Monday, 23 May 2016
Thursday, 14 May 2015
Saturday, 25 April 2015
Saturday, 14 February 2015
Thursday, 5 February 2015
It is time for real change in Delhi—vote for AAP!
A memorable election campaign has drawn to a close and now it us up to the voters of Delhi to make their decision. The no-holds-barred clash between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has held the attention of the entire nation in recent days. As AAP, led by an untiring and unshakeable Arvind Kejriwal, accomplished an almost inconceivable turnaround in the polls, a surprised BJP tried to throw every possible obstacle in its path from the surprise announcement of Kiran Bedi as its chief ministerial-candidate to employing negative campaign tactics at the fag end of the campaign that even shocked many of its own ardent supporters.
The BJP seemed so intent on stopping AAP and Kejriwal that it chose a CM-candidate solely on her potential ability to neutralise Kejriwal’s appeal but in the process engendered fractious infighting within its Delhi unit. Also, BJP seemed so caught up in a negative diatribe targeting AAP that it could not find the time or inclination to decide on a proper manifesto, instead producing a wishy-washy vision statement that only made headlines for idiotically referring to Delhi’s residents from the Northeast as ‘immigrants’. A Freudian slip, perhaps?
All is fair in politics, and BJP is free to choose whichever campaign strategy it sees fit, but the spectacle of a galaxy of union cabinet ministers supplanting BJP’s state leaders last week and launching into a daily litany of angry press conferences against AAP will leave a taint not easily removable after the election is over. The Prime Minister’s four rallies were a steady descent into mud-slinging and name-calling that was unbecoming and unworthy of his office. The speeches just added to a growing sense that the PM is getting more and more out of touch in his South Block bubble. Jibes about the 10-lakh pinstriped suit he is said to have worn during the Obama trip are here to stay and getting embedded into his public persona.
Alongside the influx of BJP central leaders was the rapid diminishment of Kiran Bedi. By the end of this campaign she has been reduced to a forlorn and tragic figure, who melted under the microscopic scrutiny of the campaign trail. Her attempt to tame a rowdy crowd at the Modi rally in Dwarka and then refusal to continue her speech till they quietened down was truly bizarre and showcased her incomprehension of the new world she had chosen to enter with such hype. Her trials and tribulations proving once again that politics is not a spectator sport for amateur enthusiasts. There are no shortcuts to political proficiency.
I have no idea who will win on February 10 and I don’t trust opinion polls, which are too easily manipulated by media moguls and their political overlords. But in my opinion, partisan though it is, on the ground in Delhi the AAP campaign has dominated this race by starting first, turning back the initial antipathy, then building a feel-good factor, and finally delivering multiple overflowing jansabhas every single day with a laser focus on local issues that affect the daily lives of common people. The BJP campaign did not even get going till the last two weeks of the campaign. Amit Shah’s emphasis on booth and panna pramukhs is all well and good, but they were the last step in his multi-step master plan during the Lok Sabha elections that included a formidable candidate leading the charge and an easy target in the form of a Congress Party weakened by a blizzard of anti-incumbency. The much vaunted organisational prowess of the RSS is also largely restricted to preaching to the converted and increasing turnout among the faithful. Here too they will find that AAP volunteers have covered the same ground before them and repeatedly so. By now Amit Shah must be nostalgic for the Congress as an electoral adversary. You definitely don’t hear him repeat his favourite campaign line about a Congress-mukt Bharat nowadays. He is caught in an electoral battle where his party’s natural advantages have been undone by the unique political typography of Delhi and an adversary who is perfectly adapted to local conditions. Simply put, Amit Shah has insisted on trying to fight a tank battle in an urban warfare setting. The result has been ugly and the BJP’s scorched-earth campaign strategy will have implications for the Modi Government, irrespective of the electoral outcome.
To conclude, AAP has a leader who has proven his mettle, flanked by a solid and competent team, and they have a comprehensive agenda for Delhi’s future as can be seen in AAP’s manifesto. The BJP has a discombobulated CM-candidate, a fractious and dispirited state party which was shunted aside by central leaders during the campaign, and no governance plan other than more ill-defined promises in the form of a PR blitz costing unquantifiable crores. BJP is desperate to win this election so that the PM does not lose face this soon after the general election, local issues come a distant second on their list of priorities. The people of this great city deserve better. It is time for real change in Delhi—vote for AAP and let’s step into a better future together.
