Though we
cannot fully endorse the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Arvind Kejriwal as the
differentiating and refreshing factor in Indian politics, they deserve a
chance, for whatever negatives we have seen in Arvind Kejriwal’s style of functioning
and whatever negatives that can surface in the politics of AAP, it will still
be a milder version of the deafening levels of rot sweeping the overall
political spectrum of the country.
It is true,
Arvind Kejriwal gives rise to valid points of doubts after he mishandled the
anti-corruption moment of 2011 in 2012; after he failed to effectively (honestly?)
raise his voice to protest against the political efforts to bring amendments to
the Right to Information Act and the Representation of the People Act. His
responses, though criticised the amendment moves, sounded more like routine
statements with no soul.
But for the
upcoming assembly elections in Delhi, he and his political outfit can be given
benefit of doubt when we are selecting and electing similar sub-sets of
worn-out politicians, again and again, even if they proudly inhabit the
record-sheets of police stations and court rooms and when Kejriwal can claim to
have a long record as an activist in his career profile. Also, though he mishandled
the 2011 anti-corruption movement later on, it cannot be denied that he could
identify and convince Anna Hazare and was the organiser, the architect, in
making it a roaring success during its April and August 2011 legs.
Yes, the
malaise that plagues the political fraternity in India
is a real possibility that can afflict the new entrant in Delhi’s political circle. If it happens, it
will be on the expected line of the political history of the post-Independence India. But
there is a window of ‘if’ and there is some time before, if it, the plaguing,
happens.
And that
should prepare the base for the case to give AAP the benefit of doubt.
The singular
reason that we can identify, apart from the valid election issues, and that we
need to have consensus on is – if his
party emerges as the winner in Delhi assembly polls, it would send a message to
the political parties and the fraternity, not just in Delhi, but across India,
that it is the time for the political elite to have a relook on what they have
been forcing us, the voters, the public of this Republic, to accept – a polity
and the induced policy, crushed under the acidic flow of corruption and
criminalization.
It is not for
the electoral promises that the Aam Aadmi Party is making but it is for the
prospect of this symbolism, a potent one, for which the Aam Aadmi Party should
be voted to power in Delhi.
The political
rot in India needs multiple
shock treatments and the slap of AAP win in Delhi would echo far and wide.