On 9th April we had a nice group discussion with Prof. Anand Kumar, a member of the National Executive of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at one of my friend's apartments in New Haven. It was a nice informal gathering over dinner with the local Indian community. The discussion was about topics related to India and Indian politics. Prof. Kumar nicely explained the purpose of APP and the reason behind their party contesting the elections. He also discussed major political and social issues that are ignored in of current political setup and the way Indian politics works nowadays. He also advised how NRIs who are not physically present in India but share deep bonds and care about their country can contribute to this cause of reforming the system.
He very correctly pointed out some of the problems that India and its people are facing today, like corruption at every level, jobless economic growth, lack of proper and affordable education opportunities, no proper plan for the future energy needs of people, no water management, etc. The discussion on all these and many other related issues went on for a very long time. It's not easy to list all the points here and there is no single solution for all these issues but it was a really nice experience. It was nice to see people belonging to different political ideologies coming together and having a nice dialogue where they were willing to look beyond their own party lines or beliefs. Seldom do we see this happening in India. Even though this doesn't guarantee any solution to problems, it's a sign that people are willing to work towards finding some solution.
Apart from many other points that were discussed and debated during this discussion issue of the phenomenal success of Mr. Narendra Modi as Gujarat's chief minister and his possible selection as BJP's prime ministerial candidate was also discussed. Mr. Modi already has a huge fan following in India and abroad. Especially among youth, he is very popular and many believe that if he can deliver in Gujarat there should not be any problem for him to replicate the same model at the Center to transform the whole of India. No doubt some of his achievements as CM of Gujarat look spectacular and if they are true, he deserves full credit and praise for that but India is not Gujarat. India is much more diverse and complicated than that. Gujarat is a unique state where its people are culturally more inclined towards entrepreneurship than getting salaried jobs. Also, in his state, Mr. Modi had an absolute majority in the assembly which helped him to run his government as per his own wish and style but in the center, the possibility of any single party getting an absolute majority is very rare so I don't know how people expect Mr. Modi to function in same way if he doesn't get an absolute majority. This is just one of the problems which he has to face in the center along with many others.
If the whole system is broken and the entire institution needs a major rehaul then bringing someone who can drive the same system to do some good work is only a temporary situation because whatever good effect or results the rotten system might generate will be because of the presence of that particular personality but not because the system itself has become any better. Also, the rotten system may spoil that new person and make him/her part of the system. There is no guarantee that one person can overhaul the entire corrupt regime, chances are high that the system will change that one person. Also, India has a history of looking for charismatic leaders rather than well-functioning institutions. Governments led by charismatic leaders heavily depend on that leader and don't guarantee the results. When the system itself is the problem then bringing an expert technician who is only going to fix some part of it to make it functional is only a temporary situation. Having an indispensable leader is very dangerous for any country or institute, because then in the absence of that leader, the whole institute will collapse or start malfunctioning. This mainly happens because the system itself is not perfect but somehow someone manages to run it well, this doesn't mean everyone can do this. India needs a system that runs with much fewer problems on its own no matter who is operating it.
So according to me, unless the citizens of India revive their own attitude where not only do they understand their rights but also their responsibilities, it will be difficult to bring any desired change. Bringing Modi or any other charismatic leader who doesn't promise to change the system but tries to run the present system as efficiently as possible is only a temporary solution. We tested this trick before by selecting Rajiv Gandhi, V. P. Singh, or even A. B. Vajpayee but nothing worked to solve this problem. This rotten system didn't allow them to do anything substantial but they were forced to compromise and fight for their own political survival. So the problem is not only the people who run this system but the whole system itself. There are many areas of concern, the way money is collected by parties, the way election tickets are distributed, the way elections are fought, the way parties design their election manifesto, and the way they play vote bank politics (based on caste, religion or any other issue which divides people). All this needs to change and I think that's where AAP needs to play a major role. They need to change the way this game is played currently. They need to change the rules of the game and force everyone to play fairly and once all teams are forced to bring all good and talented players into the game then automatically system will start improving and will show the desired results. Prof. Anand Kumar very nicely elaborated on some of these points and I hope his party is really serious about the things that he mentioned. They sound a bit socialist in their approach but the good part is he was willing to discuss and hear any alternative views, was fine with the criticisms directed towards them, and even told people to challenge their policies and point out any shortcomings which is a good sign. I think the next few years will be interesting in Indian politics and the presence of AAP will have some influence in the coming years. It's hard to predict how slow or fast that change will be but I hope there will be some positive change. I am optimistic and willing to contribute in whatever way I can and I invite all of you to be part of this change, together we can.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
He very correctly pointed out some of the problems that India and its people are facing today, like corruption at every level, jobless economic growth, lack of proper and affordable education opportunities, no proper plan for the future energy needs of people, no water management, etc. The discussion on all these and many other related issues went on for a very long time. It's not easy to list all the points here and there is no single solution for all these issues but it was a really nice experience. It was nice to see people belonging to different political ideologies coming together and having a nice dialogue where they were willing to look beyond their own party lines or beliefs. Seldom do we see this happening in India. Even though this doesn't guarantee any solution to problems, it's a sign that people are willing to work towards finding some solution.
