A Footnote in History

The ongoing tussle between the Lt. Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung and Arvind Kejriwal has all the elements of tragedy and farce.

The tragedy is that while the people of Delhi elected Kejriwal with an unprecedented mandate he has not been allowed to function by a stultifying political ploy. Clearly the will of the people was in full display in the Delhi election - the AAP and their leader was what the people wanted. That is the real meaning of democracy. Unfortunately the farce that is being played out as we speak by Najeeb Jung at the behest of his political masters makes a mockery of democracy and the will of the people.

Much has been made of the legal and constitutional provisions that govern the moth eaten state of Delhi. Legal luminaries have expressed contrary opinions only pointing to an urgent need to clarify and simplify our archaic legal system. The fact that such contradictions exist and can be used to stymie the workings of a duly elected government is proof enough of our inept system - legal, bureaucratic and political.

For any system to work efficiently it is necessary for a leader to be able to choose his team. There must be cohesiveness and a shared sense of purpose. Any organisation that has a team that is not chosen by the leader and is in fact thrust upon him in-spite of his objections is doomed to fail. Shiela Dixit says that the CM should not be confrontational, rather he should attempt to build consensus and harmony. In other words, wag your tail and feed on the scraps that the system will allow you. Kejriwal was not elected for compromise and being co-opted by the system. If he does that he would have failed to live up to the expectations of the people who elected him. Sometimes the only way forward is confrontation. There has to be a stand on some issues and this is one of them. The sad part is that the BJP who had espoused the case for full statehood of Delhi has now made another U turn (people have lost count of the number of U turns that they have made in the last year that they have been in power)

As for Najeeb Jung after his brief moment in the sun he will fade out as people like him invariably do. At best he will be a footnote in the history of Delhi. The will of the people will prevail.  

Curtains for the AAP?

The cacophony around the AAP has become deafening. As the Hindustan Times cartoon depicts so tellingly the people of Delhi who had presented a whole bunch of Jhadoos to the AAP are now finding that party members are using them to fight each other rather than cleaning up (literally and metaphorically) the city.

Conventional wisdom says that the AAP infighting has damaged them and their image very badly. Men and women of repute no longer want to be associated with them and are leaving in droves. They are wasting time and the tax payers money while they fight each other in a painfully public way. However, conventional wisdom has not been very effective in forecasting what the AAP is doing and whether it will be successful. The first bunch of nay sayers ran away when Kejriwal quit as Delhi CM the first time. Then there was the fiasco of the Lok Sabha elections. And yet the party swept the Delhi Assembly in an unprecedented fashion. Clearly political pundits and the western media have a habit of getting things wrong as far as the AAP is concerned. Other political parties, notably the BJP have been wrong as well. I think this may be the reason that gloating voices are a bit more muted this time. Nobody would like to be proved wrong four times in a row!

Harsh reality says that there can only be one leader, whether it is of a political party, a corporation, a cricket team or whatever. While there can be room for dissent and debate it cannot be allowed to overwhelm the organisation. Consider the facts about the AAP. The one and only vote catcher is Kejriwal. The others are 'ideologues', 'conscience keepers' 'lok pals' etc etc. In other words, none of them have anything to contribute to the actual business of running a political party or winning elections. As far as the Bhushans are concerned the writing was on the wall when Shanti Bhushan said that Bedi would be a better candidate than Kejriwal for CM Delhi. A comment singularly lacking in sense is what I say and what the Delhi public realised quite quickly. The Bhushan family seems to be congenital obstructionists if that is the correct phrase. They will willfully oppose anything that appears to be progressing in the right direction. I think they would have actually been happier if the AAP had lost in Delhi so that they would still have a role in a sort of constant work in progress as it were. Yogendra Yadav is a different cup of tea. My reading of him is that he is a sincere intellectual who was tempted to chance his hand in the rough and tumble of politics. When the results finally emerged it became progressively apparent that there was no real role for him in Delhi. He was more closely allied to Haryana and Kejriwal made it quite clear (and rightly so) that the AAP would not be looking at expansion into the State assemblies anytime soon. That put paid to Yadav's ambitions and I think he rolled his dice in the wrong direction.

