The change we seek

28th December 2013 will go down in India's history as the day when a common man rose to become chief minister of its capital.
Arvind kejriwal's isn't a story of someone who shot into the limelight out of nowhere. He's one of those people who has dedicated his life to the cause of the nation. A man who, like many of us, was fed up with the menace of corruption and took it upon himself to rid India of it. Long before the much publicised Lokpal agitation, he was involved in pushing for another anti corruption tool. The right to information. He's a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay award for emergent leadership for his contribution to the enactment of that law.

Along with Anna Hazare, he led one of India's largest post-independence movements to get the Lokpal bill enacted. Two years hence, that bill is a theoretical reality. But like all laws, its success lies in its enforcement.
But that movement was the beginning of a meteoric rise to power. Armed with nothing but good intentions, Arvind broke away from Anna's principle of staying outside the political system and took the plunge into the dirty world of Indian politics. It's been anything but easy for the man, but he's handled it all with grace. The people of Delhi loved his ideas. Who wouldn't. Electricity at half price, 700 litres of free water, legalising illegal colonies and a corruption free reign. His Aam Aadmi Party won 28 seats of the 70. A close second to the BJP with 31.

On being offered outside support by the congress party, Arvind in one of the most refreshing thoughts of recent times, went back to the voters  to seek their opinion on whether he should accept that support and form the government. An overwhe
lming majority gave him the go ahead. Everybody wanted to live in the city of their dreams and he had promised them that.

Is there anything wrong in what Arvind kejriwal is doing? Can you find fault in any of his promises?
Is it wrong to promise free water and cheap electricity?
Is it wrong to promise safety for women and a house for the homeless?
No. Nothing wrong at all. But that's the reason populism is hard to beat. The majority opinion isn't always the right opinion.

A lot of people might find it ridiculous but the "The great Indian Middle class" is an unnecessarily pampered majority. True, we're burdened by price rise, harassed by corruption and bogged down by poverty. Why would anyone call that pampering?
Here's why.
A precious minority really does anything for the poor. Everyone talks about the poor, no one actually helps them. Beggars are ignored, homeless girls are forced into prostitution. If society doesn't care for the poor, who will?
Everyone is corrupt. You break the rule, you should face the consequences and not bribe your way past the law. It could be something as small as riding without a helmet or a much more serious crime. But that doesn't actually mean anything in India, does it? Where you flash the cash and get away with anything. "I'm fed up with bribing government employees for every small thing. I can't afford to spend so much on bribes". THEN DON'T! We have 120 crore people in this country. Let's say we have 20 crore government employes (an extremely exaggerated number. A 2001 census put the number at roughly 2 crore.) Say all 20 crore of those are corrupt. What in the world are the other 100 crore people doing?! Wake up India! Stop giving bribes! If the giving stops, the taking will too!

Nothing comes free in life. Someone needs to pay for the electricity you use. Either you or the government. The government gets its money from you. In the end, you'll either pay more taxes or more electricity bills. But you'll pay. Or it has to borrow money. And it puts the finances of the state through a shredder if those debts are too high.

We've all been taught our fundamental rights over and over again. When was the last time somebody reminded you of your fundamental duties? When have these been followed? Don't spit on public property, don't disfigure monuments and so on.
But the beauty of our constitution is, it enforces your fundament rights and makes sure you have them but doesn't force you to perform your duties. That's why we're pampered. Nobody ever has the guts to tell the people of this nation what they are doing wrong.

Where does Arvind kejriwal feature in all of this?
He's won an election on the back of extreme public anger against the political class by promising things that people want to hear. By promising to pamper people more. Not once in his campaign has he, or anyone else, reminded people of their role in this process of change. Until the people of this country change, excuse the cynicism, nothing will change.

This isn't to say that he won't fulfil his promises. He obviously has a plan that gets all that to work.
But this nation has pinned all its hope on this new brand of politics. Everyone is waiting for the Aam Aadmi party to change the nation. Everyone is watching. Praying.
But suppose he falls short, this nation must not lose hope. Its all we have.
What will change this country is its society. Is the people. Is us.
Jai Hind. 

Comments

  1. An optimistic perspective to keep us all going.A well rendered piece of writing from a true representative of today's Indian youth

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  2. Well written. While AAP has ridden to shore on the wave of discontent already existing, it will help to remember that he is just a representative of the middle class. Eventually the change has to come via the "aam aadmi" himself.

    ReplyDelete

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