Delhi is the center of politics in India – and in last 3-4 years Delhi has seen a lot, a hell lot. People across the country are slowly becoming more intolerant towards corruption. Media and activists are overworked exposing political malpractices. Today Indian youth is more interested in politics than Bollywood or Cricket. As a nation we’re entering a new phase where old-style ‘mai-baap’ politics will soon have no place. Political parties will either adapt to this new attitude, or perish.
We have the opportunity to be a part of this change. The more we participate, the faster India and her politics evolve. The least you can do is vote – and vote judiciously. If you want to do a little more – you can educate others around you to vote responsibly. The corrupt are still very powerful and forces countering them are walking on a very thin ice.
Politicians mock general public in their air-conditioned conference rooms – they know the ‘mango man’ is too busy racing the inflation – that he doesn’t have the time to remember scams and irregularities. They know that despite massive civil-protests against corrupt policies – they’d still be able to manipulate you – because public memory is short. Delhi voter doesn’t have to fall in the trap this time.
I’m going to jog up your memory a little bit. You should remember this when you are about to press the button on the voting machine. Every single “long-beep” will decide the future of your loved ones.
It all started with Delhi being all gung-ho about Common Wealth Games – there were certain sections who had their reservations about the expenditure – but at large people were proud that India was going to host the prestigious Common Wealth Games. You could see Kalmadi in TV interviews bragging how he brought the games to India – and it will put India on the sports map of the world. Delhi was happy that if not ‘Shanghai’ – a little infrastructural development will come their way. It went on for months – before media exposes started occupying prime-time news about how shabbily unprepared we were to host the games.
There were visuals of breaking bridges, falling ceilings, dog-poo on beds, unfinished roads, piles of debris – the list was long. People hadn’t forgotten havocs of accidents during Metro construction – which earlier had highlighted how contractors could do shabby jobs – and the results could be devastating. I remember Kalmadi beating his chest on Times Now – accusing Arnab of slander and threat to sue. But he got recluse and dismissive as paperwork started appearing. It was embarrassing to the core – and Congress was silent. Only if somebody in Congress had taken some responsibility then – it wouldn’t be in such a sad state as it is today.
All hell broke loose when Dengue became epidemic in Delhi due to unexpected heavy rains. There was so much debris on roads that mosquitoes were breeding full-scale. Congress began with another series of shameless tactics of suppressing statistics of Dengue casualties. The fact was health services in Delhi were not ready even a little bit. I remember how there were no beds in the hospitals – and patients had to rest in the corridors. There was massive deficiency of blood-platelets in Delhi (a must supply for Dengue patients). Delhi was falling apart – and you couldn’t see an iota of concern on Sheila Dixit’s face or in her tone. She was ever so arrogant, pompous and unaccountable. We have seen this attitude again and again – every time Delhi needed their leader.
Then began Anna Hazare’s fast and a team formed under Arvind Kejriwal – people called it Team Anna. This was never seen before – if you had visit the site of fast, you could see there was so much passion and so much anger in people. There were TV debates, back-n-forth with lawyer-cum-politicians like Kapil Sibal. Team Anna wanted Lokpal Bill – which had been rotting in files for 45 years. Team Anna struck a chord with the nation – Anna gave them hope that this is the time for change. Anna fasted several times – following the Gandhian methods of protests. UPA government used all kinds of tactics to water down this civil-movement. What worked for UPA was ‘deliberate delays’ – and stretched the whole thing out for a year. Off course they were not going to pass a strong lokpal – Congress had too much to lose. We soon found all about it later – when an unstoppable series of scams got exposed one-by-one. Figures of “Lakh-Crore” that were never heard of before.
BJP who’d been hiding all these years – simply watching and enjoying their time off the public radar – were happy about UPA blunders. They knew they’re the kings in line. These people had no empathy for the people of India. They were content mud-slinging in TV debates – to which Congress countered by counting the scams during BJP’s rule. Public could watch them fight each other – this was our democracy. Two big parties, long line of leadership, historical presence – and not one person ready to act – they were happy calling each other names, while making a fool out of public. Obviously, they just wasted people’s time – and couldn’t produce a solution to rampant corruption, except a toothless Lokpal bill.