Apart from many other points that were discussed and debated during this discussion issue of the phenomenal success of Mr. Narendra Modi as Gujarat's chief minister and his possible selection as BJP's prime ministerial candidate was also discussed. Mr. Modi already has a huge fan following in India and abroad. Especially among youth, he is very popular and many believe that if he can deliver in Gujarat there should not be any problem for him to replicate the same model at the Center to transform the whole of India. No doubt some of his achievements as CM of Gujarat look spectacular and if they are true, he deserves full credit and praise for that but India is not Gujarat. India is much more diverse and complicated than that. Gujarat is a unique state where its people are culturally more inclined towards entrepreneurship than getting salaried jobs. Also, in his state, Mr. Modi had an absolute majority in the assembly which helped him to run his government as per his own wish and style but in the center, the possibility of any single party getting an absolute majority is very rare so I don't know how people expect Mr. Modi to function in same way if he doesn't get an absolute majority. This is just one of the problems which he has to face in the center along with many others.
If the whole system is broken and the entire institution needs a major rehaul then bringing someone who can drive the same system to do some good work is only a temporary situation because whatever good effect or results the rotten system might generate will be because of the presence of that particular personality but not because the system itself has become any better. Also, the rotten system may spoil that new person and make him/her part of the system. There is no guarantee that one person can overhaul the entire corrupt regime, chances are high that the system will change that one person. Also, India has a history of looking for charismatic leaders rather than well-functioning institutions. Governments led by charismatic leaders heavily depend on that leader and don't guarantee the results. When the system itself is the problem then bringing an expert technician who is only going to fix some part of it to make it functional is only a temporary situation. Having an indispensable leader is very dangerous for any country or institute, because then in the absence of that leader, the whole institute will collapse or start malfunctioning. This mainly happens because the system itself is not perfect but somehow someone manages to run it well, this doesn't mean everyone can do this. India needs a system that runs with much fewer problems on its own no matter who is operating it.
So according to me, unless the citizens of India revive their own attitude where not only do they understand their rights but also their responsibilities, it will be difficult to bring any desired change. Bringing Modi or any other charismatic leader who doesn't promise to change the system but tries to run the present system as efficiently as possible is only a temporary solution. We tested this trick before by selecting Rajiv Gandhi, V. P. Singh, or even A. B. Vajpayee but nothing worked to solve this problem. This rotten system didn't allow them to do anything substantial but they were forced to compromise and fight for their own political survival. So the problem is not only the people who run this system but the whole system itself. There are many areas of concern, the way money is collected by parties, the way election tickets are distributed, the way elections are fought, the way parties design their election manifesto, and the way they play vote bank politics (based on caste, religion or any other issue which divides people). All this needs to change and I think that's where AAP needs to play a major role. They need to change the way this game is played currently. They need to change the rules of the game and force everyone to play fairly and once all teams are forced to bring all good and talented players into the game then automatically system will start improving and will show the desired results. Prof. Anand Kumar very nicely elaborated on some of these points and I hope his party is really serious about the things that he mentioned. They sound a bit socialist in their approach but the good part is he was willing to discuss and hear any alternative views, was fine with the criticisms directed towards them, and even told people to challenge their policies and point out any shortcomings which is a good sign. I think the next few years will be interesting in Indian politics and the presence of AAP will have some influence in the coming years. It's hard to predict how slow or fast that change will be but I hope there will be some positive change. I am optimistic and willing to contribute in whatever way I can and I invite all of you to be part of this change, together we can.
Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.
(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)
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