(07 Jan 2013)
These are exciting times for the
country as it gears up to elect lawmakers who will script the story of India
over the next five years. If what has been transpiring in the political circles
off late is anything to go by, the Lok Sabha elections promise to be one hell
of a cliffhanger.
The recently held Assembly
elections in few states have been dubbed by many as the semifinals before the
big match. While the anti-Congress wave clearly has been felt sweeping across
these states, and while the BJP hasn’t spared any opportunity to attribute
their triumph to the Narendra Modi factor, it is also true that a new kid named
AAP has been born. This wonder kid is now aspiring to go national.
AAP has overwhelmingly
surprised their own calculation, and they have reluctantly or otherwise been
given the power to rule the state of Delhi. While they’re constantly being
criticized for a clear lack of executable strategies and plans, many feel
despite the absence of their national level vision, they could manage to dent a
hole in the traditional BJP urban pockets and make their presence – however insignificant
it is – felt. With political pundits almost writing Congress off and with BJP
riding high on Modi-wings, one would have expected a relatively smoother run
for the saffron party, but for the emergence of Kejriwal’s AAP. The problem
with the magic number is that we live in times of coalition politics. And even
as less as 25 seats for the AAP may stir up the coalition arithmetic. They’ll
however be faced with a mammoth ideological dilemma, not knowing what to do
with the seats they’ll win. They’ve openly and rather brazenly many times
declared every political party but themselves as corrupt. Clearly, a possible ‘third
front’ shouldn’t be an option they’d like to be seen as contemplating. After all,
such a front may comprise the likes of Jayalalitha and Mulayam – people AAP
will struggle to team up with.
In a recent TV debate, senior
Congress leader Manishankar Iyer repeatedly said his party was only concerned
about ensuring Modi didn’t come to power at the Centre and he hoped that AAP
would play a pivotal role in that. That’s widely seen as a proof of the grand
old party’s helpless state of affairs. They know they’re all but over as far as
their political fortunes this year are concerned.
My prediction is that in the
coming weeks, we’ll see an intense level of media and political scrutiny of
every move AAP makes. Political parties can’t openly question its motives out
of a fear of becoming unpopular with the voters, which is all the more why its
methods are going to be acid tested every day. As for Kejriwal’s government in
Delhi, this is perhaps the only time they have to prove that in addition to
distributing freebies, they do have implementation blueprints vis-à-vis governance
and policies.
Nevertheless, we’ll be glued
to the political arena as we follow the race to the Parliament!
Not bad.
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