashion is what people expect.  Chai pe charcha and Bharat Nirman campaigns are all fine. But once in power, charchas in parliament have to result in Desh Nirman, and not in shameful “Pepperspray” abhiyaan!!
To the Aam admi: In the next few months, the aam admi will get a chance to express him/herself. The next 2 years will decide if India will become a developed nation or continue to be a perennial emerging country. It is important to differentiate the expectations from a local body election to a state election to a Lok Sabha election and vote accordingly. The last 25 years we have suffered due to fractured mandates. In today’s world an absolute majority will make a difference at the centre.. Hence it will serve us better if we use our precious vote to bring a stable party/pre-poll coalition at the centre rather than a fancy front with regional parties which jump on to the bandwagon as post-poll partners bargaining for “ATM” ministries and pulling in NEWS directions!  And vote for individuals who show capability and tendency to make a difference.
Postscript: Sharing a joke seen on Whatsapp:
“Kejriwal resigns as CM of Delhi. Kaamwali bai sach hi kehti hai. Jhaadu kitna bi acha kyu na ho, 2-3 mahine se jyada nahi chalta” 🙂 🙂 🙂
Cartoon Courtesy : The Hindu
Anand … a nice witty one with a sound message for the voter …. and the joke is a complete winner … really sums it up all well… keep writing!!!
Thank you Nirmal.
“political parties think of manifestos only before elections”
This generalization is not backed with data. BJP evolved a common minimum programme with a huge coalition during NDA tenure, and diligently delivered on it. Just because the cong didn’t, it does not mean others don’t. Basic problem is media hides these things from public.
Thanks for your feedback. I beg to differ. I’ve seen manifestos being released with much fanfare just before the elections by parties and no reference made when they come to power. A common min. programme is just that – one which has min in terms of agenda because it is a compromise cobbled up by a post poll alliance. In general a post poll alliance is just an opportunistic one. Nevertheless I appreciate you stopping by and leaving your feedback.
With BJP as is quite visible, the agenda is published ahead, vision is published well ahead, and manifesto relatively closer to elections. Don’t mistake me for a BJP guy – I’m not. CMP is evolved after poll, naturally. Which also changes but remains a benchmark to see what they delivered wrt what they promised. There is an absolute opacity with cong in this matter, which is a difference no keen observer can miss out. Besides, post poll alliance is not just opportunistic (it is definitely opportunistic) – it is a predicament more than convenience for parties like BJP because it pulls them down in terms of what extent of manifesto promise can be fulfilled. Which is why a clear mandate is the voter’s responsibility.
I quite agree. Thanks for the response.
Well yes, the matter present in the post is well crafted. I liked it..!!
Jinal, thank you very much !
Nice one. India has to decide if they are looking for tested crony capitalism or a corruption-free India with socialist focus.
Vibhor, thanks for reading and for your comment. Yes crony capitalism must end. But socialistic focus – I’m not sure.
Nice way of putting thoughts into words!!
People are too bothered about taking the risk. But then voting back the existing lot is a risk with 100% probability of disaster. Why not try something else?
Its unfortunate that these articles don’t see space in mainstream media, but paid & socially engineered posts get first page mentions.
Rohan, Thanks a ton for your feedback. Appreciate.
Good, well written and I agree with your thoughts.
Thank you very much Sir
Well written… We must note that AAP was impatient and expected to change things instantly. This does not happen.. patience is a virtue and changing political system and governance also takes time… I hope if AAP comes to power again?? they will learn to mend things slowly but steadily…
Ramesh, yes, I hope so. Thanks for your feedback
The most visible complaint i see in your blog is about is Dharna politics. A thousand women are getting raped every year in the capital. Conventional politics has failed for decades to show any signs of improvement. We have to make the Police accountable. We really need to understand, that this is not just another issue. And he didn’t sit on Dharna for every single issue he faced. Security of women is a far bigger concern than Politics, Democracy, Image of a CM or even the Constitution.
Sanjiv, I agree with you that the conventional politics has failed us and AAP came in and we had hope. My only limited point is that AAP team could have taken a bit of time in understanding how things work, take experts help, strategise and then go about doing things. All said and done, 5 thins done is better than 10 things attempted. I am sure AAP team has also realized this and will do better in the future. Thanks for reading and for leaving your feedback. Appreciate.
I hope we all remember why AAP was formed. To pass the Jan Lokpal Bill in it’s original state as proposed by Anna Hazare et al. Their was and still is a focus to do that as the primary objective by AAP. When they are prevented by BJP and Congress in all possible ways to do so, they resigned. This single bill will solve thousands of problems across all government offices including the ministers. Just think about it, every government official doing his job with honesty and accountability. This is the dream of India and AAP is helping us in realizing this dream. The policies if not the best, still are good in our country, we only lack implementation. AAP is not focusing on 10 things. But still they are doing a thousand things.
good one
Hey, Thanks
When 42 elected powerful lobby of BJP-Congress were shouting we are 42 we are 42 to the speakers,it is cheating the nation when President rule is pushed on Delhi and both BJP-Congress run away.For details kindly read my views on my old article http://www.hichkey.com/fir-against-sheila-dixit-and-its-valentine-day-side-effects/#sthash.2Y8wyu4i.dpbs
Thanks for stopping by and for your views. I will read your post in a while.
Hello Sir, no doubt very-well written, matured content, in-depth and very engaging piece. And Thanks a ton for your comments on mine.
Thanks for reading and for your feedback
Nice one Anand!!!! As someone who has just ventured into uncharted waters, I think I can ‘tricks of the trade’ from you. http://straightranjan.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/arvind-kejriwals-resignation/ Request u to go thru this…. and as u have said feedback most welcome….
Thanks mate. I will certainly
Pingback: Deciphering the cAAPital Verdict!!! | anandkumarrs