Encounter with an AAP Fanatic

Recently I met a supporter of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is a political party contesting assembly election in Delhi. To call him merely a supporter would be a grave understatement, so I shall call him a “Fanatic Supporter”. He started talking about AAP’s success in getting funds and his success in convincing some young educated ladies about the need to support AAP over any other political party. I decided to test his mantle and here is what transpired:
 

Fanatic Supporter (FS) talks about Arvind Kejriwal and his party Aam Aadmi Party and prospects in Delhi
 

Rahul: Is it that Kejriwal ji is fighting as CM candidate in Delhi? Don’t you think that it makes AAP merely a “regional party”, or “one of the regional parties” to be precise?
 

FS: Yes, but we had to start from somewhere. So choosing a state was important.
 

Rahul: But all your policies were national in nature. Take any policy which AAP tried to champion. Take Jan Lokpal for example. Will Kejriwal or AAP get to pass it even if he becomes CM of Delhi assembly?
 

FS: No. But what was alternative?
 

Rahul: The expected thing was that Kejriwal could remain in national politics and ask someone else to lead in Delhi. But it seems Kejriwal either does not trust anyone else, or else he is insecure and is betting whatever he has on Delhi elections! Further, why in Delhi?
 

FS: It is Delhi; it could be any other state…
 

Rahul: Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal agitation had got great response only in Delhi which is political capital of India with so many universities and their students oriented in politics! They failed disastrously in Mumbai; remember? So Delhi is an “easy way out”! It is fine to choose whatever place you have best chances in, but what of national issues?
 

FS: AAP and Kejriwal will keep fighting for national issues.
 

Rahul: How can you fight for national issues while being in state assembly? If you have to raise voice about Jan Lokpal, or for inclusion of political parties under RTI, you have to be in the Parliament and not in assembly! What disappoints me is the fact that during this whole time AAP and Kejriwal have been raising all issues of national importance, but when it came to fight elections, they have gone to a state! It strengthens the accusation of personal ambitions on him…
 

FS: (becomes infuriated) How can I talk to you, you are not talking sense. You don’t know anything, blah blah…
 

Rahul: Let us take any other issue of your interest. Let us take demand of bringing political parties under RTI ambit. I know AAP’s stand on that; tell me why should political parties be brought under TRI?
 

FS: Tell me why should not those be brought under RTI?
 

Rahul: Because intent of RTI is to bring transparency and accountability in govt. departments and govt organizations. Political parties are not govt organizations and hence they can’t be brought under RTI.
 

If you appear for an interview of Wipro or Infosys and are not selected. Can you file RTI to get info on why you were not selected? RTI is not the one and only method to bring transparency in this whole world. If political parties will be included under RTI what do you think will happen? Con Party wallahs will keep filing RTI against BJP wallahs, BJP wallahs will keep filing RTI against Con Party wallahs and this whole nation will be a mess!
 

FS: But they take money and do not disclose the source!
 

Rahul: So you are talking about need to bring transparency in elections funding. If existing laws are not sufficient, we can make new laws to ensure that. But it has nothing to force us to go the RTI route only.
 

FS: But AAP is always transparent… It discloses names of all donators.
 

Rahul: AAP has also hired many agencies to raise funds and said it does not know from which agency money is coming. Let us not pretend that AAP is so transparent.
 

FS: (infuriated and agitated; as if he will start a street fight) No. AAP has not hired any agency; you are not telling truth. Blah blah.
 

Rahul: I will send you link to the news article.
 

http://www.dnaindia.com/pune/report-aap-can-t-verify-ids-of-online-fund-campaign-1851732
 

The fanatic supporter started to retreat and get away from me.
 

Next week I sent him this news article. FS never responded back. From next meeting he started avoiding talking to me. So it seems an average fanatic AAP supporter won’t be a perfect fit in this imperfect world!

Where will Political Movements Take us?

Our GDP growth rate was splendid 9.3% just 2 years back in 2010-11. Last quarter, it was paltry 4.4%! What a downfall! Though there are many factors responsible for it, a big one is that we witnessed Policy Paralysis by our Govt. If we mind the dates, one big event happened in 2011 - Jan Lokpal Bill. Researchers can comment on its full impact, but I think one was that it contributed to Policy Paralysis of our govt which was pushed on the defensive. So far we have known that "elections" are the time when we do performance appraisal of our govt. But this idea of pulling people out of offices and colleges to protest on the streets and collect donations for a new party's coffers; I don't know what else it achieved but it did harm our economy. So we came down from 9.3% to 4.4% and our nation instead of being identified with the one supplying top brains of Silicon Valley, has gotten used to being called an ailing, chaotic Democracy, once again!

For example, 2G Scam actually happened around year 2008; despite that we continued great growth recovery till 2011 when we achieved 9.3% and thereafter we fell backwards... Coal allocation Scam is also old one – between 2004 – 2009. Still we keep growing... So my view is that scams don’t really harm economy as much as political climate does.

Which politician of our time is the best orator?

Which politician of our time is the best orator? 

From my limited listening on TV, I would rate Arun Shourie as #1. He is really intelligent speaker and very sharp. 

At #2 I find Meenakashi Lekhi these days; she is bundle of power. 

I have also appreciated Smriti Irani a lot for her ability of bulldozing her way and putting opponents in retreat mode. 

Narendra Modi is very fine speaker too and I find a lot of his styles matching the great orator Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

There is also Manish Tewari who is too tough opponent for anyone, though he thrusts his jurisprudence everywhere. 

I am also a big fan of Ravishankar Prasad. 

I used to believe that Nitish Kumar would be good, but so far I have found him crafty (his eyes and facial expressions show slyness) and he secretly shoots opponents without taking names as if it is some virtuous act. 

From the rest, many sound anything from being arrogant, irritatingly monotonous, messy, hideous, racist to even absolute savages. There is very little chance of enjoying presence of politicians in TV debates except for a few of them who are informative, sensible and eloquent.

Gandhi Nehru Patel

In this picture: 

Gandhiji is showing some paper to Nehruji and Sardar Patel. Since he is reading, he is wearing his glasses. But Nehruji has put his glasses on the ground, though he has a pencil in his hand. Seems he is interested in the talk and not in the paper :) 

It is said that Gandhiji personally favored Nehru though Patel was more capable. In this picture, see how Gandhiji has tilted the paper (even himself) towards Nehru; thereby Patel has to bend and try too hard to read it! (Patel appears more interested in the paper than Gandhiji’s talk; unlike Nehru). It is not nice to see Patel struggling like this despite his age. 

There is another man on the left side, but he is too distantly ignored and power is concentrated in these three (it became evident when 12 out of 15 Congress committee members nominated Patel but Gandhiji made Nehru first PM of India). Also notice a wall painting where Gandhiji is shown as breaking the chains of “gulami”! While Krantikaris used to paint pictures of “Bharat Mata” on the wall; this was the beginning of ‘hero-worship’ which is being done till date. (my personal opinion)

Name them

If you have to name one of these great leaders as (1) Prince Charming and another as (2) The Senior Leader and someone as (3) An Apprentice; who will you name? :) 

Judging just by looks and appearance and no offense to anyone. My votes are: 

(1) Subhas Chandra Bose, (2) Sardar Patel and (3) Nehruji. 

Let me know your votes too!