Sad, Unfortunate and Foolish

Gajendra Singh committed suicide in AAP rally today. The news hit reflect the sorry state of affairs in our today's politics. Is it politics at its new low? Was this a political drama gone wrong? Or was this a genuine hopelessness and frustration of a farmer forcing him to end his life?
I hope that we come to know the truth soon. This is was a sad, horrible unfortunate and foolish act. Suicide is not an option. I am also surprised at the insensitivity of the people in that rally. How can a farmer attempts  suicide in a rally in a full public view and nobody stopped him.
If this was a staged drama gone wrong then Kejriwal or whoever is responsible should be given harshest punishment for this. This is politics at its nadir. 

The DNA of Politicians

Anyone who follows Indian politics (or politics anywhere else) will agree to the fact that almost all politicians hate being criticised. The politicians also perceive themselves to be beyond questioning and assume that they always act in the best interest of party, country and the people. These traits seem the inherent part of a politician’s DNA.

Mamata Banerjee, Narendra Modi, Mulayam Yadav, Indira Gandhi.. the list is tiresomely long. I wonder whether this is one of the basic attributes of being successful in politics. I am utterly disappointed by our politicians. In a democracy, politicians are to represent peoples view and work for people’s interest. This requires a personality and attitude that are accommodating of criticisms, different opinions and an open mind  for participatory decision making. Sad that our politician’s DNA  does value these things.

Arvind Kejriwal is the newest entrants in the list and a very apt example. His entire tirade was against the centralised and dictatorial processes and he promised that everyone will be part of the governance and decision making both at the party level as well as in the governance of state. But  he seems to have developed allergy to criticism. Whatever be his intentions and however selfless be his acts, criticism is something that cannot be ignored. Criticism is part of the process. It need to be factored in and properly addressed through a transparent process.

Is AAP an idea that has failed?

The recent events in the political environment of the country have saddened me immensely. AAP as a party garnered support from some unexpected corners because of its promise of providing clean and effective politics. However, it can be safely said that it has failed on many fronts and is being perceived by many more people as no-different than other political parties.

We can presume several reasons for AAP turbulent existence and the way it has been damaging its own credentials consistently. Unlike other political parties, AAP is a very interesting mix of young people with zero political experience and ideologies that are significantly different from those of our earlier generation politicians. Furthermore, the approach, and social mobilisation strategy resorted to modern technology and intensive connect with the common people; this gave it a significant political dividend but also magnified its errors. It also failed in vetting its key members’ profile to ascertain their suitability for various roles which required separate skills and attitude. Also, AAP’s success became a magnet to all kind of opportunists who were looking to start a political career to garner money, power and fame.

All organisations and movements go through a chaotic process before they get stabilised. AAP is going through the same process. The leadership needs to ascertain that the chaotic process should not result in destruction of the core values and transform the whole idea into another run of the mill political party.

Arvind Kejriwal has the propensity of taking decision which are not based on a thorough analysis of all the factors and forces in play. What aggravates the situation more is his style of leadership which has some resemblance to dictatorial  leadership. All of these are ignored if things are moving well but these get magnified once things go wrong. Arvind Kejriwal need to reinvent himself as a leader.

We all are hoping that AAP as an experiment evolves, cleanse itself of all the pernicious elements and remould itself into what it promised to many supporters: an honest, transparent and effective political party.

The biggest contribution of AAP and Arwind Kejriwal

There are several criticisms of Arwind Kejriwal and many are very well justified. Amidst of all these criticism, allegation and question, there are a few things that Kejriwal should be appreciated by everyone who believes in democracy. 

I have been following Indian politics for quite some time and it made me afraid of our political system. It made me commit that I would never join politics. This is not a big thing for many people. But it is for me because I decided that I would work for the issues that I believe in. I would work to make to make a better future for people, all people including those who do not even believe themselves that they have a future. Here politics can play the biggest role. The political institutions have enormous impact on solving some of the problems that society face. My decision to not enter politics was akin to discarding the most potent weapon in our armory in fight against an almost invincible enemy. 

I explored myself that why I am scared of politics. There were several reasons but most prominent one were those which are (or were) almost inherent in Indian political setup.

1. Winning election required huge investment and resorting all kind of unethical and unfair practices.
2. Almost all the political party preferred candidates big surnames, political family connections or ability to donate obscene amount of unaccounted donation to political parties.

Both the reasons were big deterrents for me. I do not want to win election by unfair means and compromising my conscience. Furthermore, I do not any thing such as political family, riches or muscle-power that make me attractive to political parties.

Sometime back when Kejriwal participated in  the Delhi Assembly election for the first time  many people who would have never dreamt about winning an election won. And, many of these people are like me. 

AAP and Kejriwal’s victory made politics a choice for ensuring better future for people. To me, this is the most important contribution of Kejriwal. He may goof up and squander the trust given by the people but he has shown that there is a way.