Letter to Shri Arvind Kejriwal -------------------------------------- (Prologue – He will be too busy to read this today. May be, he will get a lot of free time after 16th May when the hustle-bustle of current campaign is over. This letter should help him introspect then. As a sympathizer (even today!) of the anti-corruption movement and party called AAP, I thought of airing a few of my suggestion to Kejriwal.) Dear Shri Kejriwal, Umpteen number of people have done this – let me also do it. Heartiest congratulations for your spectacular success on 8th December when Delhi poll results were announced. Your win ushered in a new hope for a large population which is frustrated with the current polity and governance. Your advent worked for many as a breeze of cool air in the arid hot desert. It will be too bad if the breeze remains only a ‘breeze’ – short and quick. Things have already gone wrong for AAP and I have written separately about it, so that’s not the point of discussion this time. The letter is to share my thought on how to sustain the breeze and carry out a durable change to Indian politics. I know that my voice is just too feeble to be heard during this din of election campaign. Right now, you seem to love your own voice much more than ‘aam aadmi’. I am sure after 16th May, you will get time to read my letter and ponder over it. It’s not a lengthy letter – I have only three points. First and foremost, don’t lose heart. The chances are high that AAP will lose… and lose BIG. Chances are high that your support base in Delhi will dwindle, without any real gains elsewhere. While you can hope for the best, be prepared for the worst. Lot of “onlookers” have joined your party and they will leave after the elections. Lot of well-meaning people would want to leave because they would once again blame the Indian system and move out of politics. A sense of failure may set in. While the situation around you may be very gloomy, you will need to stand your ground and stay put. If you also lose interest in politics, AAP will be over. AAP doesn’t have (yet) sustainable leadership that can continue without you. So you don’t have an option to lose hope! The second suggestion is to build bridges. Stop being self-righteous. Stop antagonizing anyone who doesn’t agree with you. Look at many other contemporary politicians. AB Vajpayee was close friend of Narasimha Rao. Sharad Pawar is friend to most politicians across the parties including Bal Thakray. They have been in the politics for long, they cherish their own ideologies strongly; they have fought bitterly against each other for power. But at a personal level, they communicate well with each other. At a political level, they collaborate for the larger good. You however seem to be different. You take pride in not talking to your political rivals. You take pride in making them your worst enemies. Don’t be an extremist crusader for all the time. Congress supported you after Delhi polls, and you wrote an insolent public letter to them instead of picking up phone and discussing. No political party can sustain with so much of animosity and hatred against their fellow rivals. Your opponents are from the same nation and follow the same constitution and laws. True, unscrupulous elements have entered into their organizations. But that’s not reason good enough to hate all of them indiscriminately for all the time. Third and perhaps most important suggestion is be constructive. You are skilled at opposing the system through successful protests. It’s high time you define a positive agenda, ideology, program for your party. Today, we don’t know if your party is left-of-center or right-of-center on economic policies. We don’t know what your party’s thoughts on national security, defense, foreign policies etc. A doctrine for the party is very much required. Corruption is closest issue to you; but that’s not the only issue at the national stage. One of the best things about Narendra Modi is that we know where he stands on economic issues – whether you agree with him or not is a different matter. If these three suggestions are taken care of by AAP, I am confident it will have a long future with a constructive role in improving Indian polity. Else, I fear it will be just another short lived movement that will only fossilized in the history books. I hope you avoid that from happening. Wishing you all the very best, Regards, (Epilogue: Frankly, I don’t know how much hopeful I should be about AAP. I know what they stand against; but I don’t know what they stand for. Whatever I have seen of Arvind Kejriwal, he seems to be a born rebel. That’s not sufficient cause for a successful national party.)
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 16:26:51 +0000
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