In the second phase of Anna movement – there wasn’t much support from people. Indian people had been betrayed so much and so many times that they were hopeless and tired. Congress seemed to be winning. They had mock-challenged Team Anna several times, while calling their methods undemocratic, to join politics if they want to change things. Arvind Kejriwal, the man who organised Anna movement, took this difficult decision. If you want to make any long-lasting change in India – it has to be only through coming into power. Else, all you could do is beg from the masters – they’ll once in a while throw you a bone. This is not the India that Gandhi and Ambedkar envisioned.
Arvind decided to go the political way – Anna Hazare wasn’t happy about this development. Kejriwal and many team mates had realized they could continue fighting till 2014 – and then BJP will come in power and do the same things. They had already tried several times with RSS to hijack the movement. People like Swami Agnivesh sold out the cause to the highest bidder. He was Sibal’s agent first, then spoke of BJP as the potential solution. Kiran Bedi was ready to compromise and called BJP the lesser evil. Hazare was in the opinion of continuing the dying movement. Arvind Kejriwal with a handful of supporters took a big risk with the announcement of launching a political party for aam aadmi. In the hindsight, there couldn’t have been a better way to go. When Arvind formed Aam Aadmi Party, basically he refused to compromise.
Political parties took a sigh of relief thinking that now since this group is political- it’ll be easier to handle them – using the tried and tested approach – good ol’ mudslinging.
The civil movement had matured – Arvind and his team began a series of exposes against Congress and BJP bigwigs. The movement which had temporarily dimmed was alive again. He started working at the grass root – and used the power of young people. BJP and Congress can only dream of achieving this much support from the section which didn’t even prefer to vote till now. This is a big change. Aam Aadmi Party, if nothing else, has woken up the youth of our country.
From inflation to electricity to water bills to women’s safety – Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken up issues which are the part of our everyday lives. When Congress wasn’t performing in Delhi for 3 terms – where was BJP sleeping? Don’t they have their MLAs in Vidhan Sabha? Weren’t they the second largest party, hence the opposition? Where was Vijay Goel hiding all this time?
BJP’s innercircle are already buzzing about who’s going to be the next CM. Apparently, there’re many in central leadership who don’t like Vijay Goel – and apparently due to anti-incumbency BJP is very hopeful of coming into power this time, there’re many within BJP who’re ready to occupy the CM’s seat. All these years, during CWG scam, Nirbahaya Rape case and many times when Delhi needed BJP to stand up against Congress, they were hiding. Now all of a sudden I see Vijay Goel active on facebook advertising his ancient achievements of “banning lottery 1000 years ago”. What is all that about? What kind of stupid do they take Delhi voter to be?
Let me tell you the truth – BJP is not a party with a difference at all. They’ve no ideology or a drive to work. If it was there, Anna movement would never had begun. The experts are right, we don’t need another political party in India, there’re already enough. The credit of formation of Aam Aadmi Party shouldn’t be given to Arvind Kejriwal at all. He is simply a common man trying to find workable solutions to the problems of aam aadmi. The credit should be shared by Congress and BJP. If Congress had realized it’s failures in time and corrected it’s act – there was no need of Anna movement. But their prince is more adept at getting his boots-licked because of his lineage and give weird-half-baked speeches about how India is a beehive. Then there’s BJP, whose leaders are ready to scavenge on the corpse of UPA politics, yet, as an opposition don’t understand their job. The whole strategy of BJP to win elections is not work but anti-incumbency – if not communal non-issues like “Ram Mandir”. How pathetic is that?
How can these people lead India? You could have your reasons if you have voted for any of these parties in the past. What could you do – were there any options? There is an option this time and it has happened because there’s only one sentiment in India right now – “ENOUGH”. Take the power back in your hands and vote for the right people – because frankly if common man refuses to take power back in their hands now – there’s not much hope for us. We cannot afford another term stuck with another party whose main agenda begins and ends at winning elections.
