Friday, June 6, 2014

Why the AAP phenomenon is relevant and needed for us

Post the elections, AAP has churned out lot of negativity in the press. Senior party members resignation, Kejriwal in jail, refusing bail and pursuing the case against Gadkari and all that. There is a lot of flak they have drawn in the media. Comments and feedback on AAP is totally in the negative. On the contrary Modi has started on the right foot with instructions to fellow MPs, clean governance, strengthen the hands of executives, friendly links with foreign states and so on.

Not that BJP or Modi and AAP are enemies. If BJP is doing the right things, it is good for our nation. It is not that AAP is the only force to fight corrupt elements. If BJP is making the right moves it should be welcome. After all, the face does not matter all the time. When it comes to giving good governance, the issues matter more than the face. Modi seem to be making the right noises towards this in my opinion.

However, it may raise the relevance of AAP here. Do we need it if the government is doing its job giving clean governance to the people? I have felt AAP is always needed as the informal Lokpal which was their core demand. AAP may not have done the right things recently. Their strategy to leave governance after the referendum in Delhi has surely back fired. A golden opportunity was lost by taking extreme stand in haste. In politics, abject honesty is not the one which may do maximum good, but a balance of things with an eye on public good without being dishonest. However, AAP being the new kid needs to do a lot of learning in this direction.

So whether we have BJP or Congress or some others ruling this country, once bitten badly with the experience of governance which was indifferent to the very people who elected them (I mean the previous Congress government) and pushing the economy to disaster with series of scam, the need to have a body or political force which can take more aggressive, non compromising stand on the issue of governance, corruption is badly needed for India at this stage. I see AAP filling this position irrespective of the face of it being Kejriwal or some other.

We need guardians who are not leaning towards communal or pseudo secular and just be issue based. So, in a country which has long been divided along communal, linguistic, caste lines and people have largely been aligned along these, it will take time to wake up from the sleep and start looking at the issues that plague our country that are immediate and burning like price rise or the expensive way education is turning to be or the bad roads and polluted cities and so on. We have many concerns right in front of us with the economy expanding in all directions and waiting to explode. In this scenario, we better build bridges than temples or mosques. We focus on things which first make our lives on this planet better not only for us, but for our children. That said, I liked Modi saying build roads not temples or something of that nature. That is the right thinking.

AAP as a movement should be exactly worried about these even if there is in-fighting among the leaders of AAP which I believe should be laid to rest sooner and people should shake hands to build a better India. After all they should never be behaving like the regular political parties we are used to. AAP should move forward to publish their 'Areas of focus' and use the funds and volunteers to help the existing Government to do better in all spheres. That would be a very positive thing and will go down deep in resurrecting their fading image.

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