India is gearing for elections 2014 and is witnessing one of the greatest political drama unfolding. I pity the common man, who is considered the most powerful at the moment. He has to make the right choice from the lesser of the evils over a cloud of allegations. Tough job indeed.
The political scenario has changed ever since the Aam Adami Party has contested the Delhi Elections. Indians are so desperate for clean politics that anybody who promises to bring the much needed change is looked up to as a savior. Humanity no longer functions on the basis of Trust, which is a pity. Unfortunately, it is not possible to have all the checks and balances before a common man can conclude - "He is clean". A cloud of doubt hovers around always. When trust evades humanity, deceit is all that is left over. It is not only the deceit of the political class over the common man, it is also the deceit of the common man over himself.
The games the politicians play to retain or gain power is unimaginable. Power corrupts the soul. I wonder, if they even take a minute to introspect what this race for power is all about and if they feel justified with their own reasons. The events that unfold everyday, only gives me a feeling, there is none I can trust to power. The country needs a leader with Integrity!
Arvind Kejriwal needs to do more groundwork, before he jumps the gun. He comes across as a man who is in a hurry to clean up the system, which is older than him. I am not sure if its his urgency or his temperament that is demeaning his name. It is indeed a move that we need to welcome, someone has taken the step forward to jump into politics and do the dirty job of cleaning, which most of us, educated Indians, shy away from. One also needs to understand, "cleaning the system" can't and shouldn't be the only reason to form a party. I am yet to understand what is the vision of AAP for India. There is a long way to go for this man and his party and we the citizens shouldn't be overwhelmed by the wave of anti-corruption emotion. In today's scenario, with no basic trust in society, people raise all kinds of concerns that further muddles the mind. I, only hope this man's intentions are clean and he is not a pawn in the political game.
A party in power should seek votes by highlighting its achievements, whereas we have a party in governance that seeks vote by promising us it would do more in its next term. A party that highlights that there are six bills in the waiting. Again, a party that is capitalizing on the anti-corruption movement and promising to tackle corruption with these bills. A party in power for 10 years couldn't pass these bills is telling the common man it would so in its next term. What is the party's vision for India's future? I can name a few bills in waiting FDI, Food security, etc. This party's vision for India is in passing bills. In India, it is the implementation of laws that takes a beating and it is not the lack of regulations. Apart from that the Government has to answer for the plethora of scams to its name. I agree, they are allegations as the Government sees it; in a world of deceit, this is all we can expect. Allegations proven or otherwise, the Government still needs to address the Nation on how such baseless accusations can be made. There are several records that hint towards irregularities. Let us put aside the debate of how heinous the crime is.
The national opposition party does not come with great record of achievements to its name. It is a party that has been looked upon as a party that would communalize the country; a party that would only represent only religion of India. India has been fighting the elections on the communal-secular front for years. Many years of education has done nothing to keep the forces of religion, caste and community out of our elections. If the Governing party was a truly secular party, shouldn't it have in its 60 years of rule, made the country truly secular and ceased to appease minority of the country in the name of vote bank politics. The opposition party has a term of 5 years to its name in Governance with a few scams; at least no series of scams that rocked the nation. In its 5 years, India was not stagnated by communal violence as was expected. Today, the opposition party is seeking votes, not highlighting its past tenure, aware that people's memory are short-lived, but seeking votes based on the performance of one man's governance in a state for three terms. Narendra Modi does come with his own baggage of Gujarat riots. His baggage also includes his many achievements as the Chief Minister of the state - 1MW solar power plant, E-services to Gram Panchayat, Rural electrification and more. The question remains to be answered - would this party leverage the goods delivered to Gujarat to the Nation or would it divide India? The party in its campaigns, aggressively is pushing a growth agenda for India, which is conspicuously absent in others. Would the party walk the talk?
As vigilant citizens, we have risen high and made our Government and political leaders listen to our cry! Yes, we have succeeded in communicating that we our fed up of feigning ignorance to national looting that occurs. Have they heard it loud and clear? Would they try a new trick to satiate their hunger for power? Only General Elections 2014 and another 5 years of Governance will give us the answer. But, am sure our vigilance can keep away communal forces, scams and mis-governance. I am bit disappointed that common man has no provisions to oust Governments before the 5 year period, on valid reasons.
Development is only answer the common man is seeking!
We have been mislead and will be mislead; it is up to us to tear the mask of deceit and rebuild trust.