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Five questions from an Aam Aadmi to our pinstriped Pradhan Mantri
Today the BJP continued its daily chore of flinging five questions at the Aam Aadmi Party for the fourth day in a row even if the Prime Minister’s weekend rallies rendered the entire exercise superfluous. The sight of BJP central leaders taking turns in the inquisitor’s seat makes one wonder if this is a mere state election or in fact a national election. The questions have ranged from the stale to the bizarre like Nirmala Sitharaman’s attempt to insinuate that NRI supporters of AAP in the Gulf countries were somehow anti-national elements was beneath contempt and ultimately a wasted opportunity as it was too ludicrous to take seriously or necessitate a reply. You see, the problem is that if the BJP knew what they were doing all they should need is five questions in total, not wasting a press conference a day on inanities.
Thus I thought I’d take as shot at showing the BJP how it is really supposed to be done by posting five questions of my own for them to answer. But then I was left in a quandary as to which entity I should address the questions. The BJP’s CM candidate only speaks when permitted by her minders, the Delhi state BJP leaders have been sidelined by the national leadership from election management duties and are mere spectators at this point. Arun Jaitley has commandeered the office of the state president at Delhi BJP headquarters but he too is taking his marching orders from the BJP’s very own prince of darkness, Amit Shah. However, in truth Amit Shah is nothing but the creation and stooge of our great Prime Minister. So when it comes down to it the BJP’s campaign in Delhi began with Narendra Modi as its mascot and after a misjudged detour or three has ended exactly in the same place. The buck always stops at the top and particularly so in the current iteration of the BJP.
So, Mr Prime Minister, the colossus bestride our polity, lover of fine fashion and selfies, sirjee, forgive my natural-born impudence, but here are my five questions for you, which naturally I don’t expect you to ever answer but it is imperative that I ask them all the same. I shall try to keep them brief. Here they are:
1) To start with basic issues first, sirjee, before the 2013 assembly elections your party promised the Delhi electorate that their electricity bills would be reduced by 30% if BJP ever entered office, but after eight months of direct rule in Delhi by your government far from any reduction in rates they have in fact gone up with Discoms doing as they merry please. This has not stopped you from making another hollow promise of a 50% cut in this election. The aam aadmi wants to know why, Modiji?
2) Another manifesto commitment of your party from 2013 is a solemn pledge to grant full statehood to Delhi. Now, though, we hear that your party has decided to do without a manifesto altogether because you do not wish to reveal your repudiation of early commitment to state hood now that you are comfortably in the saddle at the Centre. The aam aadmi would like an explanation for this betrayal, Modiji.
3) Forgive me a touch of parochialism, sirjee, but I am Punjabi and I remember well your assurance during the general election campaign that Punjabi farmers in Kutch, who were being harassed regarding ownership of their land due to the actions of your state government. Eight months later many those farmers have been chased out of Kutch. Your word stands broken. Is this the anti-farmer philosophy at the heart of your Gujarat Model of governance that we now see applied in the Land Ordinance your government passed without consultation or consideration. Rural Delhi is up in arms at amendments made in the ordinance. Why should they trust your government’s assurance about safeguarding their interests when you did not keep your word in protecting the Punjabi farmers of Kutch in your home state?
4) Modiji, your allies in this election the Akali Dal is campaigning in full force with you shoulder to shoulder, apparently unmindful and uncaring of the events in Kutch. Nevertheless, it is amusing that up till very recently members of your party were referring to the Badal family-led party as a den of drug lords who had to be vanquished at all cost for the good of Punjab. Your chief sidekick Amit Shah had even planned a massive rally in Amritsar to underline just this issue. The Badal family in turn accused the Sangh Parivar of trying to sow seeds of communal disharmony in Punjab. All that seems forgotten now at the altar of political expediency in an attempt to garner Sikh votes in Delhi. Is this not the height of hypocrisy and political opportunism, sirjee? What kind of government will you offer Delhi with this unholy alliance at its heart?
5) Personally, I did not believe President Obama’s recent visit should have been dragged into the Delhi election campaign, but clearly that ship has sailed. I found it interesting that you opined in your campaign speech on Saturday about how much prestige and glory the US President’s trip brought to India but completely forgot to take notice of his Siri Fort speech, in which for perhaps the first time in living memory a visiting dignitary of such stature admonished India’s ruling dispensation in a public forum about the importance of respecting freedom of religion and underlined the significance of Article 25 in our Constitution. Do you not think that this was a great blow to your government’s international reputation and reason for introspection for your party, sir?
