I have grown up, and growing up, surrounded by a lot of talk
about how frightening or aloof the political stage is and also how the whole
stage desperately needs a complete revamp, which always seemed as likely as a snowfall
in Chennai. But of late, the chain of events on that stage has been
pleasantly surprising.
The rise of the party which portrayed itself as a “Common-Man
Party” assuaged our common belief in the need of alternate politics. But the
question that plagues my mind is that, has it risen high enough for it to
really provide that alternate politics? Are those 28 seats going to be enough?
Well, Yes and No.
Yes, because, they have given themselves a shot at forming government.
No, because, that has served as the call out notice for ALL INDIA CYNICS (AIC)
association to come out in full force.
And this association is exactly what bothers me today. That
association is an unregistered, ever growing, highly contagious entity that
always looks out for the plate of change but is highly cynical of anything that
is served at them.
And let me elaborate. They today, are questioning two
things.
1. Is AAP really that ray of hope that actually sets
about a change in the administration?
2. If kejriwal, at the start of his political
career, cannot stand on his word, how liable is it to trust him? Is it not
greed that took him from “We will not shake hands with congress” to “Forming
government with congress”?
The answer to the first one is really simple: Time. Time is
bound to give answer for that.
And it is the refusal to accept any obvious answer to that
second question that has me labeling that group as AIC. The gap between
Kejriwal’s first statement to the second statement is not just a full stop on Microsoft
word. It has got a space in between which needs to be filled with details. He
might have been forced to curb his ego and move ahead with his foot in his
mouth.
Before we question Kejriwal’s change of
stand, we should look at the alternatives that AAP had. Here
are the different scenarios/options which were staring at for AAP, as far as I
was concerned.
Scenario 1:
AAP does not take support of either BJP or Congress. It
therefore has eye on the elections which will take place only after 6 months.
That is around the Lok Sabha elections. Now four cases are possible:
Case1: After 6 months, BJP walks away with the majority,
because the nation will most likely be in a MODIFIED mood by then. AAP knows
this. Tables could turn anyway. BJP has already got 32 seats now, it could win
those seats again and a few more congress seats and easily get the majority by
then. This is the most likely case, and the most dangerous one for AAP.
Case2: After 6 months, AAP gets the majority which means,
it has to win few of BJP seats or congress seats, which wouldn’t be a good bet
on any given day. This is not likely to happen owing to the strong blind support
that Congress and BJP usually has got in its ‘territories’.
Case3: After 6 months, Congress gets the majority. This is
the LOL case and near impossible one. Better to rule this one out.
Case4: Another hung elections with no one getting the
majority. This has got as much chance as case 1.
So in this whole scenario, Case 1 and case 4 seem to be the most likely
ones, making this scenario a very risky bet for AAP.
Scenario 2:
To avoid scenario 1, the first option is to form government.
Now who do they form with?
Case1: With BJP. But then, it would be a suicide mission, because, BJP has
32 seats, 4 seats more than AAP, it would be like AAP extending support to BJP.
And AAP’s hands would be tied away further in this case.
Case2: With congress. It would mean, accepting support from
the very party that they were against all along, but that would be a
premeditated stand in which they opposed a party for just who they were. AAP
could look at a more rational approach here, because they have the advantage of
numbers here as the congress has only 8 miserable seats. If there comes a
tomorrow after forming government, when AAP introduces a people friendly bill,
and congress MLA’s reject it, they have the opportunity to expose the congress
for all. And if congress does support, well, it would then be termed as ‘congress
in AAP’s hand’. But if congress does pull out its support, and government
crumbles, AAP would be victorious and can contest the elections with that much
more confidence of a victory.
Scenario 3:
Sit in the opposition, which AAP was certainly ready to do but that would
have meant congress and BJP forming the government, which could not have
happened. So that took them back to scenario 1.
All these scenarios, if not anything, should teach us one thing, and that
is that a leader is not he who is stubborn, or he who doesn't curb his ego and
moves ahead blindly because of a word given at different point of time.
A leader is he who takes decisions in line to the existing
situation, taking into account all the pros and cons and in that process, who
has let himself be projected as a fool/traitor/cheater/what-ever-you-call. He
has shown that his word is not bigger than his parties. If he has chosen to set
aside his own promises, his personal interests and taken a stand for the public,
the common man, he deserves, if not anything, at least time to prove his worth.
At the end of that time, it might be Kejriwal, me or the
association of cynics who are going to end up with a foot in mouth.
Hence, I am reminded of a famous line from one of
Will smith’s mediocre movies, “Fear is not real. It is a fragment of our
imagination. But Danger, Danger is real”
And it so fits here.
Danger is another election. And that is real.
Fear here is the association of Congress and AAP. And that is a fragment of our
imagination.
They actually happen to be the only by product, of the world
wide paranoiac phenomena called religion, that I actually approve of. I feel
like it is one of those moments when religion rubs it in an atheist’s face
showing off the rare piece of cool stuff that it has up its sleeve. And well,
yes, if you think about it, it is really cool. Christmas propagates the idea of joy of giving. The greatest joy is not in buying for ourselves but for
presenting and receiving from others. Be it on the pretext of love, while deep
down its tradition, we give.
