It’s the season of political rhetoric. Indian politics, is known for candidates making tall claims and promises during campaigning followed by non-action. The Congress and BJP have mastered this and much of the electorate, for justified reasons, has given up on these two parties following through on any of their promises.
But this time we have Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. An alternative view of politics. A party of the common man – the aam aadmi. In its first tryst with politics, AAP stunned the BJP and Congress by performing exceptionally well in the Delhi assembly elections. Unfortunately AAP fell into the good (bad) old Indian political way of making compromises to come into power. It formed an alliance with the Congress – a party it was morally opposed to. AAP lost a few supporters but it justified its actions based on a self administered SMS referendum. Interestingly, even for this SMS referendum, the question asked was “Should AAP form a government in Delhi?” rather than something more accurate like “Should Aam Aadmi Party form the Government in Delhi with support of Congress?”. Similar to this, every action taken by AAP, even if contrary to its own promises, is justified by saying that ‘this is what the people want’.
Over the past three years, Kejriwal has been opposed to parliamentarians with pending criminal cases. Here are some of his quotes: “In this Parliament, 163 members have cases of heinous offences against them. In this Parliament, rapists are sitting, murderers and looters are sitting. How can you expect Jan Lokpal Bill to be passed by Parliament? How can you expect that you can get reprieve from poverty and corruption”
“Why did these parties (BJP & Congress) gave ticket to such people? What were the compulsions? Didn’t they insult Parliament by doing so? Can’t these parties be punished for this?”
So one would only assume that AAP would give its tickets to Aam Aadmis. Well, here are a few of AAP’s aam aadmis who have been given tickets for the ongoing general election:
|
Name |
Constituency |
Highlights |
|
M. Pushparayan
|
Thoothukkudi (TN) |
19 charges related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307), 13 charges related to Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A), 7 charges related to Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means (IPC Section-324), 2 charges related to Putting person in fear of death or of grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion (IPC Section-387) |
|
Udayakumar S.P. |
Kanniyakumari (TN) |
19 charges related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307), 13 charges related to Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A), 7 charges related to Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means (IPC Section-324), 5 charges related to theft (IPC Section-379), 3 charges related to dacoity (IPC Section-395) |
|
Dr. Himanshu Singh |
Meerut (UP) |
2 charges related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307), 3 charges related to criminal intimidation (IPC Section-506) |
|
Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat |
Srinagar (J&K) |
1 charges related to Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (IPC Section-354), 1 charges related to Rioting, armed with deadly weapon (IPC Section-148) |
|
Dr. K.P.Yadav |
Jaunpur (UP) |
1 charges related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307), 1 charges related to criminal intimidation (IPC Section-506), 2 charges related to Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty (IPC Section-332) |
Everything eventually seems to boil down to political convenience for parties in India. In the first 8 phases, 33% of BJP candidates, 27% of Congress candidates and 15% of AAP candidates have penidng criminal cases against them. AAP is a new player and at this point the party does seem the lesser ‘evil’ as compared to the others. But so far in its short history, many of the decisions that it has taken are similar to those of other political parties. The list above, is in no way indicative of ‘aam aadmis’ that the party was supposed to back. It seems that much of Kejriwal’s promise to provide a fresh outlook on the political system is more talk and less action. If we judge AAP by the same yardstick that Kejriwal judges other parties, then we must ask – “Why did AAP give tickets to such people? What were the compulsions? Aren’t they insulting parliament by doing so? Can’t AAP be punished for this?”
All data as per National Election Watch
Copyright secured by Digiprove
There is no doubt that AAP went back on several of its promises . And there is no disputing the fact that it committed a few mistakes . Who can deny that it made compromises with its ” Principles ”
All because it set for itself a VERY HIGH standard and self-hoisted itself on a very high moral pedestal !
But people of India would be wise – and practical – to judge AAP , not by some ABSOLUTE STANDARD , but by some RELATIVE STANDARD – relative to all other political parties in the fray
Almost 18 months ago , when Arvind was debating what to call his party , I had suggested that he call it , TLC party – The Least Corrupt Party !
That would have been honest and people would have appreciated !
So far , it was a question of choosing between the lesser of the TWO EVILS
Now , we have a choice of ” The least of the THREE EVILS ” !
We all know how Congress and BJP have performed against their past poll promises
In light of this , we have nothing to lose but possibly , something to gain , by voting for AAP
hemen parekh ( 11 May 2014 / Mumbai )
Very valid points. Hopefully AAP does not fall down the slippery slope of making one compromise after another. By relative standards, AAP should be the best choice in most cases. But going ahead, we should make sure that we judge AAP by the same yardsticks that we have judged others with.