In conclusion, Prime Minister, if I may offer some gratuitous fashion advice. I strongly recommend you find a new tailor who has a more sober and Make-in-India approach to men’s wear. When your extravagant clothing choices grab world headlines instead of anything you have had to say, and you don’t happen to be a supermodel, it is time for a change.
Friday, 30 January 2015
Amit Shah finally meet his match in AAP, the party of hope
The first sign that the BJP realised its gambit of naming Kiran Bedi as Chief Ministerial candidate had boomeranged was last Saturday when a bad-tempered Amit Shah chose a press conference in Patna to accuse Aaj Tak news channel of ‘yellow journalism’ and trying to do everything in its power to insure an election victory in Delhi for the Aam Aadmi Party. The cause for this nasty outburst was a snap poll broadcast by the offending channel the previous evening that showed Arvind Kejriwal still ahead of Kiran Bedi as Delhi’s preferred choice as Chief Minister. After a year of supreme electoral success it seems Amit Shah could not countenance even the faintest hint of failure. The façade of confidence that has been the hallmark of Mr Shah’s rhetoric over the last year had cracked and there is no doubt AAP’s nimble and efficient election campaign was directly responsible for it.
Well, Amit Shah’s temper must only have gotten worse in the days since, as subsequent polls have certainly been no kinder. Kiran Bedi’s candidacy, the much vaunted ‘masterstroke’, has been on a steep slide this week. Her lack of political experience, shaky interviews and a staunch refusal to debate Arvind Kejriwal have meant she has spent the week largely sequestered in her constituency of Krishna Nagar, where the BJP’s internal divisions are making her prospects for victory far from certain. When she did venture out, for instance to Timarpur for a road show, she suffered the indignity of losing her audience’s attention to marauding Modi and Ramdev look-alikes in an Audi, immediately following which her vehicle had the misfortune of running over a young man, who turned out to be the local candidate’s nephew. Not the most auspicious of beginnings. And now she has gone mute, ostensibly because of a soar throat and the need for what she terms as ‘voice rest’, but most suspect it is a damage limitation strategy ordered by Messrs Jaitley and Shah after Bedi endured a string of disastrous interviews, of which the most revealing and damning was conducted by Ravish Kumar of NDTV-India, causing a sensation on social media. Amit Shah must be rueing the influence of solid reporting from channels practising ‘yellow journalism’ as opposed to what I imagine is his preferred brand of ‘saffron journalism’.
The condition of the BJP election campaign in Delhi as of now is that they have gone to full battle stations with twenty-odd central ministers, just about every BJP Chief Minister, 120 MPs and lord knows how many party functionaries as well as party workers from thirteen states being drafted into service by Amit Shah after Kiran Bedi’s imploding candidacy left the Delhi BJP non-functional and riven with discord barely a week before the election. In an almost unprecedented step Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley, the PM’s most trusted lieutenants, have taken direct control of the campaign and the BJP’s sulking state leadership has been bypassed altogether, with a senior BJP leader (you know who) anonymously quoted in yesterday’s Economic Times as dismissing local leaders as ‘irrelevant’. Considering this is a state election it is a most remarkable remark from this senior BJP leader. If as he says the BJP state leadership is really ‘irrelevant’ then in the eventuality of a BJP victory, and after the BJP’s horde of central leaders have returned to their neglected official responsibilities, it is this ‘irrelevant’ group of state leaders who will be handed the reins of power by the Modi, Shah, Jaitley triumvirate. Delhi will have to suffer the disunity and incompetence of these politically inept zeroes for five years. It is a purgatory that surely no resident of this great city can find acceptable, not even the most hardcore Modi supporter. With BJP workers unenthused and almost invisible on the ground in Delhi, it appears Mr Amit Shah is a Field Marshal who has a top-heavy campaign organisation with many Generals at his beck and call but when it comes to BJP’s foot soldiers only phantom armies exist. Mr Shah is trying to bus in party workers from a dozen states and also relying on the Sangh Parivar to fill the gap but with a dejected state party he is fighting an uphill battle.
