By Taufeeq:
(At the outset, I would like to let you know that this article is written for the people of Delhi. But even if you are not a Delhite, you may still want to read this to understand the political scenario in the capital city of our country.)
So, Delhi elections are around the corner and the atmosphere in the capital city is quite interesting, all thanks to an entirely ‘new’ political party in the picture. No prizes for guessing, it’s the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
I used the word ‘new’ not just to say that the party is new to politics, but to stress upon the fact that the party is ‘new’ in ways more than one — maintaining transparency in party fund collection, choosing honest candidates with no criminal charges, working at grassroots, preparing a separate manifesto for every constituency, focusing on weeding out corruption etc.
Despite all the good things that can happen if the Aam Aadmi Party comes to power, I see that people are still a little apprehensive about voting it to power. It’s strange to see people coming up with absurd reasons to vote against AAP, which actually does no good, as it just boils down to supporting corrupt Congress/BJP indirectly.
If you are one of those persons, here are a few reasons why you should support the Aam Aadmi Party, despite all apprehensions.
1. For the first time ever in the past few decades, a political party in India has fielded honest individuals in all the constituencies that it is contesting. Though this is quite unbelievable, it’s very much true.
Ever since we were kids, we have associated the word ‘corrupt’ with the word ‘politicians’. There are umpteen examples to prove that. In fact, you could hardly find politicians in India who didn’t misuse their power for selfish gains.
Earlier, we didn’t have any option, but now we have an alternative. We have a golden chance to vote for a party of honest individuals. Let’s ask ourselves this simple question – would we still want to vote for power-hungry, tainted and arrogant politicians?
Few people may argue that the sting operation by a media house exposed a few individuals of Aam Aadmi Party as not being so honest as they project themselves to be. But it takes only a little more than common sense to understand the tapes were doctored to malign AAP. Anyone who watches the entire footage can easily understand how people were tricked and fooled into believing the AAP candidates are dishonest. It’s time to not get fooled again by the ploys of cunning political parties and to understand the true intentions behind the fake sting operation.
2. Quite apparently, Congress and BJP receive kickbacks from big corporates like Reliance industries, Jindal steel and power ltd. etc. which would lead to favouritism to these corporates once Congress/BJP come to power. On the other hand, Aam Aadmi party receives money from people like you and me.
In fact, when a RTI amendment was suggested to make the political parties reveal the funds they receive, all the political parties came together and vehemently opposed it. As per the Association of democratic reforms, between 2005 and 2012, Congress has obtained 1950 crores of unaccounted money and BJP has obtained 950 crores of the same. Where did they get all this money from? This simple fact exemplifies the brazen corruption in these two parties.
On the other hand, AAP is the only party where every single rupee donated to the party is accountable. You can find the details of all the donors in the website. Now, would you still vote for parties that run away from transparency? Or would you vote for AAP which is completely transparent about party funding?
3. For quite a long time, BJP has been playing the Hinduism card to garner votes from conservative Hindus. Congress has been playing the secularism card to gain votes from Muslims and non-conservative Hindus. Neither of them care so much about development as much as they care about their vote-banks. Congress and BJP have played a major role in dividing India in the name of caste, religion and region.
AAP is the party which isn’t based on any caste, creed or religion. It is focused on development, infrastructure, efficient governance etc. So, it’s up to you to decide whether you still want to vote for parties that play with religious sentiments of people in our country for their selfishness?
4. Congress calls itself a democratic party, but the real power in Congress has always resided within a family — First JawaharLal Nehru, then Indira Gandhi, then Rajiv Gandhi, now Sonia Gandhi, and God forbid Rahul Gandhi. This makes me wonder why dynastic politics still prevail in one of the biggest democratic country like ours. The simple reason is because we choose them to power, again and again.
AAP is as democratic as it can get and the true power of AAP is the people like you and me. Let’s stop being ruled by dynasties and start ruling ourselves by electing truly democratic parties like AAP.
5. AAP promises to pass the Delhi Jan Lokpal bill within 15 days of coming to power. This will help curb corruption at various levels and in turn will help the common man’s life become much better. It would take eons to write in detail about all the scams that happened under Congress/BJP regime, right from Bofors to 2G to coalgate to mining mafia. A strict law to punish these scamsters is the need of the hour and a Jan Lokpal bill is a right step towards punishing the corrupt.
6. Delhi is known not just as the capital city of India, but it is also now known as ‘the rape capital of India’. There are many cases where victims have been embarrassed by the Delhi police, accused have gotten away lightly, justice has been denied and no strong measures have been taken to protect women against harassment. Women in Delhi live in a constant fear of molestation and do not dare to go alone as the night falls.
AAP has, in its manifesto, clearly mentioned the paramount importance that it gives to the safety of women. If you are really very concerned about the safety of women, choose to vote for a party that is concerned about their safety.
7. Another reason why we need to support the Aam Aadmi Party is to slap the ‘paid media’, to show that people aren’t just fools to believe what the media wants us to believe. If you just do a google search using the keywords ‘Paid media in India’, you can find articles about how the various media houses apparently work hand-in-glove with the corrupt political parties. Most news channels are just puppets in the hands of these parties, trying to misguide the entire nation and using media for mudslinging on opposite parties.
When videos of the sting operation on AAP leaders were released, almost entire media went hyper-excited to telecast them, without really bothering about the authenticity of those videos which later turned out to be doctored. The same media which was over-enthusiastic in trying to project the AAP leaders as corrupt didn’t bother much to show the news which confirmed that the videos were doctored and fake. Biased, to say the least.
If we vote for Congress/BJP, we are again letting the power go in the hands of few people in media and politics. Voting for AAP lets you have the power, which is what true democracy actually is — of the people, by the people, for the people.
8. Bringing AAP to power will have a ripple effect throughout the country. The effects can already be seen as BJP chose an honest individual for the chief ministerial candidate instead of a tainted person who was supposed to lead earlier. If AAP comes to power, it will give rise to a new hope in the country. The rest of the political parties will wake up from slumber and will be forced to be transparent, accountable and clean.
By supporting AAP, you are actually participating in a movement that would change the face of the entire nation, slowly but steadily.
9. Most importantly, this is one hell of a golden opportunity to change the politics of our country for the better and forever. I even fail to articulate the magnificence of this brilliant opportunity that time has bestowed upon us.
If AAP loses this election, it’s not just the leaders of AAP who will lose. It’s we who are at a greater loss. It’s we who will have to bear the rule of arrogant politicians. It’s we who will have to helplessly watch politicians filling their pockets with money through various scams and still getting away with it. It’s we who will have to suffer every day because of the corrupted, selfish and tainted politicians, who are more bothered about themselves than about the nation.
Please choose carefully.
10. I can go on discussing few more reasons as to why we need to support the Aam Aadmi Party. But I believe that if you have chosen to read the above 9 points, you are interested in changing our country for the better and are sane enough to decide what is right and what is wrong.
Now, it’s up to you to decide whom to vote for. But before that, just put your hand on your heart and ask which party it really wants to vote. Listen to what it says and just do it!
Finally, I choose to end this article with a line from the movie Rang De Basanti — “Koi bhi desh perfect nahi hota. Use perfect banana padtha hai.”