Indian politics : As I saw, growing all these years...

Photo credit: BBC.com

I remember as a kid, some politicians visiting our home at the time of local elections. 4-5 politicians visited us in 10 days time, to check our well being, requesting to caste vote on D-day and circulated pamphlets with their party symbol and slogan on it. We use to play with Party Symbol cutouts and try to collect as many as we could. At times there use to be party workers blabbering on a loud speaker mounted on an auto, roaming around carelessly in the colony.

“Mom, why are these politicians coming to our place?” I asked my mom wondering might be we were big shots and they came to take our blessings.

“This is election time, politicians will come; they will make false promises and hide after elections. This is the only time when they run after people and post elections, make people run after them for every trivial thing!”

I don’t remember if I understood what my mom told me then but now I clearly know where it came from. Traditionally, the elected candidates did not take the job of politics seriously. Once elected, politicians are on cloud nine and they forget the common man. A lot of times voters know that the candidate is not good but due to lack of choice, they are forced to vote same candidate every time. This makes politicians more arrogant. There are good people also in the world of politics but it is as hard to point them out as finding a bucket of fresh water from salted seawater.

In my early days, whenever I thought of politics, the only association I could make of it was with words like: Congress, BJP, Jayalalitha, Left, Mayawati, Bofors, Narsimha Rao, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Nehru and few others. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM when I was in my college days. That was the phase were I use to discuss and debate about politics and policies with friends. And I remember I use to say that Atal Bihari was my favorite politician! Indeed he was, not only my favorite, even the opposition parties never denied of his aura and Charisma. My fondness was more to do with his personality rather than political views. He truly represented India as a country at the Global platform.

 

It was 2004 and Congress/ UPA came to power post elections. Mr. Manmohan Singh became PM and being one the finest economist and key architect of 1991 liberalization, hopes were high. At the same time there was pessimism because probably the country has already seen enough of Congress. And I distinctly remember people saying, “Now things will become costly…” “…Now country will take 10 steps back…” and I use to wonder why did people vote for congress in the first place then? To which I never got an answer.

History repeated itself in 2009 with UPA coming to power again. Once again Manmohan Singh was the face of the nation, to the world. This time scams and corruption became more evident and there seriousness multiplied. Out of hopelessness, I wrote a ‘Letter to Prime Minister’ to which he never replied. Though I am happy I expressed my wish and was not mute like him. Miss-governance can be attributed to weak opposition also who was not aggressive enough to keep the ruling party in check. Even the international press criticized Indian PM by putting him on Time magazine cover page with an ‘Under Achiever?’ headline. It surely raised lot of brows but then everything was forgotten with the passage of time.

And then suddenly, out of nowhere, there came Anna Hazare and the anti-corruption movement. The demand was to pass Jan Lokpal Bill in parliament as a mechanism to tackle corruption. After initial denials and ignorance government was forced to listen to Anna’s demands. It was a storm that shook the government. People saw an avenue to make India of their dreams, into reality. Indians were on the streets around the country supporting the cause and it was considered a big victory. News channels telecasted minute-by-minute proceedings of what was happening at Jantar Mantar. It was a massive movement and I never felt so strongly or so passionately about any movement ever before. Candle lit marches to slogans to dharnas, all peacefully.

Since it was matter of power, stake and survival some anti-social elements were planted among the working committee of the movement. What happened next was a series of opportunists, frauds, hope, exposes and dismay. Aam Aadmi Party was born with Arvind Kejriwal became crusader and projected as the representative of common man. Delhi elections were fought and in the history of Indian democracy, first time a new party got such a huge number of votes by country men. It was not a clear mandate but it became a coalition government with local people’s choice.

For the first time it looked like the country has taken many giant steps forward on the path of progress. The canvass looked perfect and beautiful. It was time for an agitator to become an administrator. It was time for the crusader to fulfill his promises. Though promises were short term like free to heavy subsidy on water and electricity yet people were swayed by the miracle of having an alternate in the politics.

Arvind Kejriwal promised to clean the system. He seemed to be Anil Kapoor from the famous Bollywood movie Nayak. But when it came to execution, the dreams seemed to be faltering away. Day by day, the way Delhi was miss-governed, looked dubious. The man who stood against corruption and exposed from CM to Industrialist became soft on a section of political society. The dharna politics became way of life. But Indians are always hopeful. In the game of Cricket, even if we would need 8 runs to win on a last ball, we would hope for opposition to bowl a No-Ball, our batsmen to hit a four on it and then hit another four on the last ball. We are a land of hopefuls, forgivers, 'Chalta Hai' attitude endorsers, Cricket lovers, God-fearers and not so politically inclined people.

