From being written off by the ruling Congress Party and other leading national political parties to "brooming" them off in elections, AAP has now formed the government for administering the National Capital Region (New Delhi) right under their very own noses . AAP is now being looked at as a very serious threat for the coming national elections as it is sure to grab a substantial voting block of a very large voting middle class that would have otherwise never voted for anyone based on disgust and despair. AAP has found appeal across the Indian population strata; it is not appealing to any specific community, religion, economic section; only those who feel that they have had enough of Indian politics and want a change.
Following its victory in Delhi, AAP has now started attracting some seriously important citizens within its membership folds and people like me as well who are annoyed with the way India's democratic political system has been hijacked - where the people elected as public servants make servants of the people.
In some 15 days of being in power AAP has become the front news for leading newspapers and TV channels. The elected Chief Minister (Mr. Arvind Kejriwal) has started resembling the hero out of the movie "Nayak" where a common man becomes a Chief Minister for a day and brings about sweeping changes. Actions taken include reduction of power and water tariff; stripping VIP cars of red beacons, shuffle or remove civil servants based on performance; setting up of additional redressal courts; helpline to report corruption in public bodies; converting disused public transport buses into night shelters for homeless; and an open forum outside Delhi Secretariat for a direct interaction with the public at large.
The man has been in news for some controversies too which include forming a minority government with support from the very party (Congress) it opposed - after seeking a people's mandate allowing AAP to do so; the selection of the CM's official residence; the use of public transport by the ministers with full security entourage for commuting to office inconvenienced scores of office goers; then, on use of official govt. cars to access ministries; a flip flop on recovery of unpaid electricity dues from a horde of consumers that stopped paying bills from March last year; and the CM's quick exit from the first open forum for reasons that the security was unable to control the crowd.
The Goliath(s) sitting in the opposition are smiling knowing well that now the people will seek performance on the promises made and satisfaction of many of them will actually backfire. Example, reducing utility tariffs will mean subsidizing the utility provider - which in turn will lead to higher local taxes. Shifting officials out off or within the system will not really help as the current cost of living is way out of proportion to change a corrupt to becoming honest. Then, there are situation that grievance redressal with half knowledge is dangerous like a Minister forcing a civic official to clear a file held for years not knowing the exact violations for which the file had been held up.
The rumour mills in Delhi have called the current CM a very clever strategist (which I am sure he is) who is making sure that his power grows at any cost. But that's fighting politicians with the very strategy they have adopted to go up the food chain. Some call AAP the shadow Congress propped up by Congress to keep the BJP out of power in the national elections (Delhi was seen as a small experiment and the trucking together scene will repeat itself in the national elections too). Well, then the BJP better get its act together. Their PM candidate N. Modi has been identified as the best choice for becoming one but is being dragged down by his own party members. Does Modi have the guts to clean up his own party? If not then let's cut out the hypocrisy.
Interesting and entertaining. It's like opening up a Pandora's box; the wrath of the people is slowly coming out in the open and the direction it takes is always going to be unpredictable. The people who have put their faith behind AAP are not going to be forgiving should the leadership betray them or stray from the principles. The reaction could be quite violent.
Now that I am a member, I will wish AAP well and just pray that it lives up to the trust. It's not going to be easy and the leadership will have to learn not to shoot from the hip. There is every reason to believe that curbing the gross inefficiency can bring down costs - especially in the utility sector. I personally believe that in India more than 2 persons are engaged to do 1 person's job and in government the ratio jumps up quite a bit. In 1947, all it took was 50,000 Brits to administer this nation (something to think about). If people want a non corrupt system then they too should not support it - now is that possible? Not unless corporal punishment is instituted for the corrupt and the corrupter (as in Singapore).
It does not take much to corrupt a respectable term "AAP" to "PAAP" (Sin) and the "P" of politics has corrupted quite a few good men. All I know is that India is due for a change and that is inevitable.
Disclaimer: This is a personal blog and while it is in public domain my personal property and written under the rights conferred upon its Citizens by The Constitution of India; which provides the right to freedom, given in articles 19, 20, 21 and 22, with the view of guaranteeing individual rights that were considered vital by the framers of the constitution. The right to freedom in Article 19 guarantees the Freedom of speech and expression, as one of following six freedoms:[1]
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