The Die is
cast
With only 41 seats of Lok Sabha remaining to be voted
upon tomorrow , the die is cast
Outcome of those 41 seats is unlikely to make much of a
difference to who will form the next Government at the Centre
If BJP falls short of 272 seats , ” Aya Ram , Gaya
Ram ” horse-trading will settle the issue
But what will send a loud and clear message across
India is ,
” Who wins
in Varanasi ? ”
It is no more a question of Congress vs BJP
Or , a question of David vs Goliath
It is no more a question of choosing between , lesser
of the two evils
Even if AAP has made a few honest mistakes and occasionally
, compromised on lofty principles , for the first time , people of Varanasi have
a choice
To choose between the least of the THREE EVILS !
There are no
ABSOLUTE standards by which to judge political parties
There are only RELATIVE standards – and , even these
keep shifting
If you think , some of the AAP members – and even ,
some of its leaders – are susceptible to making immoral compromises , you are
entitled to your opinion – which is your right
And Arvind Kejriwal would be the first person to defend
your right
Let us ask ourselves ,
” Who is
the Least Corrupt of the three ?
Who do I
deserve ?
Who is likely
to resign if he cannot fulfill his poll-promises ? ”
BJP came into power in Gujarat on 26 Dec 2012 , by
promising :
” If voted to power , we will construct 50 lakh
houses for the poor in next 5 years ”
In the 500 days since BJP came to power , Gujarat
Government should have built , and distributed , 13,69,863
homes
To find the truth , file a RTI application – without
expecting any answer !
Of course , by 20th May , expect NaMo to resign as
Gujarat CM
Not for having failed to fulfill his promise to people
of Gujarat
But , to fulfill his poll-promise to people of India ,
that , if voted to power , BJP will construct 100 Mega-Cities in next 5 years
That is one Chandigarh or Gandhi-Nagar , every 18 days !
Hopefully , P C Sorkar ( jr ) will help out with a
Mirage !
* hemen parekh ( 11 May 2014 / Mumbai )
48 hours to
NaMo
In another 48 hours , exit polls will become obsolete when
election results start pouring in
And as the sun rises in the sky on 16th May , usual games
will play-out on TV channels
* CLAIM
GAME
In this game , the
main players will be the leaders of BJP and its pre-poll allies
All of these leaders will claim personal credit for BJP’s
victory – without appearing to offend the Great NaMo !
They will tell the TV anchors :
There never was any doubt that we will win
We had told you so , all along
NaMo wave was unstoppable
People were fed up of UPA’s failures
This is the beginning of the end of the Dynasty Rule
We will not be vindictive ( – except in case of RSVP ! )
We gracefully accept the mandate given to us by people to
bring in Good Governance
People want Gujarat Model replicated all over India and we
will do it
* BLAME
GAME
This game will be
played by leaders of Congress and its UPA allies
They will try to hide their faces on TV channels ( – now I
understand why police cover up the faces of alleged culprits ! )
But if caught unaware by those intrepid roving journalists /
cameramen , they will mumble in inaudible voices :
We humbly accept the verdict of the people
We honour their wishes ( though much against our wishes ! )
We will play the role of a responsible opposition ( – but
make no mistakes , at every small opportunity , we promise to disrupt the
working of the Lok Sabha , better than what BJP ever managed )
RSVP had nothing to do with our defeat
Our Working Committee / Parliamentary Board will examine the
reasons why people dumped us ( – and find some scapegoats ! )
After all , we have been playing this game for over 65 years
and know too well that you cannot fool all the people all the time !
You win some , you lose some
We will emerge stronger by 2019 ”
* AIM GAME
This game will be
played out by the Third Front political leaders whose only ” Aim ”
was to remain ” Relevant ” in the Lok Sabha !
These leaders will be saying
:
As a Third ( rate ? ) Front , we have emerged stronger
So what , if we cannot form the Government ?
We cannot even agree on who is our Prime Ministerial
candidate !
But can’t you see that we are M-powered ? ( Maya / Mamta / Mulayam ) – with 3
potential PMs ?
As always , we will continue to provide NaMo , our ”
Issue – based ” support ( – the
only issues being , withdrawal of all
scam-related cases / disproportionate assts cases / CBI investigations,
etc , against our Behenji / Didiji / Netaji )
And of course , grant of ” Special Status ” to
W.Bengal / Bihar / UP / Tamil Nadu / Odisha / Seemandhra etc
On 16th , switch on your TVs to witness the ” Grand Finale ”
!
* hemen parekh
( 14 May 2014 / Mumbai )