“Shakti ka santulan chahiye
sansar mein. Aag ke liye paani ka dar hona chahiye”
-
From the movie Maqbool
That goes so true for Indian
politics. And last 12 months provide a stark proof of the importance of balance
of power in the Indian politics. It all started with Kejriwal challenging the
power lying in the hands of a few corrupt politicians and capitalists. He shifted
the balance of power towards common people by making the whole system
answerable and accountable to public. Before that neither the people nor the
media dared to ask one month, six months or one year report card from the
government. Post that BJP came into power dethroning Manmohan regime. And as
the power got shifted to different hands, Robert Vadra’s land deals were cancelled,
Sunanda’s murder files were reopened, minority appeasement was put to an end
and the economic development agenda was back on track by killing the subsidies,
increasing railway fares and making it easier to do business. Country was lagging
behind in terms of economic development and a balancing act was required to put
the development agenda back on track by ending the policy paralysis.
But unfortunately it proved not
to be a ''balance of power but a ‘shift of power’ and that’s why all the
economic reforms came along with the power getting concentrated again in just ‘two’
hands, rise of right wing fanaticism and corruption money just shifting hands. Acts
like the recent land ordinance will definitely take a toll on environmental
safety and social thread & thus it’s necessary that this blind economic
development agenda is introduced in short bursts of 5-7 years and not 10-15
years. Today all the BJP-led state governments and central government is run by
PMO and there is no one to question internally. Major opposition party Congress
has been decimated and there is no one to question the government externally
also.
Shift of power in just a couple
of hands can never produce optimum results. It can just produce results that
lead to imbalance in the long run - economic development with an adverse impact
on environment & agriculture; end of appeasement politics with the rise of
right wing fanaticism; a check on terrorism with fake encounter killings;
booking Robert Vadra for corruption but dropping case against Amit Shah. The only hope of somewhat balancing the power
in the near horizon is an AAP victory in Delhi. While the whole country is running
behind wealth and economic development at any expense (which is necessary after
so many years of poverty); there has to be someone who can raise a ‘populist
voice’ against crony capitalism, communalism and corruption. I supported AAP in
the previous Delhi Assembly elections for its agenda against corruption &
power politics. Then I supported BJP for LS for ending the policy paralysis of
Congress. But now I again support AAP not only for its agenda but to maintain
that elusive ‘Shakti ka santulan’- Modi ke liye Kejriwal ka dar hona chahiye.
