"AAP ki dilemmma"

The AAP ki dilemma !( Or is it the Country’s?)

I wonder if Arvind Kejriwal and his friends had ever imagined the political uncertainty they were to unleash when they did not get their 47 seats so vehemently claimed by AK in his interviews to various channels in the Capital and the NCR regions. That they got 28 has further confounded their political sagacity which I rate very highly even now. It has at the same time given them a huge opportunity to clean up the ‘Aegean stables’ so to say, of our country’s none too attractive political journey. They must now force the population of Delhi ( to call it New Delhi would be missing the point) to revisit the history of their political territory and thru this the political territory of the country of at least the last 65 years if not more. Perhaps the earlier period can be left best to the renowned historians and lesser mortals to juggle with.

For what Kejriwal has done is to open up the innards of each political outfit in the country and laid them bare before the embarassed public eyes. That they ( the people ) should be embarassed more, is a different matter and at the same time a very pivotal matter. I would insist that the Indian masses should look deep inside their own ‘zameer’ ( for want of a better english word) and come to their own conclusions as to why during their earlier independent existence they allowed their political thoughts as represented by the ‘established’ political parties to go astray and get deeply ensnared in the corrupt quicksand of any new and developing nation. This probability was very well known to the people or the members of the most effective and honoured party of the post independence era, the Congress Party, formed out of the blood sweat and toils and tears of the freedom movement of the nation. I would also quickly add the personas of the other ‘left of the centre’ political parties  like the Socialist Party, the CPI, the Forward bloc etc. This latter group I would leave out for the present for the purposes of getting to the bottom of what I wish t o say. So, back to the wonderful ‘zameer ‘ of the people of this country which the AAP has forcibly opened up once more.

For well over a quarter of a century, the Congress Party headed by Mrs. Indira Gandhi and her descendants decided what was best for the country and its people. Which sector to be propelled, which financial laws to be pushed thru, which social legislation to be strengthened was her whim and fancy. There was hardly any democratic push for any major sinew of the nation from the party ; what mattered was that the Party boss was kept in good humour and that would ensure that the ‘business as usual’ ethos would continue, and that all is well with the Indian democracy. Slowly, an established but thinly veiled corrupt system of governance got established. So, it did not matter if officials received expensive gifts and junkets and favours from the emerging dynamic business class for files to be moved effectively. It did not matter at all very soon that these powerful centres of change ( read the govt. official, the corporate executive et all ) received expensive gifts during Diwali, Christmas and other such important revered festival days. Gifts and favours which in their wildest dreams they would not have dared to purchase from their salaries or known sources of income. Overnight, many ‘successful’ executives became ‘very well to do’ and sometimes ‘originally rich’ classes of officials and individuals who would naturally scale the heights of officialdom at double speed and all would again be ‘business as usual’. Nobody would point a finger at them or their sudden upwardly mobile stance and ambience. Till something like the Coal block Scandal or the 2 G Scam or the CWG scam would break loose and the dull sensibilities of the Indian masses would be shaken, in fact brutally woken up to start groping for a way out. Not that Arvind Kejriwal  has provided any blue print for sorting these out and getting us on a righteous path immediately enough.

Now that the AAM Party has taken the political challenge by its horns, it is also very heartening to note that they have started by steadfastly sticking to the honest, simple, and straightforward living standards for themselves, C.M.s and Ministers and of course the M.L.A.s elected right from the word go ! No flapping security of gun toting men to signal that they are bringing in tow a ‘Minister’ or a ‘bada Aadmi’ !! No palatial bungalows, and unnecessary fan fare. These are some basics on which they will build ( at least I hope so ) These are the basics on which every other ‘established’ party will flounder and will have to perforce do a re-think. They will ultimately have to do a rethink on the political thought with which they wish to engage the masses.

Aur bhi bahut gham hain duniya mein, abhi yaaron !!