“AAPko Diya”

While there have been hilarious jokes and memes on social media after Kejriwal’s clean sweep… The one about Shah misunderstanding that the vote was given to ‘AAPko’ had everyone in splits… By everyone I mean, the clear-headed, sensible, secular people of this country.

The rest are sulking…as arrogantly as ever…and even ‘BURNol’ will not help soothe as they lick their wounds in a corner. The hate and venom still hasn’t gone from them…and that is the scary part as they will never face reality even when it stares them straight in the face.

Delhi has spoken and people need to wake up and understand the sea change in thinking…in priorities…in ground reality. The youth of this country are our pearls and need to be heard and protected. They have their thinking caps on and are more sensible than the folks of my generation who have wasted precious time in ugly spats, hatred, fuelling angst and division.

While many lessons stand out from Kejriwal’s win: Two things are obvious… Congress has reached oblivion. Earlier they were in some kind of slumber but now they seem to be in permanent hibernation. What are the youngsters in the Congress party doing? There are many there who have the ability to lead…and maybe it is time for them to revolt against the crumbling dynasty leadership and provide a sound opposition. A vibrant and unified opposition is the key bulwark of a democratic process… therefore; the world’s largest democracy is in trouble indeed. The opposition today is in near-complete disarray, unable to define a viable terrain from which it can face any problems. The core of its problems is an inert Congress. The ‘family’ needs to step aside gracefully and allow the formidable youngsters to lead.

A divided and weak opposition is more dangerous to Indian democracy than the muscular ruling party we now have. A strong and effective opposition is the need of the hour to ensure that the elected government at the Centre would perform “with minimum government and maximum governance”, be transparent, responsive and accountable and does not assume arbitrariness in its actions neglecting the interests of the nation. A united, committed, effective and meaningful opposition is a must in Parliament to promote a responsible and reasonable debate in the decision-making process for enacting laws for the welfare of the people.

Hence, the opposition should rise above fragile coalitions and dynastic politics and look for a charismatic leader to reclaim its lost credibility and charm. The time is now!

The second great learning from all this has been that the rejection of the people of the ruling party’s ideologies: The present government truly believes in misconduct, use of abusive language and provocation – this is what they live by, follow and use to the maximum. There is no governance and divisive politics has become the order of the day. But now, the Delhi election results should be the eye opener to make a turnaround towards issue based politics and not hate/religion/violence based politics.

Time to use the ‘Broom’ and not the ‘Bullets’ rings loud and clear! The ruling party spewed venomous bile, with both Modi and Shah egging them on in battle tossing aside the consequences to their actions. The worst vitriol was seen these past few weeks. Polarisation saw a new high every day and verbal diarrhoea that was uncontrollable. From ‘goli maaro’ to ‘biryani’ expletives to terrorising citizens, to ineffective policing… we saw it all. The world has watched how crazy our leaders in power today behave. Shameful indeed.

Through all this: Kejriwal kept his cool. He refused to engage with all the muck. He stuck to performance. He stuck to what he believed in. He stuck to good governance. He delivered, as promised in his election manifesto on poverty, housing, health, education, infrastructure, electricity, water, social security etc. He ensured they put their money where their mouth is!

Hatred lost, and was badly crushed. Good politics won. Delhi has shown the way!

All those who exercised their vote effectively… Take a bow!