The strange thing is that all the events of the last year have only led to progressively strengthening the AAP and specifically Kejriwal. I think by now internal dissent has been substantially doused. There is a cadre who firmly believes in Kejriwal and who will not oppose him too easily. Synergistic thought is a prerequisite for growth. It has been a hard fought battle for Kejriwal but I think he has emerged stronger at the end of it. Delhi will benefit from the clarity of vision and single-minded focus on execution that the new and energised AAP will bring to the table.

Imagining the AAP

Now that the battle for Delhi is over and Arvind Kejriwal is on his way to becoming the next Chief Minister of Delhi, it is time to take a step back to see what may lie ahead. As I see it, the following things are going to be critical in the next weeks and months to follow:

1. The BJP is not going to lie back and play dead in Delhi. BJP Street fighters will continue to make wild accusations and spread disinformation at all points. Their propaganda machinery starting with TV spokespersons will raise the shrillness of the debate and they will be supported by the Central Government machinery. In short, life will not be easy for the fledgling state government. In this charged scenario, the new government will be hard pressed to deliver on its poll promises. The AAP has done well to keep its cool during the hard fought election. In fact it was the BJP whose nerves appeared to be on edge. This is a wise policy that the AAP would be well advised to maintain going forward. Dignified behaviour is always appreciated. Secondly, factual analysis and communication is important rather than rumours and innuendo. For example, while the AAP does have a credible method by which they propose to bring down electricity bills, they need to share this is a simple way with the public at large. They cannot be seen as populist vote gatherers now that they have come to power. This is another way to resist the BJP juggernaut. The third way is to look at issue based support. Nobody can really argue with the Swach Bharat campaign for example. The AAP is equally concerned about sanitation. Rather than oppose for the sake of opposing it would be better to adopt some of these programs and make them successful in Delhi. Clearly, the AAP needs to adopt a balanced, mature and nuanced approach in the coming weeks and months.
   
2. It is critical that the AAP does not succumb to overconfidence again. Expansion beyond Delhi needs to be carefully calibrated. Now that the Lok Sabha elections are over there is thankfully no temptation to aspire for a National Role too early. This was one of the key mistakes made by the AAP last year. As far as the State Assemblies are concerned the party needs to pick its battles with care. Other states are not like Delhi. Physical area, population, local issues, media coverage are all very different from a city state like Delhi. Local parties are also well entrenched in some states unlike Delhi where it was essentially a triangular contest. It is more important for the AAP to successfully manage Delhi and demonstrate its capabilities rather than spread its resources too thinly. I would even go so far as to suggest that the AAP should declare a one year moratorium on future elections and focus on Delhi. Such a strategy will pay them rich dividends in future as they will have a demonstrable track record of success.
   
3. There are already overtures by various parties who have extended support to the AAP. This seems to be on the principal that an enemies enemy is a friend. The AAP would be well advised to steer clear of corrupt regional parties who are often caste based and not in conformity with the AAP's aims and objectives. Such alliances may appear attractive in the short term but as I have said in this pages before, Tagore's inspirational poem 'Ekla Chalo Re' could be a theme song for the party going forward. It may be a difficult path, but it will lead to victory in the future.

Having sounded a cautionary note, it is also appropriate to look at future possibilities. In my view there is one overriding objective that the AAP can aspire for. The decline in the Congress has left a major gap in India's politics. In most developed countries there are two main political parties. Republicans and Democrats in the USA, Labour and Conservative in the UK. There is a need for a left of centre party focused on the real Aam Aadmi. In its heyday the Congress had fulfilled this role. Early leaders like Mahatma Gandhi had learnt the art of listening to the masses well before Social Media made it an instantaneous affair. The symbolism of the Swadeshi movement and Quit India had a strong resonance with the people of India. So did the Garibi Hatao slogan of Indira Gandhi. It is this role at the National Level that the AAP can and should aspire too. The BJP is essentially a party that represents the interests of big business. They are also bound to listen to the diktats of their ideological masters, the RSS and the Hindutva Brigade. All this adds a colour to their policies that is distinctly unsettling for a pluralistic society like India. For India's sake we hope that a decent, honest and effective national party like the AAP emerges that has the interests of the common man at the heart of its policies.