Supporters of AAP ignored and discounted all the miss-doings of AAP under the name of inexperience party. But it became evident that AAP had soft corner for Congress with the passage of time. It was called a Team B of Congress and a well-planned movement to gain anti-congress votes in Delhi elections. In hast, Arvind Kejriwal quit CM ship and dissolved his government. The man who appeared as crusader, a common man driving blue Wagon-R, who gave hopes to clean the society, change the way politicians work, broke millions of dreams and hearts. How can you leave Delhi and Delhiets in a state of political limbo? Anarchy? Double standards? There are many questions that Kejriwal needs to answer not to us, but to the people who believed in him and who voted for his party. The alternate government, the very option seizes to exist now. There seems to be no difference between AAP and any other political party.

Ideally, Kejriwal should have stayed as Delhi CM and strengthen AAP as a national party over a period of time by good governance. The country capital faces so many issues, biggest being women security. He could have picked 2-3 major issues and resolved them permanently. This would have given him some political experience and chance to prove his administration capabilities. Changing the system is not easy but he had biggest strength with him – The Common Man. With passage of time it became more evident than AAP is against Modi and BJP. It never gave importance to people who actually gave birth to the party. Jumping for Lok Sabha elections shows that Congress wants to get anti-congress votes through AAP and keep BJP away from power. And this is the reason why my mom was so correct back then, when I was a kid, about the politicians.

Arvind Kejriwal who is projected as an alternate PM candidate for Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, have shared very shocking thoughts. His priority is to defeat Narendra Modi. He is of the view that there would be another elections in a year or so and then India will get new stable government. More can be read here. Any sane person would not subscribe to his views. When the country is in such a fragile state, economy is crippling, constant threats to internal and external security, corruption is spoiling the image of India at International level, this guy seems to play a trial-match this time to get some practice and then play real match again next year! In all this humdrum the only thing that is being ignored is – The Country. We still have time and resources to put country back on the growth track. If not this time, we may get deviated so much that the road to growth might look impossible.

To me, it is always nation first. Whatever takes the nation and its people forward should be done. The world is progressing and we have to lead the way of development. We are self sufficient, self-sustaining and a vibrant force of energy. All we need is good leader and decisive policies, which are executed for the benefit of society as a whole and not just a particular section. It is time we shun the ‘Chalta hai’ attitude and vote for a change. After looking at the manifestos of BJP, Congress and AAP, I would opt for the one giving hope of development and willingness to execute and take some difficult but corrective actions. Enough of communal card has been played and this time we should vote for development. We should not forget that we ourselves would progress if the country moves in proper direction, we the people would be the most benefited.

fOoD fOr ThOugHt: For the country and for the dream of development to fulfill the unfulfilled, please go out and vote for an able leader. Let not your heart rule over your head!

Anna Hazare Rises! – Why it is so important for the movement to become successful!

1919, it was that time of the World history when First World War was going on. In India, the British Raj was intolerable. To worsen the situation, the Rowlatt Act was passed. The act authorized the government to imprison anybody suspected of conspiracy or promoting unrest without any trails and formalities. The very next year, General Dyer heard of major conspiracy that was going to happen among large gathering of people, then. He went with fifty armed men and ordered to open fire till the ammunitions lasted. It killed thousand of innocent Indians, including women and children. It was the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Gandhiji launched Non-cooperation movement all over India propagating to boycott British goods and use of local made stuff, handicrafts, etc. The movement shook the very roots of British establishment in India. The movement was supported by Indian National Congress and freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Rajguru, etc. It could have given India independence in the early 1920s, had the movement been continued, then. In 1922, the Chauri Chaura incident happened where violent protest between local police and protestors resulted in setting police chowki on fire. It killed 22 policemen. Gandhi called off the non-cooperation movement since he was staunch believer of Ahimsa or non-violence. It took 25 years from then to get the Independence.

It left many Indians including people like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru devastated. There was anger in the minds of common masses. Efforts were made to restore the non-cooperation movement. All in vain. The freedom fighter continued their struggle for the freedom in their own way. A ray of hope that Gandhi’s movement gave got killed.