You decide.
We have the opportunity to be a part of this change. The more we participate, the faster India and her politics evolve. The least you can do is vote – and vote judiciously. If you want to do a little more – you can educate others around you to vote responsibly. The corrupt are still very powerful and forces countering them are walking on a very thin ice.
Politicians mock general public in their air-conditioned conference rooms – they know the ‘mango man’ is too busy racing the inflation – that he doesn’t have the time to remember scams and irregularities. They know that despite massive civil-protests against corrupt policies – they’d still be able to manipulate you – because public memory is short. Delhi voter doesn’t have to fall in the trap this time.
I’m going to jog up your memory a little bit. You should remember this when you are about to press the button on the voting machine. Every single “long-beep” will decide the future of your loved ones.
It all started with Delhi being all gung-ho about Common Wealth Games – there were certain sections who had their reservations about the expenditure – but at large people were proud that India was going to host the prestigious Common Wealth Games. You could see Kalmadi in TV interviews bragging how he brought the games to India – and it will put India on the sports map of the world. Delhi was happy that if not ‘Shanghai’ – a little infrastructural development will come their way. It went on for months – before media exposes started occupying prime-time news about how shabbily unprepared we were to host the games.
There were visuals of breaking bridges, falling ceilings, dog-poo on beds, unfinished roads, piles of debris – the list was long. People hadn’t forgotten havocs of accidents during Metro construction – which earlier had highlighted how contractors could do shabby jobs – and the results could be devastating. I remember Kalmadi beating his chest on Times Now – accusing Arnab of slander and threat to sue. But he got recluse and dismissive as paperwork started appearing. It was embarrassing to the core – and Congress was silent. Only if somebody in Congress had taken some responsibility then – it wouldn’t be in such a sad state as it is today.
All hell broke loose when Dengue became epidemic in Delhi due to unexpected heavy rains. There was so much debris on roads that mosquitoes were breeding full-scale. Congress began with another series of shameless tactics of suppressing statistics of Dengue casualties. The fact was health services in Delhi were not ready even a little bit. I remember how there were no beds in the hospitals – and patients had to rest in the corridors. There was massive deficiency of blood-platelets in Delhi (a must supply for Dengue patients). Delhi was falling apart – and you couldn’t see an iota of concern on Sheila Dixit’s face or in her tone. She was ever so arrogant, pompous and unaccountable. We have seen this attitude again and again – every time Delhi needed their leader.
Then began Anna Hazare’s fast and a team formed under Arvind Kejriwal – people called it Team Anna. This was never seen before – if you had visit the site of fast, you could see there was so much passion and so much anger in people. There were TV debates, back-n-forth with lawyer-cum-politicians like Kapil Sibal. Team Anna wanted Lokpal Bill – which had been rotting in files for 45 years. Team Anna struck a chord with the nation – Anna gave them hope that this is the time for change. Anna fasted several times – following the Gandhian methods of protests. UPA government used all kinds of tactics to water down this civil-movement. What worked for UPA was ‘deliberate delays’ – and stretched the whole thing out for a year. Off course they were not going to pass a strong lokpal – Congress had too much to lose. We soon found all about it later – when an unstoppable series of scams got exposed one-by-one. Figures of “Lakh-Crore” that were never heard of before.
BJP who’d been hiding all these years – simply watching and enjoying their time off the public radar – were happy about UPA blunders. They knew they’re the kings in line. These people had no empathy for the people of India. They were content mud-slinging in TV debates – to which Congress countered by counting the scams during BJP’s rule. Public could watch them fight each other – this was our democracy. Two big parties, long line of leadership, historical presence – and not one person ready to act – they were happy calling each other names, while making a fool out of public. Obviously, they just wasted people’s time – and couldn’t produce a solution to rampant corruption, except a toothless Lokpal bill.
