An ex-AAP supporter explains why she'll still vote for Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi MCD elections
I did not like the way Arvind Kejriwal responded last week to a journalist when asked why his party lost the Punjab and Goa elections. It was annoying to hear that he repeatedly pinned the entire blame on EVMs for his party’s loss.
This lack of reflection and inability to articulate a balanced perspective on a number of issues that the party has taken up over the last two years leaves me disappointed. At times it displays his sheer arrogance.
Kejriwal does sound undignified and out of sync when he calls the Election Commission of India (ECI) names. But at the same time, it is dangerous if indeed the top bosses of the ruling party at the Centre have figured out a way to tamper the EVMs, with or without the complicity of the ranks within the ECI.
Smart propaganda machinery aided by a largely uncritical media is successful in making me believe that my own experience of the government - which might be contrary to the dominant narrative - is just an aberration. The combination of the two - tampered machines and manipulated perception - is a risky cocktail for democracy.
Let me illustrate this further. When I see toilets in trains as dirty as they used to be three years ago, I see it as a solitary instance because I have been made to believe that the rest of India has become clean due to the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, which is funded by me.
When the duty in-charge at the police station still applies all his soft skills (disguised as threats) to dissuade a young girl from lodging an FIR against her father for molestation, I still consider this as an aberration because I have been made to believe that public servants all over the country are now fully accountable to citizens and my experience is an exception.
If we look around us, there could be countless such examples where things are just as they were earlier but we are made to believe that “Achhe Din” have already arrived or are just round the corner.
Against this background, if the election process can also be manipulated then what hope does a common citizen like me have, who once showed the door to one of the most popular and accomplished leaders of her time, Indira Gandhi, for stifling democracy.
To that extent, questioning the EVMs and demanding the ECI to come clean about it is fine.
Similarly, very often I get the sense that the culture of dialogue with dissenting voices and political adversaries is missing in AAP’s approach. Against the vindictiveness of the BJP’s top leadership, whose pride was seriously hurt when despite a Modi wave, the AAP got 67 out of 70 seats in Delhi, I see the pitch of the response by AAP very noisy, with lots of sound and little substance. But my sensitivity takes a different turn when I attempt to see beyond the cacophony.
Over the last 20 years, no major party has omitted from highlighting development as their agenda of politics. But the point of departure is - whose development and at what cost? During 1999-2004, the ruling NDA thought that they had undertaken enough development for all sections of society to claim that “India is shining”.
However, voters like me did not concur with their claim. Thereafter, during 2004-14, the Congress under the umbrella of UPA delivered its version of development with corruption. The cost paid by the citizens was so high that they accepted a “Leviathan” as an alternate.
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| I have seen the newly constructed government schools in Delhi and can understand how a government building constructed for public use looks like if the contractor was not required to pay 5-10 per cent commission to political masters. Photo: Facebook |
So when Congress’ posters now across the city proclaim that “anubhav hai hamarey paas (we have experience)”, we know what they are talking about and what its consequences would be.
From 2014 onwards, we have another model of development being pursued in this country, backed by a successful pilot in Gujarat and buoyed further by the BJP’s recent massive victory in Uttar Pradesh.
It is development with soft totalitarianism. We as citizen will get services from the government without corruption, but its cost to us is that the ruling party will determine what we eat, how we live and we should not mind if vigilante groups barge into our bedroom to see who we are sleeping with.
Both Congress and BJP’s development model have an evident cost attached to them. So far AAP’s outreach and experience is much smaller than theirs and therefore I am not sure about their cost of development yet.
Therefore, I will go with some examples to see if there is a possibility to have a model of development apart from these two.
I have seen the newly constructed government school buildings in Delhi and can understand how a government building constructed for public use looks like if the contractor was not required to pay 5-10 per cent commission to political masters.
I have seen the pleasant surprise in the eyes of a housemaid whose child got admission in one of the best private schools of her area under economically weaker section (EWS) quota, without paying anybody or even visiting the school where she would have been denied the application form itself.
I have seen the gratitude in the eyes of the poor parents being treated with dignity in government schools by teachers and realising that the school is responding to the learning needs of the child instead of just being an outpost to disburse freebies.
I have seen the determination with which communities empowered through school management committees of government schools are keeping school administrations accountable. I have seen the change in the perception of teachers from being merely government employees to being educators. I have seen that private schools did refund the unreasonable fee they charged from the parents and can no more raise it arbitrarily.
On another front, we are being told that the promise of removal of house tax by AAP is not feasible. I had my apprehensions when they promised to reduce electricity bills if they formed the government in Delhi. But we have seen that it was not only accomplished, but the bills also did not rise over the last two years.
Further, the electricity distribution companies are also not reeling under loss or seeking to revoke their contract. The same goes for water in areas which were not provided piped water supply earlier.
On these bases, I have reasons to believe that if commission and kickbacks are taken out of the equation then it is possible for the governments to deliver public goods at much lower cost. And while doing that, the party or the government need not have absolute control over my life.
Lastly, I would not want the soft totalitarianism to become complete totalitarianism no matter what is promised in return, therefore for my own sake I will vote for AAP in the forthcoming municipal elections.
And I demand from the leadership of AAP to strengthen and articulate the third approach of development. You cannot let me down.