Today, we are Independent in a way that we have our own elected representatives to govern the nation. But the country has gone from bad to worse. Corruption appears to be a milder word these days, the way they happen are justified by the politicians in media. Tainted ministers head the committee and important portfolios. Land allotment scams, increase in FSI, Coalgate, spectrum scam, mining scam, buying of political support by tax payer’s money, misuse of development fund and the list goes on. The nation is divided into minority and majority to get the votes. The recent Assam violence is an example of how politics is played out with people for political gains.

Last year, when Anna Hazare started with indefinite fast, it shook the roots of corrupt government. Efforts were made to curb the peaceful demonstration. False promises were made to pacify the anger. The huge support that Anna received showed that Indians were fed up of corrupt and incapable congress government. Government tried all that it could to weaken the force over the period of time. The movement gave a ray of hope to billions of Indians. Even I participated at the Gateway of India rally and witnessed several such peaceful demonstrations at various places.

But if this revolution fails, it will kill hopes of million and no one else will dare to do what Anna is doing, in future. Everyone will fear to raise voice against unjust. People will fear from calling black, a black. It is really important for Anna Hazare and Indians to make this movement really large and successful. We need to come out of our homes and support whole-heartedly the movement. It is for our better future, for a better nation!

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT:I know Anna Hazare won’t call off the movement the way Gandhi did, in 1922. More important is that people should realize and come forward to contribute towards the success of the movement to remain truly Independent.

It takes only an Anna (Hazare) to do what he did!

Last weekend I went to watch movie Aarakshan in theatre. Though normally I don’t expect much before start of any movie so as to enjoy and observe the minute details the director wants to subtly narrate. But with Prakash Jha, I expected the movie to be good if not better. I was utterly disappointed and the movie was pathetic to say the least.

The expectation set was right in the first half an hour of the movie. It seemed to be a movie about reservation and anti-reservation debate something that no government has tried to solve in reality. As the movie progresses the focus digresses. There is no clear anchor, no direction for the movie after a point of time. The intentions of Mr. Jha were great but to speak the bitter truth as it is and get accepted is difficult. From pro-reservation stand, the movie shifts to pro tuitions to free education. It was beating around the bush. It was too complex a topic to take a stand. For the first time I observed such a confused audience after the movie was over. May be Dhobi Ghat was the last time, I found audience so puzzled.

With Rajneeti, which was equally huge in terms of characterization and complexity of subject, it was lot structured. The movie led to a natural climax and though longish, the movie was well executed with a focused approach.

The only reason could be because it takes guts of Anna Hazare and support of entire India to take on the ruling government. You challenge the authority and you would be shown the doors. With Anna, the background check is clear. Government probed into his past and present only to find gold. Baba Ramdev might be good, his intentions were also same, but with his commercialized of products and with tax authority and other government agencies after him, he could only retract.

The movement started with 5-7 people. Word spread and few hundred people gathered. In days time few hundred became few thousand, thousands became few lac and lacs in to crores. It’s a common discussion in buses, at breakfast table or on television. Anna has surely united us to fight against corruption. The agitation has left the government clueless. They thought it as a fad initially but now that’s the only talking point. No congress spokesperson is able to talk straight and convince what they believe, on any news channels. I would like to pat back of media, the fourth estate, which has played a crucial role in spreading the information and bringing masses together. If all the four pillars of democracy including judiciary behave so responsibly, ‘India of dream’ will become reality soon.

The present situation cannot be called a License Raj, but it is no less. Corruption has crippled the nation. It is shameful to see Members of Parliaments showing bundles of money in the parliament of the world’s biggest democracy, being offered to buy their votes. Words cannot describe that darkest hour of Indian Democracy. What is appreciable about the movement started by Anna is the way it is carried out. It is in 9^th day now but no signs of violence whatsoever. There is so much anger in people, in crowd yet they have maintained the decorum. They are aware that a silly mistake and government will get a chance to put everyone in jail with charges of disrupting peace at public place, jeopardying all the effort. I salute the discipline and patience of common man for this.

Though I am completely in favor of corruption less nation if not corruption free, I don’t have an idea as to how Jan Lokpal bill will be implemented and executed. The points it states is all acceptable but a small loopholes is what it takes to sink something as big as Titanic. I am just worried of those open holes in this bill, if there are any. After those cautionary words, something gives me confidence. If there would have been substantial loopholes, the government would not have been so stubborn in accepting it.

fOoD fOr ThOuGhT: Anna has stood for us, for a better tomorrow. It really requires courage to challenge the absolute power. Let’s fight against corruption and build a better tomorrow!