Mike Rana makes eminent sense in his letter. I hope at least one (or more) of the AAP members this was sent to, will give this to AK45 and pass it on to other principals to read and internalize.
Mr Arvind Kejriwal, the new CM of Delhi, Do you have the time for an open letter?
Wow
You took Delhi by storm. You presented to the people an image of direct participation and named the party as AAP (ordinary people party). It was a party with no specific and no special people. Ordinary person was cleverly defined as an honest and non-criminal person, regardless of how much wealth he held. You Sir, cleverly used the props of a welfare state, namely eradication of the VIP culture in the country, supply of free water, reduced cost of electricity, enactment of anti corruption bill, improvement in education (500 schools in the city), increase in medical care (500 hospitals), subsidies to the farmers and the like. These were precisely the attractions that communist leaders have been giving historically to the citizens. Sadly, though, this form of politics has failed to survive in spite of the welfare state that it promised to build for the citizens. Stalin, went ahead to even demolish people in order to create a new humanity. If at all, the welfare paradigm survived only in capitalistic countries like Canada or Australia etc. People there seem to be happy and prosperous. It obviously means a country cannot govern itself without the backing of the capitalists. Almost naturally, and by compulsion, India chose the paradigm of crony capitalism. So far, it is working, though with jolts and hiccups.
You differed from the textbook communists, and we accepted this approach.
- You flashed a dream of a semi-welfare state
- You did not oppose the capitalists except for those who became rich by illegal means
- You highlighted the menace of corruption that was troubling a common man in daily life
- You did not specify formation of a vanguard party to take care of the labour
- Instead, you broke the impregnable wall that separates the rulers from the ruled
Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the people, particularly the diligent ones, and to the imposing vote bank of the poor. He succeeded and became an unprecedented Indian Chief Minister who refused to be anyone other than an ordinary man. He refused security, vanity lights on the car, traditionally large bungalow and other perks. He will be remembered in history. Isn’t it amazing that this had to happen in the capital city of India that is the centre of actions in the run up to the general elections in May-2014. It made waves in the minds of people but created turmoil in the minds of other parties who were planning the manifestos for these elections. Should they follow his approach and make sweeping changes?
Oops
Mr Chief Minister, things will not be a bed of roses; this is well known, but the fear is that you may turn it into a fireplace. By the way, why are the traditional communist factions of the country not supporting you? Are they jealous, fearful of their own standing or they are unconvinced about your approach? Do they sense failure?
Even if we grant you the miraculous win that you administered, here are the blunders that you made:
- There was absolutely no need to commit on numbers like 700 litres of free water, or dates that within 15 days the anti-corruption Lokpal bill for the Delhi state would be enacted. People would have sensed your initiatives and granted you at least 65 days, they accommodated the previous governments for 65 years. They suffered but they did not question them at all. So why would they have questioned you?
- The removal of vanity lights or flags is a decent step but you should have highlighted that this is being done to ease the city traffic woes, and to reduce government expenditure on mobile security
- There is no logic in refusing the security of the z-class, which all other VIPs, including some corporate magnates, enjoy. You or your colleagues’ lives are no longer personal. They are owned by the citizens now, and you have no right to betray them by falling prey to a crafted accident or a terror attack. In addition, you have a mission to complete.
- By delving into un-necessary detail about the residential accommodation, you have opened a Pandora box of conflicts. The opposition will twist and turn your statements in the direction that suits them. No one on earth expects the ministers and the Chief Minister, to live in a two or 3-room apartment when they are expected to conduct a number of public meetings at home. They have to hold protocol oriented functions and events in their offices or even homes. Please do not take it as VIP culture; it is mandatory to hold these meetings.
- The free flowing statements and commitments that come from the CM or the ministers are no doubt reassuring but too many of them at too short frequencies are counterproductive. They raise suspicion that the whole act is a drama, being enacted to foster public support for the national election, which is of a much bigger volume and effort.
- There was no need to tell the voters that you will not take support from the others. You should have used the word other, without naming a party. Is the country not accustomed to coalition, alliance and changing fidelities? Moreover, when others ridicule you on the alliance that you entered into, probably necessitated by the needs of the others, the simple answer is the time is here for coalition government. This is what all the others say.
