The great Delhi Soap AAPera

With 49 days of full-on political melodrama, Aam aadmi party would have easily raked in the highest TRPs if it would have been a soap opera in place of a ruling party in the government. The attention seeking strategies of ‘Mango Man’ Arvind Kejriwal worked wonders for the party before elections but the same ‘saas-bahu’ style of emotionally egoistic working did not at all suit to a Chief Minister of the state . Kejriwal’s stepping down is being analyzed as a very well thought out decision which was pre-planned even before he took the oath as CM. As I have mentioned in my earlier article, he surely is man with gigantic ambitions and he may well prove to be a smarter man than we have given him credit for.

His resignation as CM, after loitering around with government for more than one and a half month may seem like a defeat to us, but we are a nation with the shortest possible memory. With national election round the corner, all his heroic speeches & dharnas will again project him as our great knight in the shining armor. Kejriwal was not all willing to rule Delhi in the first place but circumstances forced him to wear the crown full of thorns. His only mistake was to take the referendum route in deciding whether he should form the government or not. Against his expectations, people said yes to him. Unwillingly he accepted the mandate but in the process, has bruised his own image.

Nevertheless, it may also prove to be one ace in his pack of cards as he & his party members had full access to all the documents & files in the government, which they can jolly well use later on to expose the congress or BJP (which runs 3 municipal corporations in Delhi). The political jingoism shown by AAP in these 49 days has clearly gained them the much required media attention and focus on the news channels. Without the constraints of office, they can fight ferociously on the streets and gather masses along with them.

The accusations leveled against Ambani brothers and the FIR against Mukesh Ambani was a daring step taken by AAP. Some ministers were also named in the FIR.

I don’t know how the theatrics adopted by Kejriwal will help him in the long run, but I seriously doubt his intentions now. If he did not have the strength to take on the political system face to face, why did he choose to enter politics? Once he opted for the same, he stated that the system can’t be changed without getting into it. Now what has triggered this action of exiting the system if he was so hell bent to change it? The lack of consistency in his approach creates a large cloud of confusion in my mind. He is no different from other corrupt politicians if he did it all with true clarity in his mind and the intention of playing with the nation’s emotion. His long term strategy of entering Lok Sabha by exiting as Chief Minister may also spoil his career in the same way as it happened with Anna Hazare’s ‘India against Corruption’ movement.  

Are we surrounded by a bunch of self-centric politicians who care the least about our nation? On one hand is a good-for-nothing Rahul gandhi who is as intelligent as Rabri Devi. On the other hand, we have got Narendra Modi who seems to be a better option to me but the blot of 2002 riots will never earn him muslim votes. Arvind Kejriwal’s dramatic style of politics does not look sustainable for very long time and I personally feel that he will go on to ruin his own career irrespective of how good or bad his intentions will be.

The bottom line is that the basic issues like corruption, inflation, poverty, bursting population, education and many more will only gather attention in rally speeches but nothing material will be done to resolve them. The elite class will remain least bothered by anything and they will keep themselves occupied in never ending social parties. The average middle class will keep on striving hard to earn their so called high standard of living while being a little disturbed about the above issues. The poor class will remain the most affected and harmed but they will have a minimum control over everything while fighting hard to earn two meals a day.      

Corruption in India & Aam Aadmi Party

‘Corruption’, a word we get to hear more than a couple of times every day in India, more so because we face it, feel it, get perturbed by it and sometimes be a part of it in our day to day lives. The concept of ‘Idealism’ creeps inside us when we are bogged down and are not able to get the work done for ourselves. What about others? What about the poor who strive hard to earn two meals a day? The world has become so self-centered that we seldom think about the interests of the society as a whole.

Our nation i.e. the world’s largest democracy was slowly sprouting into an oligarchy, with one firangi family from Congress party making a hash of hundred and twenty billion of us in the form of never ending scams. The year 2011 witnessed a change in the dynamics of Indian politics with rise of the anarchist Anna Hazare & his ‘India against Corruption (IAC)’ movement which really cared about the interests of our society. A single person is all it takes to start a movement. While the world laments ‘Who will & how will’, the change-maker takes a small step towards making it possible & as it should be. Although the real change maker was Anna Hazare but Arvind Kejriwal cashed in on the wave. No one would have thought that an avid supporter and perceived right hand of Anna will go on to outshine him one day. The IIT-Kharagpur alumnus had the choice of leading a lavish corporate lifestyle but he had other ambitions in mind, maybe it was the never ending zeal to serve the society or maybe it was something else. 26^th November 2012 was the day when Arvind Kejriwal dared Anna by venturing into politics and the fledgling ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ or AAP was born from the crucible of IAC. A new identity with a new name was there but the mission was old. The hullabaloo was such that it swept Indian middle class off its feet. Here was a man who challenged the old school of thought in politics.