Why the AAP should win in Delhi

It is truly commendable that in the face of the superbly orchestrated BJP juggernaut there is still an island of resistance in Delhi. Nothing exemplifies the divide between India and Bharat or between the fat cats and the common man more than the protagonists in the Delhi assembly elections. The AAP has come a long way since the euphoric days of the last Delhi poll. They were then lionised by the English media and the twitterati and even the middle class felt that they were knights in shining armour who had come to save them from the awful mess that the Congress had created. What bound them all together was a unipolar rejection of corruption as the most corrosive force in Indian politics. Unfortunately, that singular thought was the only cement that kept the AAP together. On all other issues and methods there was a sharp divergence between the middle class supporters of the AAP and the actual Aam Aadmi. The former were repelled by the tactics that the AAP employed. Sleeping on the pavement in freezing rain did not appeal to their delicate sensibilities and neither did the anarchist statements that Kejriwal was fond of issuing at regular intervals.

To understand the deep and fundamental divide between these two constituents of AAP supporters, past and present is to understand the realities that the poor of India face on a daily basis. Mayawati captures the angst of poor and dispossessed Indians who rebel against an oppressive religion and an establishment that seems to be geared only for exploitation of the poorest of the poor. Indians, specifically Hindus, need to ask themselves why there has been such large scale conversions to Islam and Christianity over the years. The fact is that Hinduism is a discriminatory religion. Caste is the most pernicious of all methods invented by man to divide and rule the ones who don't belong. In a similar vein and in fact derived from the influences of religion, the divide between India (the land of the haves) and Bharat (the land of the have nots) runs deep and strong. It is this divide that is being played out in the Delhi elections. The BJP and the Congress are essentially two sides of the same coin. The advantage that the former has is of decisive, strong and determined leadership at the top. Otherwise their chosen paths and end objectives are remarkably similar. It is a telling point that the political class closed ranks against the Lok Pal bill. Nobody really wanted crony capitalism, nepotism and corruption to actually be curbed. It only makes for good election speeches.

In the face of all this, Kejriwal and his band of determined, albeit motley men and women truly stand out. The common man in Delhi is really convinced that they are the only party that actually stands for them. Lofty promises, spectacular parades, good 'governance' at the national level and so and so forth make very little difference to the Aam Aadmi. He is concerned about Mohalla affairs, corruption at the transactional level, rising costs of daily necessities and utilities, safety of women, law and order and similar matters. The sad fact is that the neither of the national parties are capable or willing to address these issues at the grass roots level. In terms of numbers the real Aam Aadmi (blue collar workers, small businessmen, junior staff employed by Private Sector or Government) are solidly behind the AAP. With the decline in the Congress, the Muslim voter is also looking favourably at the AAP. It is only the English press and the middle and upper classes who have turned against them. While this segment is vocal and articulate, it forms a small fraction of Delhi. Ultimately Bharat is far bigger than India. Every time the English press attacks the AAP, the party gains as the underdog who has bravely fought a good fight. It would not be prudent to forecast the results of the Delhi elections but in a microcosm it is a fight for the underdog, a fight for the soul of India.

The AAP has already changed the tenor of public discourse in India. It would be great if they could form a stable government in Delhi and demonstrate how they could improve the lot of the common people of this great city. 

The AAP - Green Shoots?

For those us who mourned in secret when the AAP self-destructed after Arvind Kejriwal resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi there may yet be hope. It seems that as winter approaches there may yet be a market for mufflers.

