The euphoria is such that many pollsters and political punters are already predicting that the Broom Party shall top the sweepstakes at the national hustings in May. Suddenly, Aravind Kejriwal has been pitchforked as a possible PM, on par and in some ‘scientific surveys’ of about a 1000 odd people in a few chosen pockets, even ahead of the ‘other’ wannabe, Namo!
PM or not, I for one do not discount the possibility of AK & co making more than a mark in the LS polls. But I would not measure their success merely by the number of seats they win, which of course, is quite important by itself. The spread of what I would call, ‘Aam Aadmi’ ism is a bigger boon for the sheer change it has brought about in voters’ psyche. Or to put it more accurately, the change in voters’ psyche that AAP so aptly reflected. The national election scene has already been altered beyond recognition. And in a jiffy.
The surest sign of a positive change is the possible emergence of a non-Congress polity, for the first time since freedom. The 2014 polls will be BJP or Namo centric, with a host of parties, primarily the AAP, at least as the cynosure if not as a significant opponent, forming the antagonists. The Congress has been relegated to the spectator’s gallery and can hope to arrogate some role to itself only when and if the secular gag is invoked to ‘keep the BJP out’. That is assuming it has some numbers to count on. Otherwise even Lalu will think twice. One hopes May ‘14 will go down in history as the time when the Congress had its tryst with its most prominent dynastic stalwart, Nehru, in the grave, after outliving him for exactly fifty years. The Congress party deserves to rest so that the country can live in peace.
‘Aam Aadmi’ism may also become a catalyst for change in the nation’s political culture. Many parties and leaders are having a rethink about their habitual behaviours and methods. While the BJP CMs like Modi and Chauhan can take legitimate credit for insulating governance from politics and ensuring that ‘politicking’ did not affect delivery of schemes and benefits to the people, the overall national culture is still one of cronyism and corruption. Change of regimes have only resulted in status quo what with only the actors changing while the stale settings stood secure. AAP’s rise is an expression of people’s ire against many of these familiar charades. It is a warning that if politicos do not change their ways, they will be changed, for good. Let’s bet on a politico’s survival instinct to do the trick!
One hopes rhetoric will slowly be replaced by sane debate. Bluff and bluster, the staple stock-in-trade of the political business will have to give way to facts and numbers. Not just spokespersons, but also leaders and candidates will have to do meticulous homework to face up to a well informed public. Running the nation is a job and responsibility, to be delivered, not a personal privilege or perk, to be enjoyed. The one at the helm should be visible and accessible as also the team. The nation can no longer afford PMs who cannot look it in the eye or aspiring ones who make fleeting appearances at whim. We don’t need Digvijays who double up or for that matter, a ventriloquist’s inner voice or just voice.
But the most important revolution I wish for is the decimation of the personality cult. That is why I would still like to think of AAP as an idea that needs to be nurtured at the local level everywhere rather than as a Kejriwal-centric party that it now runs the risk of turning into. True, the BJP too is plumping for Modi. But trust the parivar to dump him if he turns a spoiler for its government formation. We have had enough of pompous personalities who deem political power as a birthright or a legacy and then seek to prey on public wealth as a Pavlovian habit. Barring the Left and Right, the bloated middle that has substantially ruled the country have only fronted for personalities and their families. The party is just a pretext, a democratic formality to fulfil Constitutional rules and fool the people. Does anyone remember Bill Clinton or John Major anymore? Their parties survive their leaders, but our parties help leaders survive. Look at the array of predators and parasites, not to speak of some fossils, that line our political cupboards, fleecing us for decades and then often posthumously, as statues and samadhis, on prime public real estate, even as their own estates remain unseen and untouched.
The Aam Aadmi can never be truly empowered unless the polity becomes personality-proof. One hopes 2014 knocks out at least a few such long standing hot-heads.
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