These are petty and mundane issues unworthy of your personal attention, except that your generals must be cautioned for not repeating these mistakes for the future elections.
An articulate spokesperson or two must be appointed to stop the buck. They should be drenched in your core policies so that they do not falter nor contradict, while speaking. They would be the protective wall between your ministers who are still in the learning process, and the seasoned opposition politicians who are well versed in playing the blame game. They should be exposed to the media only progressively, as they gain confidence.
We all sense the deficit of professionals in your core team, particularly for the larger perspective of the national politics and elections. You have a few but you need at least 30 or 40 party positions more. People are required for selecting the candidates, for managing the project management office, preparing manifestos, managing the databases of people, establishing systems and procedures that are efficient and error proof, etc. In addition, seasoned mentors are required for training the new entrants on the party policies. Mr Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Kumar Vishwash and Sanjay Singh will have to think. Sir, you need both thinkers, and executers.
AAP can certainly bid for the Lok Sabha
Should AAP go in full throttle for the national elections or not, is a question for another discussion, but certainly, it should obtain dominance in a few states. Should Arvind Kejriwal pit himself directly against Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi, is probably a pre-mature debate. The main worry is of being complacent that Delhi results would be repeated in other states. However the golden rule here is, to show your work in Delhi, before the month of May-2014 by prioritising the activities that will show an impact on the daily life of the citizens of Delhi. Then, there will be a chance.
Remodelled Socialism
Here is a suggestion about how execution of tasks must be conducted and what political paradigm goes with it. In my second book, “A wonderful world – Dreams and Reality (2014-325 pages),” the concept of remodelled socialism has been defined and elaborated. This is a prudent concept that lies somewhere between socialism and crony-capitalism.
Remodelled socialism is a proposal that allows the present day crony-capitalism to co-exist officially with democracy. It is a clever technique of preventing crony-capitalism to flourish into comprehensive capitalism or letting it consume democracy. It acknowledges the fact that no form of governance can be sustained without the active and willing participation of the capitalists.
Remodelled Socialism entails reorientation of power circles of cronies, i.e. the nexus between politicians and capitalists, by incorporating a third collaborator, the citizens in that framework. At different levels of decision-making and work execution, capable and transparent citizens join in as partners, facilitators and counsellors but not as spies, auditors or whistle blowers. The golden rule that we lay down here is that no violence should take place.
Remodelled Socialism is a revamped version of socialism, which is devoid of the ills that plagued socialism in the past. It is a mechanism, which restores the eroded communication between the people and their leaders. And it provides additional people resources for governance. But its implementation is not as easy as can be written in words. In the ideal format, an aura should be created so that the appointed executives and enshrined leaders are motivated to call in the citizen expertise and experience for the government establishments, rather than the public making this demand through demonstrations, agitations or hostile representations.
Good Luck
It is no wonder that, bewitched by the Arvind Kejriwal success, other parties have started bringing down the impregnable wall between themselves and the people; a wall that they painstakingly built over the years. But there is a difference between what is done from the heart and what is motivated by fabricated flaunting. For example, the Citizen Durbars (gatherings) started by the others are dominated by one-way speeches, instead of the free flowing dialogue. It appears that the comparatively smaller audience is carefully picked to ensure that awkward questions are not asked; only planted questions are allowed, and the justification for the scanty attendances is security. The z-category security ensures the leader does not come in contact with the people, which is the original aim of such initiatives. When the leaders visit the poor at night, the camera is not on the people but on the leader. Arvind Kejriwal’s words amply explain this difference. ”Hamari Niyat Theek hai, ” our intentions are noble and theirs are not. Undoubtedly, AK is on a mission, ‘catch me if you can’.
We have to wait and watch how AK converts his present strategy of participatory democracy with the tinge of communism, towards remodelled socialism. Will the capitalists of the country or the world, permit him realisation of this dream? AK will be well advised to shift the gears from direct participation of Aam Admi to formalised participation of honest and diligent experts in governance. The middle class of the urban areas will follow you if you demonstrate quality governance. The rural areas will flock behind you if show allegiance to their cause as an Aam Aadmi.
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