AAP – No more the messiah of the ‘Mango People!

Year 2015 - assuming AAP comes to Power in India

Army Chief’s SOS to Prime Minister AKji - Sir, we have information from the Intelligence Bureau that our neighbouring country is planning an attack in the next 24 hours.

AKji - Oh no.  Tell them to hold on.  We need to conduct a referendum through our website / Facebook /Twitter/ WhatsApp / other social media and ascertain public opinion on this. We will need 3 days and tell them to wait.

Army Chief (replies in astonishment) - Err… Sir,  that may not work. It is a war situation!!

AKji - Oh!  What do we do now?  How is the situation with our nuclear arsenal if the public feedback approves of such usage?  Can we keep it ready?

Army Chief - Of course sir. But we don’t have power supply to use the nuclear weapon as the suppliers are going through a CAG audit and they have also refused to supply power till we pay them.  Besides, the head of the unit is on suspension pending an enquiry being conducted under by the Jan Lokpal. We have been given to understand that this position is vacant since an honest, qualified person has not been found so far.

AKji – Yes, yes! I remember!  He was the one who shares his surname with that big industrialist and we strongly believe that the industrialist controls him.   What do we do now?  Can we speak to the Pak Army or ISI to delay this?

Army Chief (exasperated) - That won’t be possible Sir. They do not report to you.

An irritated AKji – How is that possible and why was I never told about this? What did the Congress and BJP Governments do about this over the last 60 years? I’ll do a Dharna in front of the Pakistan High Commission to protest against this and give the Pakistan Government 48 hours to pass a resolution ensuring their Army/ISI report to me with immediate effect.  I will resign if it does not happen. Also, send 15 questions to Pak Army Chief, seeking answers in 24 hours.  Else, it will be clear that he is corrupt.

Army Chief (aghast) - Yes sir! But how will sending questions, sitting on a Dharna and proving that the Pakistan Army is corrupt help us in the situation we are in, an impending War!!

AKji - Arre… don’t you get the point?  Once they pass the required resolution, I can order them not to attack. If they don’t pass, I’ll resign. If the Pakistan Army Chief does not reply, it is clear that he is corrupt.  Let us get an auto rickshaw to go to the nearest Metro station and from there to the Dharna venue.  (AKji calls his press secretary and says) - ensure that the entire media is alerted about my rickshaw travel and metro travel. Where is my muffler!

Army Chief fainted…………...

What has happened to India? Nothing yet, considering this is only a highly exaggerated imaginary situation!

This piece (of my mind) is in no way an attempt to point fingers at AAP and its credibility or the intelligence of its leader.  If I had a vote in the Delhi assembly elections, I would have definitely voted for the AAP as their intention was quite promising. However, as an AAM AADMI, I feel dejected looking at their naïve and immature way of handling of things.

Running after Referendums:

Looks like the party has collectively failed to realize that people vote and elect representatives because they don’t have the intelligence or time to govern. A leader is expected to be decisive and lead but if the leader keeps going back to the public in the name of referendum (through their websites and social networking sites which form a small percentage of public), it leads to nothing but chaos and delays, Imagine this: if this trend continues, the day isn’t far when each home could have a voting machine installed for the mango people to have their say on policies and issues!

Focus on 'what's not possible' rather than 'what's possible' 

Can choosing a lost cause and quitting be termed a success? I am not a political analyst, but it is elementary that with the numbers AAP had in the Delhi Assembly, passing the Jan Lokpal Bill was a non-starter from the beginning.  The chances were as bright as an Indian football team winning a FIFA World Cup! AAP garnered public support by convincing the Aam Aadmi of how corrupt the Congress, BJP or for that matter every other political party was (incidentally, both the Congress and BJP never denied they have corrupt leaders; but their defense was that the other one is more corrupt). During their short stint at power, the party sounded redundant as they kept on singing the same tune without doing anything about it.

Instead, they should have grabbed the opportunity and proved a point to the world of what they were capable of by completing the term or rule Delhi for couple of years.  Efficiency is as important as honesty! There was plenty of opportunity to clean up a whole lot of things (streamlining power distribution, water supply, school admissions, development work etc., to name a few). Jan Lokpal, though important, is not the only issue. Jan Lokpal is necessary and they could have sent it to the Central Government and blamed the Congress. I am sure the AAM AADMI is smart enough to understand that a one- year-old party can do only so much. On the flip side, the feeling one got during the short AAP tenure was they somehow wanted the Congress to withdraw the support.

Of Press Meets, Dharnas and Accusations…

After a point, TV Noise, I mean News Channels were nothing but AAP TV! All they did was call for press meets and accuse someone or the other of corruption.  The debate here is not whether the people accused by AAP are corrupt or not? The point is what purpose did it serve? Most of AAP’s tactics of free power and waivers are nothing beyond populous politics – something similar to what a state like Tamil Nadu followed – dolling out freebies without worrying about the long term impact to the exchequer.  Yes, they managed to hold Delhi to ransom by holding a dharna, resulting in sending few Delhi policemen on leave.  No one knows what happened to these policemen who went on leave. Did the people of Delhi benefit from this? The answer is a vehement NO!  Strangely, when they consulted the people on forming the government, they did not do so while quitting!

They should also realize that the MY WAY or the HIGHWAY Approach does not work in a democracy.

Just like that light at the end of the tunnel, I hope the AAP gets a little practical and sensible. They have definitely lost their head start that is wading but still promising, at least in the cities.  To add to that, if they fail to win a few seats, they will face a humungous task of keeping their high profile members together as most of them are corporate leaders in their own right and for them, dovetailing will be difficult.

On a concluding note, what comes to my mind is Abraham Lincoln’s quote “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power”. Does it not reflect the current picture of AAP and a faltered one at that!