I explore the last frontier..............humans!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Pragmatism vs. Romanticism
There is much consternation with what is called the increasing vigilantism by the AAM Admi party in the state of Delhi. The one’s whining about it are mostly the different hued politicians from mature political parties that dot the landscape of India.
The angst is understandable considering the fact that well established practices of corruption and poor service are now being questioned by the poor badgered Delhiwallah’s. The latest has been the initiation of a hotline for complaints on corruption and apparently it has been an instant hit with the phone lines being choked by callers.
Group’s from the AAM Admi Party scour the countryside and visit hospitals and schools at random to check on the service or lack of it. This is a romantic new beginning and has caught the imagination of the common man. While the whole idea may lack pragmatism, it certainly is romantic and who can win, at least in the short term in the face of romance.
The people of Delhi and their Government are still honeymooning and during the honeymoon all faults are swept under the carpet, even poorly articulated ideas like that of Prashanth Bhushan who seems to think that a referendum needs to take place, in Kashmir on whether the Indian Army needs to stay or go. Now with all due respect, this might best be left to the honchos in the relevant ministry’s to decide.
This particular snafu takes me back to my days in the middle-east. Invariably I would hop on to a cab, driven by a gent from Pakistan, whose interest would rise the moment he realized I was from ‘Hindustan’. I would gingerly say that I hailed from the state of Karnataka and the connection to ‘Tipu Sultan – the Tiger of Mysore’ would be instantaneous. It goes to probably, show that our neighbour’s know their history well. The next topic of discussion would be Kashmir and the hackles would rise, with both of us taking extreme positions.
As corruption is, Kashmir is just as emotive an issue with the AAM Admi and political parties mature or otherwise would be well advised to remember that.
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5 comments:
Well articutated thoughts! And the title is intersting and catchy too.
You have hit the nail on the head when you said that the AAP in the State of Delhi is in its honeymoon period.
The present scenario in Delhi reminds me of West Bengal not too long ago. When the opposition overturned the ruling party (of more than 3 decades). There was a sense of "Change" (Poriborton) in the air. People were ecstatic and overlooked the initial follies. One mistake lead to another another and now we have total Anarchy in the state of West Bengal. We now witness what a monster the harbinger of "change" has become.
This must not be repeated in the Capital, constant scrutiny and checks must be enforced to ensure that AAP remains just that. This is in the interest of AAP and all it s believers. This is probably the common man's last shot at changing the system from inside.
You are right, seems to be the last throw of the dice for the common man. Kejriwal, despite his seeming innocence is pragmatic and will hopefully course correct!
At the moment of going to pres Kejriwal is acting a bit like Simon de Montfort, who brought England to a near Republican state following the battle of Lewes. With power going to his head he seemed more vainglorious than the messianic reformer. With the impotent Henry 3 firmly under lock and key, the crowns future was secured by his son, Prince Edward- Who outwitted his captors and made a dashing horseback getaway. The rest as they say was history. Edward led his following to Evesham- and slaughtered de Montforts outnumbered forces- called the murder of Evesham.But de montfort was a man who took his preaching seriously. He believed it was vital that not just for the king to be answerable to the barons- ensured by the Parliament of oxford, but more to our interest- The barons should be answerable to their "inferiors". Amazingly- opr rather not so surprisingly Kejriwal has shown none of this steadfastness- especially when he continued to back a lout who masqueraded as the peoples representative at Khirki- and caused some tense moments in Indo- African diplomacy. This coupled with his statements backing Khap Panchayat's- known for their own brand of justice are enough to make a decision. While Kumar Vishwas's musings about dark skinned Malayali women(and that's a myth too) may at best be treated as the rambling of a jester, the other incidents are more worrying. I just hope that in the battle between development and anarchy, the people of India know which is better for them.
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