Arvind Kejriwal: Win Or Loose?

Arvind Kejriwal founder of AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) is contesting Delhi’s state assembly election for the first time and he is one of the most discussed people in social media, mainstream media and among the youth nowadays. Once he was awarded the title of corruption crusader and a massive movement for the for Jan Lokpal leaded by him and brought the central government on the back foot and was one of the most admired characters in the middle class families.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Every time his name came into media I always think who is he? There are several images for him like a corruption crusader, an ambitious politician or an outspoken person but for me as an individual I admired him not because of his talents or humble gesture which I personally felt few months back, but because one reason. He is person who dares to challenge the equations of Delhi’s power corridors. Many people may criticize him over many issues but one thing is very evident that there is general feeling of acceptance to his leadership especially in metros, those who don’t want to believe, I have one single argument, when government ordered probe alleged foreign funding to the Aam Aadmi Party its donation increases six times (Reference News). These peoples do not come from mars or neither any foreign national have so keen interest to fund any political party who is just contesting a state assembly election.

Let’s go in brief history about the his political career in which there are two schools of mind, few thinks that it is an political obligation for him, If you want to bring change you have to be the part of system however it is, another thought process is to do every bit in order to change the system or the process without getting directly involved in it, but my personal view is if you really seek change you have to be involved in it. May be this thought provoked Arvind ji to form a party and take the corruption problem head on and defeat as far he has promoted his image.

Now Delhi’s voter have sealed the fate of AAP and next political outcome, but one thing thing is certain, this election result will send shock waves to across the nation. In my personal view if AAP makes a clean sweep it will send a message to every political party if they do not indulge in constructive politics or they are not serious about corruption they can be marginalized by a group who is well organized however infant they are in politics. If they win significant seats then also conventional politics of India will receive a setback just as it receive in 1977 when congress was thought  as an undefeated party. If AAP looses this election and not able win a single seat in the assembly election then they will termed as people who tried but not able to influence the mass, but in last case also I will certainly respect and honored the peoples related to AAP as stated by Sir Albert Einstein “The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.” On 8th December the whole story will be uncovered.

Today I had a very pleasant encounter when I was returning to my home finishing my shift around 10:00 PM, there were six people in my office cab and there was stunned silence in it, nobody knows the other person in the cab and everybody was in a rush to reach home as it was Friday. I was sitting in the front seat adjacent to driver and suddenly he asked me about the today’s date. I replied in a cold gesture, and then he followed up with another question and that was "When the election results are coming?" I looked at him at smile and asked a sarcastic question, Did you vote this time? " He replied as yes and I told him that election results are coming on 8th of December. Out of curiosity I asked him whom did he vote, his reply was AAP, I was not very surprised, but as he replied my rest of the cab colleagues started appreciating him suddenly the stunned silence in the cab was replaced by electrifying moment and later I found that everybody in the cab (excluding me) has voted for AAP and the amazing part was that they didn't even know the candidate name of AAP from their respective constituencies. Today first time I thought AAP may gain a lot from this assembly election because the enthusiasm on the cab driver on the corporate executives was same although they belong to different regions of Delhi. I am also eagerly waiting for the election results and wish “All the best to Mr. Arvind Kejriwal”.

INDIA A Democracy ??

India  an ancient civilization, world’s largest democracy, an emerging world power, a home to every religion, home to the largest poor population, and a region with so much diversity that there is a old Hindi saying that describes this best.

"Kos-kos par paani badle, teen kos par bani”

Its history has turmoil, war, invasion, growth,consisting of every political and economical term ever known by human civilization. One event I specifically want to quote in its history i.e. its independence.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru the first PM made the famous speech on 15-Aug-1947 “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.”

The day was dreamt by every revolutionary. Many had laid their lives for this rare moment.

After independence India became a federal democratic republic. This event was accompanied by the devastating experience of partition when millions of innocent died.

Post independence there was a gigantic task; it was building this scattered geographical area into a nation. Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel the iron man of India persuaded 565 princely states to merge in the “Republic of India” and the national integration completed.

After that democracy continued its journey, governments were elected at national and states level. In 2009, We the people of India elected its 15^th Lok Shaba, which is currently running this country.

Analyst and intellects study various aspects of Indian democracy of its past, its future etc. while traversing the election result of 1998,1999,2004,2009. I found a very interesting observation. The observation is regarding hereditary politics. I came to know when I was reading the book “India grows at Night” by Gurchanran Das.

Hereditary politics is the way where one generation passes its political powers to its younger generation. In monarchy and dictatorship this phenomena is very common and is  strange none, but in India , the largest democracy , this phenomena is not only prevailing, but rapidly increasing.This astonished me.This can be seen in below graph.

The percentage of hereditary MP’s across the Indian state can be seen below.

The phenomena exist almost in each state with only few exceptions which are stated below.

1.    Assam

2.    Goa

3.    Jharkhand

4.    Manipur

5.    Mizoram

6.    Nagaland

7.    Sikkim

8.    Tripura

9.    Uttarakhand

Below mentioned states are the top ten ones that send  hereditary MP’s in 15^th Lok Sabha

This rapid growth is well quoted by Patrick French in his book India: A Portrait he says “Every MP in the Lok Shaba under the age of 30 had in effect inherited a seat, and more than two-thirds of the 66 MPs aged 40 or under were HMPS [Hereditary Members of Parliament]. In addition, this new wave of Indian lawmakers would have a decade’s advantage in politics over their peers, since the average MP who had benefited from family politics was almost 10 years younger than those who had arrived with ‘No Significant Family Background’. In the Congress, the situation was yet more extreme: every Congress MP under the age of 35 was an HMP. If the trend continued, it was possible that most members of the Indian Parliament would be there by heredity alone, and the nation would be back to where it had started before the freedom struggle, with rule by a hereditary monarch and assorted Indian prince lings." 

Source:Outtlook

Some people make an argument that, if a doctor's son is a doctor, an engineer’s son is an engineer, businessman’s kids do join their parental business, then there is no objection, then why is there is so much hue & cry for politicians, after all any child is always inspired by the atmosphere present in the family and the upbringing of his parents.

The above argument was counter argument-ed by ex US president John Adams  one of the founding fathers of United States “ The idea hereditary professionalism is ridiculous, it is even more ridiculous when it comes to politics because here public interest is at stake. If you want to find the best, you have to search for it. Nature does not puts all the talents into a bloodline, it always scatter the knowledge and talent. It’s the person who needs to find the best”.

Both the arguments are well enough to describe their side of the story. As I writer I am on neither side. But I do have many questions in my mind.

·         Does this trend represent our genetic acceptance towards caste system, where people follow their profession by caste, and society accepts it as it is? If this is the case then is there will an emerging new caste system of profession, which is liberal, non-violent but will have demarcations?

·         Is India sliding into hereditary monarchy governed by a rule book (i.e. constitution)?

I urge the readers to respond and correct me where ever I am wrong. The only thing that terrorizes my mind.

If this trend continues, earlier there were 565 princely states in India, there is chance that in future there will exist 545 (it is the number of Lok Shaba seats) monarchy constituencies. In the past we had our iron man, may be in future we might not.

References:

Outlook India

The Indian State

The Open Data

BBC UK

Report My Signal Blog

India a portrait: by Patrick French

India Grows at Night: By Gurcharan Das