An Open Letter To The People Of Delhi Ahead Of The Delhi Elections

NEW DELHI: I am addressing this letter to the people of Delhi, but it applies almost exclusively to the people of Delhi that I relate with: the English-speaking, internet-using minority that are hopefully reading this.

To that add another caveat: I relate to these people a majority of the time, but their political behaviour is nothing short of baffling.

In order to provide some context, I am writing this a few days ahead of the Delhi elections - which seem to me to be a fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party, with the Congress, once sitting comfortably atop Delhi governance, nowhere in the fray.

That to me is the beauty of India. You can never taken anything for granted.

But I digress. I am writing this because, as I said, I am baffled.

Firstly, I am baffled that the same people who are out with me for a drink post dinner (and complain along with me at the limited options in the city for a drink post 1 am); who ask me for advice on what to get their girlfriend for Valentine’s Day; who defend (and rightfully so) a woman’s right to wear what she wants, when she wants and where she wants; roll their eyes at news that their friend is being forced to marry someone of his/her parent’s choosing - someone of the same caste/religion - as opposed to someone who “is so obviously right” for him/her; and who provide a listening shoulder to their gay best friend -- are putting their political weight behind a party whose moral centre stands for everything that is opposite to the positions listed above.

Lest you forget, it was the BJP government in Karnataka that instituted an 11 pm curfew and more recently, the BJP government in Maharashtra that has charged All India Bakchod’s brilliant roast of actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor with obscenity. It was the BJP that welcomed Pramod Muthalik - the same Muthalik who founded the Sri Ram Sena - the same Sena that attacked a group of women at a pub in Mangalore in 2009 (why? Because women shouldn’t be out drinking), and targeted couples (whilst distributing mangalsutras) on Valentine’s Day. (On a side note: as I write this, I read that the Hindu Mahasabha have warned that couples found celebrating V Day will be married off). It was the BJP’s Rajnath Singh who said that the party will not support “unnatural” homosexuality, upholding Article 377 and “unambiguously” re-endorsing the criminalisation of gay sex (and oral and anal sex, even amongst consenting man and woman).

It’s baffling, this selective and blatantly hypocritical liberalism, open-mindedness and tolerance.

These issues aside, many of my friends in Delhi tell me that they will vote for the BJP because they want a “strong” India (whatever that means). Modi is a “strong” leader, the BJP is a “strong” party, and we are finally proud to be “strong” Indians, they say.

The BJP has completed more than eight months at the centre -- and what has it achieved? Other than a budget (that could have been written by the Congress) and the renewal of ties with the US (which any government could have achieved if it had acquiesced, as the BJP government has, on the issue of liability in reference to the civilian nuclear deal). Relations between India and Pakistan and India and China have dipped.

Sure, Make In India has been launched, but the fact that that’s little more than a PR exercise is probably best reflected by the fact that its champion PM Modi just made headlines for wearing a suit that cost Rs 10 Lakhs and was Made In The UK!

More seriously, Make In India may just be a utopian dream. As Raghuram Rajan pointed out, "the world as a whole is unlikely to be able to accommodate another export-led China" and India is “different” -- so copying a model that may have worked elsewhere may not really achieve similar success.

Sure, a a Biometric Attendance System has been launched for government employees, but as a government official told me -- “this means we have ten chais at work instead of five.”

It’s baffling, this faith in the dangling appeal of false promises. And it’s baffling, when real action is viewed with disdain.

Which is what happened to the AAP. In just 49 days of power in Delhi, AAP managed to halve electricity bills for those consuming up to 400 units, provided free water for those consuming up to 20 KL per month, added night shelters, set up corruption helplines, fought the water and ration mafias, issued permits to rickshaw drivers, and instituted a host of other measures.

The result? AAP got blamed for being lawless. I distinctly remember friends of mine complaining that there was too much traffic on the road because AAP was protesting “something or the other.” “Why can’t they sit in their offices and do their work?” you questioned. Maybe because the system doesn’t work. That previous governments have sat in their office and nothing has ever changed.

It’s baffling but I finally understand. You, my Delhi friend, want change, but only if the roads remain un-jammed. You want change that doesn’t affect the status-quo, and there is no better definition of the word hypocrisy out there.