Consider the facts. The dear departed Congress has gone into complete hibernation. Unless they decide to jettison the dynasty and embark on the painful process of rebuilding with a new (hypothetical) set of non-geriatric and non-crook leaders they appear to be on the slippery slope to irrelevance. The BJP, of course, is on a high with even staunch nay-sayers having been forced to acknowledge the power of Mr. Modi. Backed by his firepower, the BJP is hoping for a clean sweep in Delhi in the coming assembly polls. However they are operating under several disadvantages that are growing as time goes on:
1. There is a small but growing chorus of criticism about the BJP and its activities. The fact is that they have taken all the schemes and ideas of the Congress Government, dusted and polished them and put them out for public edification. The mantra is ‘good implementation’ not ‘great ideas.’ Unfortunately implementation of major projects at the National level takes a lot of time and the fickle public is unwilling to grant them the indulgence.
2. The hard edge of Hindutva is beginning to show its face. To his credit, Mr. Modi has steered a very clear path in his public statements. However, the likes of Yogi Adityanath and the Sadhvi have muddied the waters and unsettled the Muslim community. The intelligentsia is also concerned by what they perceive as attempts to saffronise history and meddle with the educational curriculum.
3. There is a certain high handedness and ruthlessness that is evident in the way that some of the opposition states are being dealt with. Admittedly Jayalalitha was convicted by a court and the central government had nothing to do with it. However, as a pressure tactic it was quite effective. The drama in Bengal is unfolding as we speak. How do people react to this? For the committed it is a reinforcement of the political effectiveness of the party’s leaders. For those on the fence it may appear a bit too forceful for their liking. For the opposition it may just send a shiver down their spines.
4. At the state level the new BJP Chief Ministers are a bit of a mixed bag. Fadnavis seems to speak the development lingo fairly well but Khattar appears a bit old fashioned for the likes of glitzy Gurgaon. In Delhi, no clear leader has emerged. All the old names being tossed around seem tired and jaded. Perhaps the party can yet pull out a surprise but as of now the lack of a clear leader adds to the feeling of ‘been there, done that.’
5. On the economic front the key driver has been the decline in oil prices. This has brought down inflation and the government has been able to add to its coffers in a rather painless manner. All this has nothing to do with India and its government. There is no progress on dismantling other subsidies. Company performance is still lacklustre and it does appear that the boom in the stock market may yet be an illusion.

In Delhi, there is a growing feeling that local issues are not being addressed. The AAP is, of course, taking full advantage of this and with good reason:
1. Power bills have been further inflated after the AAP Government left. While oil prices and inflation have come down almost to zero this does appear a bit surprising. The much promised audit of the Discoms has also not happened in any significant way. Clearly the current dispensation is not really motivated to pursue such agendas.
2. The issue of women’s safety continues to be of prime concern. Two years after the Nirbhaya atrocity the perpetrators are still under trial and the so called ‘fast track’ case is meandering along. Recent polls indicate that women continue to face harassment on a daily basis and that nothing has really changed. If for no other reason, the current government headed by the Lt. Governor should hang their heads in shame.
3. Traffic and parking is going from bad to worse. Average travel times in Delhi have almost doubled in the last few years and most of the roads are full of encroachments and debris. There does not appear to be any enforcement and Delhi is fast beginning to look like a drab West UP town.

The AAP is also a chastened party today. They made a series of mistakes starting with running away from the Delhi Government to attempting to compete for a national showing in the Lok Sabha. Many of their erstwhile supporters have also left them, perhaps for the better as it makes the party more consistent.

However what endeared them to people was their genuine concern for the common man and his problems. Day to day corruption, sanitation, inflation and women’s issues are what people are really worried about. It does sound grand to say that Obama will be the chief guest for Republic Day but it rings hollow when 97% of women in the same city said that they have been harassed in public or that many people still defecate in the open and have no access to clean drinking water.

It is not enough to make grand speeches and inaugurate big programmes. Social change comes about on the ground – house by house, street by street. It needs the junoon and commitment of an Arvind Kejriwal to actually make it happen in our capital city. Perhaps the ‘green shoots’ of the AAP may yet overcome the winter of our discontent.

Religiosity and Spiritualism

There has often been a debate on whether there is such a thing as ‘Universal Human Values’ It may be argued that human beings have evolved a set of ‘Dos and Don’ts’ or views on what is desirable and what is anti-social behaviour that are almost invariant across societies in time and space. Murder, robbery, infidelity, lying and cheating are considered reprehensible in all societies. On the positive side truthfulness, family values, kindness, generosity, forbearance and other similar traits would be considered desirable almost anywhere. In a sense these traits or behaviour patterns may be classified as ‘Disruptive’ or ‘Cohesive’ so far as society is concerned. Society as defined as a fellowship or group of like-minded people who live, intermarry and work together demands cohesiveness and will tend to oppose disruptive behaviour.

It follows, therefore that those members of society who practice cohesive behaviour are regarded as ‘good’ and their behaviour is worthy of emulation as role models. Mahatma Gandhi would be probably the best example of such a person. While he was a deeply religious Hindu he did not hesitate to oppose some of the religion’s pernicious practices like untouchability. It is important to understand that people like Mahatma Gandhi are not religious figures in the conventional sense or ‘God Men’ in the uniquely Indian phrase. They are ‘Spiritual’ leaders and it would be useful to dwell on this thought for a while.  A Spiritual person by his behaviour, sayings and deeds is someone whom society looks up to and respects. Who does not propagate a blind faith in religion but rather inculcates respect for all humanity. Someone who works tirelessly for the uplift of the human spirit and is in that sense a spiritual person.

