Attaining Chemical Equilibrium: In my personal opinion, which I am sure many would agree, Indian politics is entering a very interesting era. If I had to draw an analogy with Chemical Reactions, Indian politics (forward reaction) and Public outrage (reverse reaction) is going through a process of attaining 'Chemical Equilibrium'. India would attain 'Chemical Equilibrium' once 'Forward reaction = Reverse Reaction'.
The biggest factor behind this progress towards ultimate equilibrium is - increasing awareness, information and sense of Right to Accountability prevail in the common man.
Over the next one decade, India will go through a major disruption in the way governments are run and perceived. Never have we seen parties talk about growth, corruption and progress as much as they are this time. But the important thing to understand is, that the trigger to change is not from the political parties themselves, the trigger is the common man, the reverse reaction. Future government(s), irrespective of who it is, will be forced to perform well, because gone are the days (or at least will slowly do) when parties could come out in public once in 5 years, make false promises, win elections and then vanish. People are now voting for their rightful development and not for Ram Mandir.
I do not perceive AAP as a political party but a reflection of that collective common man outrage, 'the reverse reaction' against conventional parties. If someone could aggregate the accumulative subject of discussions 'trending' amongst Indians these days on not just Internet platforms but in discussions at homes, offices, market places, people talking in public transports, I am sure view points exchanged and discussed wrt India and its future has never been as high as today. The sole catalyst to trigger the restlessness has been the AAP movement. AAP has changed the paradigm of elections, forcing the conventional parties to change. To counter the AAP movement, conventional parties were forced to shift from Ideology based campaigns to Issue based campaigns. But it is just the beginning, there is a huge difference between making promises (current) vs delivering them (next 5years). I do not care whether NaMo is the PM or RaGa, but one thing I am absolutely sure is that we need AAP to be a common man's proxy in the parliament, to keep a check on the conventional politicians.
Connect with the Youth: In India, one's personal political point view historically has been very similar to religion - you do not build your own, you acquire it from your parents. Every one of my age has grown up either favoring Congress or BJP, just because our parents were either pro Congress or BJP. However, this is changing, today's youth is rebellious, they counter, they question, they are more connected and aware than any other generation.
India's current median age is 25.1 years, this median age generation never voted for UPA I nor the BJP before them. The current generation do not support a cricketer just because he is from a specific region/ state, they do not support an actor just because he is of a specific religion, they do not invest in IPOs just because the company is owned by a specific family, and more importantly they do not connect to the politics of Hindutva! Today's generation favors entrepreneurship over stable public/ private jobs, they debate section 377 and not Ayodhya, they support Women equality over caste reservations, they consider electricity/ water/ internet/ infrastructure a right and not a privilege. In short, conventional political parties are just the opposite of the current demands. No matter how cool or current they may try to pretend, they both have a huge baggage of years of neglect towards common man's demands. Do not be fooled by the new age campaigns backed by PR agencies, in my opinion both Congress & BJP missed the bus to be relevant long time back, it will take years before the two could stop 'repackaging' and start 'restructuring'.
Election Issues: I would recommend all to go and visit the websites of all the national political parties and understand the core issues highlighted by them and more importantly the proposed solutions. Trust me, no one has solutions or proposals!!!
The above snapshot is from BJP's website, and I think their highlighted Core issues represent the party's mindset 100% - for them 'ModiMantra' is #1 core issue while 'Nation First' is the #7 core issue. If you expand any of these issues to see the content, you will be reminded of your days of writing CBSE board exams, where you would sometimes write in garbage just to fill answer sheets and make no sense. BJP needs to realize, India is not USA, we do not have presidential elections and Modi is no Super Man, who alone would save the world as in Hollywood movies.
The above snapshot is from Congress website, it seems as if they just picked up the most trending buzz words and put it on the website. At least, the BJP's website had some 'english' for all the points, this one doesn't even expand as if all highlighted issues were self explanatory and so simple to resolve. Its bizarre that they discovered all of these issues only after one decade of rule.
49 days of Delhi Governance: In Arvind Kejrival's own words "It is the first time in the History of India, the public is outraged that a government couldn't last longer'. If not everything, AAP at least would have done something good, that the people didn't want them to go but continue? I visited Delhi in February and could sense that the common man, for the first time, felt that they have a Chief Minister who is 'one of them' and not one of those unreachable elite politicians. People expressed their emotions towards the CM like never before - some loved him, some outraged him, strongly supported few decisions and rejected many, questioned him, seeked accountability on a daily basis. If seen that is what democracy is in a true sense. We never saw people emoting (good or bad) so strongly before, because they never had the sense of participation in the government before.
It will be unfair to rate AAP on the metrics of - how much per capita income they raised in Delhi in 49 days, did electricity rates go down, did water become more available but on the fact that they struck the right chord, they challenged the conventional and most importantly - infused the hope that strong will and honest intentions can displace the age old corrupt politics in this country.
Gujarat is not India and India is not Gujarat: I do not want to take anything away from Gujaratis, I have never personally visited Gujarat myself (nor I am sure most of the Modi supporters themselves). I do not even want to get into the debate of whether Gujarat made progress or not. Let us just assume it did, good for the people. But how does that solve India's problems?
Are you novice enough to accept that one solution is a fit for all problems? Gujarat historically has been a rich state, land of people with good business acumen, big industries and natural resources. But different states have different history, different cultures and different problems. Unlike Gujarat, Delhi has probably the highest number of people immigrating every day from different states, largest amount of transit traffic, large percentage of Indian population relying on Delhi Hospital amenities. Like wise Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu are all different from Gujarat, many states do not even speak or understand Modi's language. Do not be fooled by the artificial perception created that Gujarat model is a litmus test for national politics. Gujarat represents mere 5% of India's large population and comparatively has 20 states with higher per KM population density.
I am a Networks Engineer, and I know a successful communication is a 2-way communication and not 1-way. Both Manmohan Singh and Modi represent 1-way communication. Manmohan just listened but never spoke, Modi just speaks and never listens. Its high time we vote for a party that understands common man's language and speaks common man's language. If you critic AAP for making U turns and changing stances, please understand, that is what is a true representation of 2-way communication, their U turns are an acknowledgment of your feedback which make them change their stance. Politics is not about taking rigid stances or propagating age old philosophies, but it has to be a constantly evolving reflection of country's aspirations and collective viewpoints.
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