In the second phase of Anna movement – there wasn’t much support from people. Indian people had been betrayed so much and so many times that they were hopeless and tired. Congress seemed to be winning. They had mock-challenged Team Anna several times, while calling their methods undemocratic, to join politics if they want to change things. Arvind Kejriwal, the man who organised Anna movement, took this difficult decision. If you want to make any long-lasting change in India – it has to be only through coming into power. Else, all you could do is beg from the masters – they’ll once in a while throw you a bone. This is not the India that Gandhi and Ambedkar envisioned.
Arvind decided to go the political way – Anna Hazare wasn’t happy about this development. Kejriwal and many team mates had realized they could continue fighting till 2014 – and then BJP will come in power and do the same things. They had already tried several times with RSS to hijack the movement. People like Swami Agnivesh sold out the cause to the highest bidder. He was Sibal’s agent first, then spoke of BJP as the potential solution. Kiran Bedi was ready to compromise and called BJP the lesser evil. Hazare was in the opinion of continuing the dying movement. Arvind Kejriwal with a handful of supporters took a big risk with the announcement of launching a political party for aam aadmi. In the hindsight, there couldn’t have been a better way to go. When Arvind formed Aam Aadmi Party, basically he refused to compromise.
Political parties took a sigh of relief thinking that now since this group is political- it’ll be easier to handle them – using the tried and tested approach – good ol’ mudslinging.
The civil movement had matured – Arvind and his team began a series of exposes against Congress and BJP bigwigs. The movement which had temporarily dimmed was alive again. He started working at the grass root – and used the power of young people. BJP and Congress can only dream of achieving this much support from the section which didn’t even prefer to vote till now. This is a big change. Aam Aadmi Party, if nothing else, has woken up the youth of our country.
From inflation to electricity to water bills to women’s safety – Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken up issues which are the part of our everyday lives. When Congress wasn’t performing in Delhi for 3 terms – where was BJP sleeping? Don’t they have their MLAs in Vidhan Sabha? Weren’t they the second largest party, hence the opposition? Where was Vijay Goel hiding all this time?
BJP’s innercircle are already buzzing about who’s going to be the next CM. Apparently, there’re many in central leadership who don’t like Vijay Goel – and apparently due to anti-incumbency BJP is very hopeful of coming into power this time, there’re many within BJP who’re ready to occupy the CM’s seat. All these years, during CWG scam, Nirbahaya Rape case and many times when Delhi needed BJP to stand up against Congress, they were hiding. Now all of a sudden I see Vijay Goel active on facebook advertising his ancient achievements of “banning lottery 1000 years ago”. What is all that about? What kind of stupid do they take Delhi voter to be?
Let me tell you the truth – BJP is not a party with a difference at all. They’ve no ideology or a drive to work. If it was there, Anna movement would never had begun. The experts are right, we don’t need another political party in India, there’re already enough. The credit of formation of Aam Aadmi Party shouldn’t be given to Arvind Kejriwal at all. He is simply a common man trying to find workable solutions to the problems of aam aadmi. The credit should be shared by Congress and BJP. If Congress had realized it’s failures in time and corrected it’s act – there was no need of Anna movement. But their prince is more adept at getting his boots-licked because of his lineage and give weird-half-baked speeches about how India is a beehive. Then there’s BJP, whose leaders are ready to scavenge on the corpse of UPA politics, yet, as an opposition don’t understand their job. The whole strategy of BJP to win elections is not work but anti-incumbency – if not communal non-issues like “Ram Mandir”. How pathetic is that?
How can these people lead India? You could have your reasons if you have voted for any of these parties in the past. What could you do – were there any options? There is an option this time and it has happened because there’s only one sentiment in India right now – “ENOUGH”. Take the power back in your hands and vote for the right people – because frankly if common man refuses to take power back in their hands now – there’s not much hope for us. We cannot afford another term stuck with another party whose main agenda begins and ends at winning elections.
You decide.
![](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jcAAxQ4ElbE/WKwcndcl-hI/AAAAAAAAE9o/yMWtSJ5bxsUlIIXW3-12-6CGfTDrPIlVwCK4B/s1600/write%2Bget%2Bpublished%2Bsmall.png")