The other end of the spectrum is a Religious person. Most religions try to define a cause and effect relationship between your deeds and the end result. If you follow the Ten Commandments you will go to heaven. Similarly you will find Moksha if you feed Brahmins or bathe in the Ganga. In most cases the kind of behaviour that religions wish to foster is broadly similar to the behaviour that a spiritual person would aspire too. In that sense there appears to be little dichotomy between Spiritualism and Religiosity. However there are a few critical differences. There is an element of coercion in religion. If you not feed Brahmins you will not attain Moksha. It is almost as if mankind has to be bribed like fractious children to do God’s bidding. The second key difference between Religiosity and Spiritualism is based on logic vs faith. Spiritualism is logical as it fosters behaviour that benefits society. It is an end in itself inasmuch that the Spiritual person is liked, respected and emulated by his fellow men. That should be motivation enough. However, religion takes a crucial step beyond mere logic. It attempts to provide answers to basic existential questions. What is the purpose of our existence? What will happen to us after we die? There are no logical answers to such questions and the answers that religions provide cannot be subjected to empirical proof. Has anyone ever seen heaven? Or does anyone know what Moksha feels like? The convoluted language and allegories that religious texts take shelter behind are really indicative of the confusion and uncertainty that prevails in this area. The unfortunate side effect of insistence on faith is religious dogma and exclusionist thinking. The conviction that ‘my way is the only way’ and that ‘my religion is the best and everyone has to conform to it’ has unfortunate consequences that we are all too familiar with.

Does it really matter whether you will go to heaven after a lifetime spent in conforming to archaic religious precepts? Does it really make a difference whether you will never be born again and that your soul will fuse with the Brahman after you die?

Is it not better to strive to be a better human being today through your own inner conviction? Is it not enough to be a good and spiritual human being without feeling it necessary to impose your beliefs on others? Surely spiritualism is all that a human being needs to have a good life himself as well as having a positive impact on others.

The Opium of the People

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people" – Karl Marx

There is no doubt that religious sentiments and beliefs are becoming stronger and more polarised in today’s world. Whether it is militant Islam throughout the Middle East, Zionism in Israel, Buddhism in Sri Lanka or Hindutva in India, religious belief and dogma are becoming more and more significant. Strangely enough even as material prosperity increases almost universally mankind still seeks solace in the “opium of the people”.

Religion was invented to try to answer the basic questions of life that were not amenable to strictly logical thought. Why do we exist? and What happens to us after we die? Philosophical questions indeed. Worthy of examination by the keenest intellects. Unfortunately, answers to these questions even by the most erudite thinkers are full of circumlocution and obfuscation. The simple fact is that nobody knows the real answers to these questions. All inquiries are met with a dogmatic statement that “you need to have faith – mere logic will get you nowhere” The other unfortunate offshoot of this confusion is the creation of ritual. You need to pray 5 times a day facing in a particular direction in one religion while you need to pray to a particular god on Tuesdays for your wishes to be fulfilled in another! I ask you – can anything be more ridiculous? All this will get to Jannat, Nirvana, or Heaven – take your pick. The names differ but the premise is consistently absurd.

The real question is why is religion gaining ground? Marx has some pointers to the answer. The human condition, moral, spiritual and social is deteriorating. While we are better off materially our lives are becoming increasingly barren on all other parameters. We clutch at straws – the oily Hindu Godman or the wily Mullah who promises us salvation and a modicum of spiritual comfort in return for a ‘small’ consideration mainly in cash! We are like rabbits under the spell of the ferret who with his glistening greedy eyes is waiting to gobble us up.  

Strictly logical thought will not show you the way to heaven. But it will prevent you from acting irrationally. It will point you in the direction of ‘good’ behaviour, of being a rational human being with a mature and sensible outlook to your fellow men and society. In the ultimate analysis this is all we need. Religion and associated irrational behaviour needs to be curbed by society. By all means worship your gods in whatever fashion you want. But do it in the privacy of your own home and don’t let your behaviour impinge on others. Religion like opium is a pernicious social vice and if it has to be practiced let it be in within the four walls of your own space.