The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been making headlines over the past few weeks and months. AAP seemingly has awakened the consciousness of the nation. The middle class educated junta, suddenly sees a new affiliation to politics in the form of AAP and Arvind Kejriwal. For the nation, which was desperately looking to fill the political void created by the so-called old style politicians, it is no doubt a good news. There is a new party to look up to. There is a new hope that the nation will be get back on its heels and start running. For the media, which was seemingly bored of NaMo Vs RaGa debates, AK brings a fresh loads of news feeds. His antiques (be it taking a metro ride to the swearing-in ceremony or denying personal security or any of his extreme austerity measures) are surely and steadily filling the front pages of the print media.
But there is a big flip side to the AAP wave, that the nation and its over-enthusiastic young junta aren’t noticing yet. There is a disaster in the waiting if the AAP wave continues beyond Delhi!!!
Lets take a step back and look at why there was a need for AAP to be born and some of the fundamentals of nation building. Nations are built on strong vision and every countryman and woman working towards that vision, led by extremely passionate leaders. These visionary leaders dream big for the nation and they chart of what needs to be done to achieve the vision. I emphasize on the word “what”… Once the “what” is figured out, then comes the “how” part… In simple project management terminology, if I know “what” is the project deliverable or goal, I can figure out “how” to go about it. Imagine, a project manager telling his team, to put in extra hours and come and working on weekends etc, without telling what needs to be accomplished! True leaders etch the project goals in each and every team member so heavily, that the team members come up with ideas themselves “how” to accomplish the goal!
The sad part is that the country over the past 10 years, has been ruled by Congress & UPA which neither had a vision and obviously, didn’t know how to go about it. They neither knew the “what” part nor had any clarity on the “how” part. One of the biggest let down in the past 10 years was the utter spinelessness of the Prime Minister of India. While the nation filled with youth looked forward for an aggressive, matter-of-fact, visionary leader; all it got from Manmohan (and his madame Sonia) is a silent. all-obedient, coalition-saving, spineless leader. The nation instead of surging ahead of the other developing nations, went back in time during the reign of Congress and Manmohan has a lot to be held accountable for. If a Prime Minister cannot connect with his own cabinet and the population at large, what good is he for? If he cannot arrest corruption in his own departments, how can he command respect from any one below the lines? How can the chief of the Government, be so helplessly watching corruption grow to such enormity? The whole nation was surprised, ashamed and eventually revolted. Its no surprise that Aam Aadmi Party has gained so much popularity on a singular agenda of Corruption Free Governance.
But that’s not the end of the story… That’s only the beginning of the story! Giving a corruption free governance is addressing only the “how” part. If there is a INR 10 to earn and INR 10 to spend, the “corruption free” way of doing things is addressing “how” to spend the 10 Rs. It doesn’t say how to generate the revenue of INR 10. That’s precisely where the vision comes. AAP is not talking about future. It doesn’t have a vision (or atleast a vision to build a nation). AAP is not expressing its vision for the future. It is too busy in ‘fix’ing the present. It is the “hygiene” factors of transparency, corruption, accountability that AAP is trying to address but can it scale beyond the “hygiene” factors and come up with a real vision for the nation? I doubt! To me, it looks like AAP is trying to run even before it learns to crawl. It can solve the water, sewage, electricity problems of Delhi; but can it make India the most advanced nation in welfare and warfare? I doubt.
While on the other hand, there is a party which has certainly shown that it has visionaries. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one of the best visionary the nation has seen in this generation. He had a dream for the nation. He braved sanctions and ventured into nuclear tests. The construction sector got a real boost with his Golden Quadrilateral project. He envisioned friendship with Pakistan to be beneficial to the South East Asia and hence extended a warm friendly hand with the neighbors with the Delhi-Lahore bus service. When the neighbors returned back the favor with infiltration across the border, the nation fought back successfully in Kargil under his leadership. He is probably the only politician whom even the opposition respected to the hilt. That’s the kind of visionary he was and the inclusive politics he practiced. Was there corruption in his era? Probably yes. Would AAP be born today if Vajpayee was ruling? Certainly NO. The reason is that a visionary like Vajpayee will never take nation’s consciousness for granted like the current Congress and UPA rulers did and are doing. A visionary will always ensure that the “what” part of a progressive nation is crystal clear while ensuring it is done the “right” way. The need for an “AAP” like party to emerge with a single agenda of “corruption free governance” would never ever had taken place, if the nation be ruled by the likes of Vajpayee.
So, what next. On one hand, we have the utterly corrupt Congress which is rotten beyond repair. On the other hand, the nation is swooning over the newbies like “AAP” which has no track record of having a vision and too immersed in the hygienic factors and has displayed atrocious decision making abilities (taking support from Congress!).
That is precisely why leaders like Narendra Modi be given a chance. Is he as good a visionary as Vajpayee? Probably no. Can he ever become as spineless as Manmohan? Definitely NO.
If I were to weigh the options of a great nation called India being built from ground up today, I would rather put my money on Narendra Modi learning the “how” part of bringing in transparency, accountability and corruption-free execution than Arvind Kejriwal picking up the “what” part of having a vision for the nation. The vision should be in the instincts of a leader and unfortunately, I don’t see that in Arvind Kejriwal today! He can sweep the floor with his broom, but cannot build the floor himself. Not yet I mean!
Coming back to my subject of the detrimental impact of the wave created by AAP!
The very mention of AAP is making the people in the cities and towns go crazy! The anti-congress votes will obviously be split in the coming general elections. We might even see what has happened in Delhi (a hung verdict and an unstable coalition government) being repeated in the general elections. The Congress voters (I would rather call them loosers) will still be voting for Congress for the cheap rice and fake security cover that the Congress would promise to offer. The middle class educated junta, who are supposedly “more intelligent than the fishing net of Congress can catch”, will fall prey to the exorcism of AAP. The AAP “wave” will eat into the votes that would not only hamper the prospects of a clear majority at the center, the nation will again go back in time big time. A great opportunity will be lost.
No doubt, corruption is the single biggest threat to the nation today. No doubt, the nation has suffered a lot by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats from top to bottom. But can a party like AAP resurrect back the nation! Unfortunately, in spite of all the hoo-haas that AAP is generating in Delhi, it may not provide the nation what it is looking for! The nation is going to pay a heavy price because of the “AAP Wave”… AAP is like an untimely rain, which ruins the crop just before it is harvested. What would be even more disaster is AAP winning significant seats (just like it surprised in Delhi polls) and then taking the support of Congress to seal the nation’s fate for ever!
I sincerely hope that AAP Wave is contained to Delhi and better sense prevails over AAP leaders to prove themselves first in Delhi before trying to spread their brooms, to the other parts of the country! I wish better sense prevails over the “Aam” Junta to have a vision for the nation and not get swept by the brooms. 2019 should definitely be a different story if AAP comprehensively proves themselves at least at state level! But 2014, should belong to one and only BJP.
Jai Hind!
(published Dec 2013)
