The bottom line is that you assured people of utmost democracy, power in the hands of people and uncompromised transparency, venality to find no place. And the condition today is that those who backed the AAP ideology are feeling robbed. The protest that was against dynasty rule, corruption, lack of transparency, misuse of public wealth got a new shape when the faces of Anna’s demonstration founded a political party, saying that there cannot be any other way than to be a part of this dirty cluster so as to clean Indian politics. In case names would have fulfilled the aspirations of voters, I am sure that Bahujan Samaj Party would have bettered the lives of Dalit and backward castes, may be reservation would no longer be desirable, and Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal United, Nationalist Congress Party and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha would have delivered a state of social democracy, public ownership, progression and of course, true secularism. The irony, however, is that names are just an indicative of your ideology, just as the ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ seeking authorities from the common man of India, and the battle between names and delivery is far than achieved in Indian politics.
Stings, counter-stings, allegations, counter-allegations are all now a part of the party that phenomenally won voters’ mandate in the Delhi legislative polls of 2015. Power has become the only objective of members, the self-proclaimed volunteers, and the divide has come into the public domain, something that is taking away the fundamentals for which people voted in favor of the AAP. While in the last ruling, AAP leaders alleged that Congress and BJP aren’t enabling them to bring the Jan Lokpal Bill, in the present run, Delhi CM sworn-in on the 14th of January 2015, and after two and a half months of ruling, we have seen no deliberations on this Bill, or any practical alterations to the long standing issues of the state. Now the situation has become worst, a group that claimed that all its members, be it Arvind Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Yogendra Yadav or Prashant Bhushan are the pillars rendering forte to the sole aim of achieving people’s rule in the country, has turned severely hostile, self-destructive and alienated. The ouster of two of the senior most members and drivers of AAP may appear as win to Kejriwal’s camp, but let me remind you that your feat was allied with people’s betterment, something that has been left utterly unheeded since you assumed rule in the state.
Mayawati, Nehru-Gandhi Parivar, Jayalalithaa and Lalu Prasad Yadav may differ in the Parliament over proposals for new Acts and amendments, but they all share something in common- minimum democracy in their respective political parties and concentration of authority in one person/ family. I can remember two events in the Indian political setup that turned the normal trend and substantiated that autocracy and perpetuation cannot survive for long in a democracy- one was the rise of the Janata Dal and defeat of Indira Gandhi-led Congress, and the other was a clear mandate to Modi-led BJP in last Lok Sabha polls. While the latter is proving productive in all respects, the former saw abrupt rise of regional and vote-bank politics, split of power in hands of avaricious leaders and ensuing decline in development. The crucial question now is ‘Will AAP land up as another BSP of Mayawati or will it reprise the crumbling of Janata Dal?’ And if the answer is a ‘Yes’ to any of these two parts, I am afraid that the change anticipated by Delhi voters will end up in yet another five years of loot and devastation.
It is clear that the fraction which is losing in this AAP’s internal rift is Delhi’s public and the fraction winning is unproductive MLAs who are free from questions on development, and the corruption beneath. Along with on stake are the funds of people who donate to AAP thinking that money will be utilized in promoting good politics and governance. And finally is the hope of poor and backward castes that extended inclusive support to AAP but any of their sorrows doesn’t seem to end, at least in the near future. Protesting the measures of the ruling government and running a government are two entirely different aspects, you were good when you protested, but the rush of winning over the political battleground has landed you in a deep crisis, and to the sadness, this has come when you are supposed to spend every single minute in re-framing the social, economic and administrative domain of Delhi. I can remember days when at the inception of the AAP, volunteers and supporters of Anna’s movement against corruption were filled with high positivity, and to the contrary today, AAP has become a new entry in the long list of political parties of India that have so much to assure in their manifestos but in actuality they are the primary killers of growth, equality and secularism.
Dear CM of Delhi, be the change that you wanted to bring, be the flag-bearer in the race for all-inclusive prosperity and nation’s much-needed supremacy. BSP, Congress and others may have learnt the lesson late; you cannot expect such favors, since the expectations and level of shrewdness of voters have changed drastically in past couple of years. It is high time that you focus more on the tasks associated with the office of the CM of Delhi, not with the office of AAP’s convener.
Comments are closed.