There is no doubt that Kejriwal’s track record is a true reflection of honesty and courage. Today, millions of Indians vouch for his sincerity and integrity. We are short memoried emotional people who tend to get carried away very easily. This happened with Delhi too when it voted for AAP whole heartedly. Arvind Kejriwal succeeded in touching the hearts of Delhiites. But, the decision of AAP agreeing to take the support of plutocratic Congress party sparked off many controversies. Initially, I was also one of the millions who emotionally became a member of AAP by paying off a nominal fee of ten bucks but my trust on the party started to rust out with the fast spreading rumor of Congress being the mastermind behind the birth of AAP. I still do not hold a firm opinion about Kejriwal and his party but I am sure that his stint as Delhi CM will clear out most of the doubts.

Like me, there are many others who are unsure about Kejriwal and his party. With the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, it is extremely important for us to be sure of the party before casting our vote to it. Are we going to become a banana republic? Is Aam Aadmi Party a brain child of Congress? Is Congress trying to eat away the share of BJP vote bank in the form of AAP? These are the questions that come to my mind when I hear about AAP pulling up its socks for the Lok Sabha elections. There are a total of 67 political parties in India out of which Congress and BJP are the two most prominent ones at the national level. We have not seen any other regional party ascend as dramatically as Aam Aadmi Party. The kind of bandwidth it has shown in Delhi elections seems almost magical.

During ‘India against Corruption’ days, Kejriwal had sworn on his children that he will never enter into politics but he backtracked. After the foundation of AAP, he again vowed to not getting into any coalition with either Congress or BJP but he again backtracked. It may have also happened because you need to get sucked into the dirty system first, if you intend to clean it out. Arvind Kejriwal may be a man with clear intentions and with a stable head on his shoulders but he alone cannot do it. His party men must also be aligned to his goals. The sweeping change of the sort Kejriwal seeks to claim is to be accepted in spirit by all inside and outside his political party. It is then that the solution to the corruption can be ultimately found. And it is because of this that the AAP movement, noble and well-intentioned, but incorrectly aligned amongst the party men, may well flounder. Till now, his words and dharnas have been speaking louder than his actions but the real acid test goes on in Delhi.

The question of whether it is a real ‘Aam Aadmi Party’ or a ‘Khaas Aadmi Party’ of Congress still remains a mystery which will slowly unfold in front of the nation.

      

Rahul Gandhi- Sane or Insane?

India, the world’s largest democracy is currently witnessing a political turmoil as the 2014 Lok Sabha elections stare at more than 1.2 billion of us right in the eye. Having the best PM who can chart us back to the growth path is turning out to be a dreadfully constrained option with every passing day. We have been witnessing a ‘RaGa v/s NaMo’ saga being repeatedly played on every news channel in the recent times. The comparison between both seems logical also as they are spearheading the two biggest Indian political parties, most likely either one of which will form the government with its allies in the upcoming elections.

However, lately it is not sinking in well to even imagine Rahul Gandhi leading our nation in the capacity of a Prime Minister, more so after seeing his first ever personal interview given to Times Now this week where Arnab Goswami just stripped him off intellectually. It is not that we have witnessed his lack of political & economical understanding for the first time but now the belief is reinforced that anyone & everyone can prove to be a better administrator than this scumbag. His intentions and his expressions are two different poles on the globe. The idiotic blabbering without the conviction in his eyes is clearly see-through-able. His body language and expressions were that of a surrendered lamb who is about to get pounced upon by a hungry tiger. Although, he tried many a times to deviate from the topic at hand but tiger Arnab Goswami dragged him back by his feet.

There were a series of upfront & specific questions asked by Arnab seeking Rahul Gandhi’s views on Narendra Modi calling him a ‘Shehzada’, role of Narendra Modi in Godhra riots viz a viz the role of congress party in 1984 anti-sikh riots, Subramanian Swamy’s alleging him of having a fraudulent M.Phil degree from Cambridge and Congress party not taking action on its corrupt ministers. He did not have the guts to make a confident eye contact with Arnab Goswami while desperately attempting to shy away from the questions. The ‘shehzada’ must have crammed up the super-cool sounding issues in India like bringing the young blood in the politics, empowering the women, and changing the system. I am still wondering as to which particular system he was referring to. The continuous beating around the bush by Vice-President of our ruling party goes to show that the system in the party itself lacks the much needed depth.      

The dynasty of Congress party has already eaten away trillions of Indian tax payers’ money via countless scams ranging from CWG to Coal gate to 2G to Adarsh society to Chopper gate etc. It is high time we all cast our vote and that too with the utmost seriousness. Narendra Modi has more than proved his mettle in the state of Gujarat and has clearly emerged as a triumphant administrator. A known devil can always be a better choice than an unknown devil. Many regional parties are also showing the signs of national aspirations; the AAP has emerged to be one of them. The buzz about a third front with the coalition of 10 regional parties is also doing the rounds these days. Every leader will shoot his lungs off in blowing his party’s trumpet as the national elections approach but one thing is sure that the Congress party will see its lowest ever performance with Rahul Gandhi leading or should I say misleading from the front. He has already been the face of a shameful defeat in the Vidhan Sabha elections of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Delhi. In a way, it is best that he foolishly continues to pull his own party down.

Rahul Gandhi must become a commonsensical man before ripping himself off in striving hard to become a thick skinned politician.