AAP Bhi Aadmi Ho

Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as the 7^th Chief Minister of Delhi about 15 days ago. It was a big day in the politics and democracy of India. I wasn’t really happy about the Aam Aadmi Party taking Congress support to form the government in Delhi. The day when the news broke that AAP will form the government in Delhi  with Congress aid, I made a sad facebook post. Here’s the pic:

Yeah, call me a sadist, and heres a comment by one of my high school teachers

And another friend of mine said:

Ofcouse I only had this to say:

And then the status died away.. and 5 days later Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as the CM and he made quite a decent speech that day. 

I made a status:

I realized that I was missing something and this congress alliance may not prove that damaging and AAP would still be able to play a dominating role and provide the people of Delhi some good governance.

The days that followed saw a lot of changes and decisions like the transfer of DJB higher management, 700 liters of free water per day and maybe a few more that I don’t remember. But all the while and media, other political parties and sympathizers and supporters of the NaMo Movement started posting pictures, excerpts and quotes of how Kejriwal and the AAP were switching sides, changing tunes etc etc.. the 3 biggest things that the people have found hardest to forget and forgive are:

1.       Kejriwal won’t fight an election – He contested and became CM

2.       Kejriwal won’t take VIP security or government facilities (car, house etc) – Well he did that

And the worst

3.       Kejriwal swore on his children that there would be no support taken from BJP or Congress – Well, we all know what happened.

Now, ofcourse I’m writing this post to well somewhat justify his statements, now these three have not risen from different sources. The one reason is, he’s green, that’s it.

Being a.. well talkative person I know that sometimes you go overboard, get carried away and say something of paramount proportion when you don’t know the complete picture. Haven’t we all seen people who are ‘confidently wrong’? That’s what happened here, it’s practically impossible to have a CM walking the streets without security. I’m not talking about the CM, the people would swarm the place and hurt one another.. its so with any celebrity and he or any celebrity has no control over it.. so this was an innocent ‘confidently wrong’ statement. How can he say something and we take his word for something that isn’t in his control?

Speaking of the swearing on children part, the same goes here, he was ‘confidently wrong’ because of his innocence, as I said, he’s still a little green, now what do we do of an innocent first timer? Do we show some consideration or we scrutinize and criticize his every move? Expect him to be perfect from day 1? That’s just too much expectation from us, the media and other politicians. Given time, maybe he’ll learn his limitations and learn that every word is counted.

To be a little neutral here, I really am concerned about the ‘370 pages of evidence against Shiela Dixit’ statement. Ofcouse, thinking realistically, there’s no such thing as ‘unconditional’ support. Lets leave it as that.

Finally, why did he enter politics, contest and become CM? well, We must think of why AAP was formed in the first place, there was no option left, right? No Lok Pal Bill would be passed with all the Anshans and people were simple getting bored and eventually fizz out. 

This was a right decision, but sadly, we have a perception that nothing can be changed or that people who get down in the pit to clean also end up smelling like shit.. or people have no hopes of ever having a clean political system. Maybe.. but the one line I remember from The Shawshank Redumption is “No one can ever take away hope” So I’m gonna hope, hope that change is possible, change will happen and I will do my part. (by making blogs and fb posts? Sure why not)

Aasaan Over Assam

The disgrace of Indian Politics shines from the State of Assam this July. More than 40 lives were lost before I came to realize the seriousness of the situation. Thousands devoid of homes, roofs and a village are now being held at refugee camps. Some of the oldest inhabitants of India are now living on bread crumbs and wet canvas over head. 

Just after the Rain Gods showered fury on the people of Assam, the fury of men belittles that of the god’s. The ethnic riots that broke out in the first half of July took me down by surprise. The riot was not the surprise, it was the complete lack of coverage or attention it received from the country that made me raise my brows and then bring down my fist. 

The apathy of the people, the inability of the state government, lack of concern of the central government and the shocking uninterest of the media makes my bones itch. 

The Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi, is all too very well known in Assam for his vote bank politics. The illegal immigrants from Bangladesh receive a fresh start from Indian soil. Food, shelter, clothing and everything a native would receive is on the menu; for free. The game is simple; the Congress party wants to prove its sovereignty by extending its hand to the Bengali speaking Muslims.  

Out of the 4 states that border with Bangladesh, Assam has the highest number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. It’s also a fact that Tripura has more incidents of immigrant initiated crimes than Assam; and that the Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants caught in Meghalaya are sometimes sent to Assam. Meghalaya again is ruled by the congress party. One can actually say that Assam’s tolerance to these Bengali Speaking Muslims is a trade off for the congress and congress allies to prove their sovereign intentions. 

To make proposals of a farfetched theory, the acceptance of Muslims into Assam over a hostile communist state of Tripura could have got Mamta Banerjeethe the Muslim vote banks of West Bengal. 

Leaving that apart and focusing on the riot, It haunts me to see that the country is least bothered about what’s happening in Assam. The electronic media in specific is more interested in talking about The 13^th President’s first speech, Anna Hazare’s fast, Indian cricket team and god knows which product Samsung is going to release next. 

The Center Had not bothered to dispatch security forces to the riot affected areas till it was inevitable to turn its head from the fish curry on Pranab’s table. Over that, there are loathful people like Sharad pawar who want to throw threats of destabilizing the government for personal gains. Caught between such unruly allies, swinging knifes of economic slowdown and a blunt Obama and Co. hell bent on driving investors away from India, the central govt hardly has the time or priority to look at Assam.

This lack of action from the governments in deploying security was the sole reason for the elevation of the aggression. The innocent Bodo’s of Assam had to seek help in form of security from the Militants. This might sound drastic, but with no help from any govt body, they had to fend for themselves. Choosing a familiar Devil over an uncertain God is not a hard choice. The consequences of this would be a growth in public sympathy for the militants, Assam, or in general the north east of India has no shortage of militant groups looking for local support. Once with the help of local public if the militants succeed in getting control of the siliguri corridor, then we can kiss the shivalik Himalayas of India a final goodbye. This news however will not be made public, because most of the print and emedia is either on immigrant sympathy mode or politician loyalty mode. Who gives as damn to the people?

My dissatisfaction with the politicians doesn’t end there. I’m also angry at the opposition, when the opposition leaders can pass comments at magazine covers and openly criticize for deaths of pilgrims, then what makes then stay mum at the situation in Assam???

The Answer – BJP doesn’t have a chance of winning an election in the north east. Except for a few distant stars of hope, the north east has been impenetrable for the BJP. Making comments and forcing the government to act won’t win any votes in the congress/communist/regional party bound states of the north east. So the BJP decides to throw small pebbles at congress and not make a real effort at getting things done.

This episode of ethnic/communal or whatever you want to call riots between indigenous Bodos and the refugees is a disgraceful situation for the whole country. The truth about the ineffectiveness of the greed based political system, the powerlessness of the common man, the crooked vote bank politics, and the euphoric media that turns at shiny objects are all evidence of the apathy for the North East of India.  

Just what the separatists need. Proof of disownment.