While every city in India has past glory and
history to talk about, Delhi is special in its own way. The Lodhis, Mughals,
British and even us in present day India, have chosen this city-state to be our
capital. A city which transformed itself into a Union Territory & then a state,
can definitely be said as one of the greatest cities of our country.
And yet, Delhi has lost some of its honour in the
past decade or probably in last 2 decades. First, it became the hotbed of
corruption, whether or not due to it being political capital, India’s biggest
scams have originated here. Second, the most horrific cases of crimes against
women have come from Delhi. Today, people remember Delhi as corrupt and unsafe
rather than for its glorious past and history it has created for Independent
India.
It is not fair to Delhiites — 99.99% of them did
not tarnish the city. A few bad elements ruined the metro’s reputation. Delhi
does not belong to any one native language speaking locals. Unlike Marathis in Mumbai,
Bengalis in Kolkata, Tamils in Chennai, Delhi do not belong to any one native
speaking locals. It belongs to all and 90% of people in Delhi are immigrants
(those who have migrated to Delhi in last 50+ years from other parts of country).
In fact, a recent news article says that Delhi is better than Mumbai on many counts (spends
on education, health, and also on GDP, inflation..), but still our perception is that of Delhi being unsafe & not fit for staying.
Of course, statistics show many Indian cities are
equally unsafe on a per-capita basis. Corruption is probably as rampant
anywhere else in the country. However Delhi, being high profile, bears the
taint more than others.
In this week elections, Delhi has a chance to
redeem itself. It is an election the country will watch. The way Delhi votes
will decide if it deserves the mantle of a great city, and in many ways is
being considered as litmus test for the 2014 general elections.
It isn’t an easy election. After a long time, we now have a triangular contest between three plausible alternatives with each of these parties having a qualified and good CM candidate.
The first choice is
the Congress, with a dynamic CM seeking a fourth term. Despite misconduct
allegations, the fact remains Sheila Dikshit has overseen a transformation of
Delhi`s infrastructure in last decade, almost unmatched in any other Indian
city and is being envied by states. However, her misfortune remains her being
from Congress, which faces a loss of confidence amongst the middle classes.
The second alternative is BJP. They have tried to
position a clean-image CM candidate. He is not as high profile as candidates of
the other two parties. However, he benefits from association with BJP,
traditional alternative to Congress and the party of Narendra Modi. The Modi
wave is making calculated moves, which is benefitting the party & states.
Of course, many Delhiites know the difference
between the national Lok Sabha election and the local assembly election, like
many other states. The true support for Modi may well be kept in reserve for
Lok Sabha elections in 2014. For the assembly election, Delhi has the option to
vote for another, new party founded on completely different principles. The Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) is the most exciting part of what might otherwise have been a
fairly dull election.
The AAP is unlike any other Indian political party and has Arvind Kejriwal at helm of affairs.
Its origins are fascinating. It did not rise from representing an identity,
common to almost all new political parties in the last 20 years. They are not
representing Marathis or Dravidans or Muslims or Dalits. The non-divisive AAP
represents the battered Indian who struggles through life without really making
it – the COMMON MAN. Their core values, at least on paper, revolve around
integrity and service and stands for a cause, a purpose. In some ways, the AAP has trapped itself into extreme
accountability, which they are now being forced to live upto.
Yet they are far from perfect. Controversial sting
operations on them aside, they have a long way to go in terms of striking a
balance between issues such as: idealism versus practicality; rational versus
practical, raising issues versus providing good administration, appeasing the
aam aadmi in the short term versus making good policies for the longer term;
staying fiercely independent versus working with other parties. Post-election
disappointment from AAP is likely, given the burden of expectations. Future of
AAP, from an issue based party to long term sustainable political party, sustaining
themselves to be an aam aadmi and clean party devoid of politics will have to
be seen.
However, there are much to gain if AAP wins significant
number of seats in Delhi. Overnight, the main political parties will take notice.
Till date, many senior and powerful leaders across parties do not bother about
corruption and governance, and do not believe these are really relevant to
Indian vote bank. However, if AAP can benefit politically from its platform of
integrity, surely, the major parties will undertake overnight reforms to make
themselves cleaner. We have seen these with few instances, where parties have
tried to come clean, but that were largely due to courts’ directions.
If AAP can make clean, qualified candidates win and
in considerable numbers, it will start a race within parties to get good people
into politics. And this would help in restoring some credibility in our
democracy and nation. For even BJP, Congress and other supposedly major parties
will look for good candidates and clean themselves up. The call for clean politics
has always been there. AAP’s success will provide the incentive to turn this
call into action.
AAP may end up becoming martyr, but their success
signals a new environment. If AAP helps clean up not Delhi, but politics of entire
nation, then I will say, it has served its purpose.
If all this happens, Delhi will redeem itself and
restore its honour. The city has been ridiculed and shamed far too much. In
deciding their 70 assembly seats, it has the chance to show the nation why it
deserves to be India`s capital.
Go Delhi. Go out and vote. Go get your honour
back and help restore honour of this country!!