At present the BJP in Delhi has no manifesto, a defunct state leadership, and a Chief Ministerial candidate who in the last fortnight has shown herself not only totally unsuitable for the post she aspires to and probably even electoral politics altogether. So what exactly would a voter be voting for if he or she chose BJP in these elections? A mirage created by a team of expert travelling salesmen who will depart the scene right after the election and leave Delhi with a counterfeit government. If the Delhi unit of the BJP has splintered so badly while trying to fight an election then governance is a task that is clearly beyond their competence. Delhi deserves better and, fortunately, this time Delhi has a choice, in fact the only viable choice.
In stark contrast to BJP the Aam Aadmi Party has a battle-hardened leader in Arvind Kejriwal, a team of leaders flanking him who would form a most formidable cabinet, and most importantly the party has an agenda for governance compiled in the form of the innovative Delhi Dialogue:Vision 2020 program through which the party participated in a conversation with the people of Delhi to better understand their expectations from government. Based on this public outreach the party has over the last couple of months formulated and presented in instalments an extensive roadmap for Delhi’s future encompassing every issue of significance from water to power to education to women’s safety to health care to industry to waste management to housing to transport to rural Delhi. Vision 2020 is not a manifesto slapped together at the last minute, a task the BJP has shockingly foregone after burying Dr Harsh Vardhan’s efforts, but a living document containing the aspirations of the people of Delhi for their next government. It is clear that in Delhi there is only one party that is prepared to govern. AAP is the only party running a positive campaign in this election in the face of a blitzkrieg of negativity. BJP’s expertise in the political dark arts has served them well up till now but AAP has earned the trust of Delhi voters through months of outreach and campaigning, it is the party of hope now and BJP is acting like a party with nothing to offer but bluster and false promises.
For Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah the Delhi election is no longer about the welfare and future of the people of Delhi, if it ever was. They are only interested in adding a notch to their impressive string of electoral victories and then moving on to concentrate their energies on their next prize, Bihar. They will hand over Delhi’s government to the same dysfunctional state leadership that they themselves have now sidelined from the campaign. The BJP campaign is only about winning for the sake of winning by any means possible and is totally disconnected from the aspirations of Delhi’s people. A loss in Delhi would be a crushing blow for the Modi Government and that is why at this late hour ministerial reinforcements have been deployed. There is panic in the BJP ranks and the voters can sense it. With the exodus of ministers form their offices into the electoral arena the Modi Government has literally been shuttered and will likely continue to be till polling day. Most crucially, Mr Jaitley has been pulled away from his Budget preparations and Piyush Goyal should be concentrating on the crucial stake sale of Coal India Ltd instead of doing election duty in Model Town.
BJP’s desperation was there for all to see in its farcical press conference yesterday where an overly aggressive Rajiv Pratap Rudy asked five questions about long-forgotten allegations to AAP while himself ducking questions from the press about Prime Minister’s extravagant pinstriped suit and why Kiran Bedi refused to debate, which would be the idea venue to confront Arvind Kejriwal with all the questions they wanted. No answers were on offer to either question, and probably never will be. Nirmala Sitharaman was even more jarring today. BJP have promised to ask five questions every day till the election, presumably with a new central leader playing the quizmaster each time. State leaders are nowhere to be seen, probably tucked away in cold storage somewhere, and they continue still ducking a debate. Desperate measures, indeed. And then this morning we awoke to a half-page BJP advertisement in the Indian Express in the form a cartoon mocking Arvind Kejriwal’s family in the most crass manner possible and, even worse, in the background was a portrait of Anna Hazare with a garland around it, signifying a posthumous disposition. With this disgraceful advertisement the last shred of credibility of Kiran Bedi as a CM candidate was wiped out and the BJP was left to explain how on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary they had wished dead the country’s most respected Gandhian. Even BJP supporters found it reprehensible. When a party decides to go completely negative in the last week of a campaign it is a high risk strategy where there is an even chance of causing voter backlash. That Amit Shah had to resort to such a high risk strategy tells you exactly how much of a tight spot the BJP currently finds itself.
In 1987 there was another all-powerful Prime Minister of India who thought he had the world at his feet and shocked the country by firing his Foreign Secretary, which coincidentally took place in late January as well. It was the beginning of a steep fall from grace. The sacking was followed shortly thereafter by a humiliating defeat in an election held in a state belonging to the National Capital Region, Haryana. Will history repeat itself? Stay tuned, we’ll find out on February 10.
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