KEJRIVAL’S FALL – A LESSON FOR THE AAM AADMI

There will at least be quite a few voters and would-be politicians who will be sad at the resignation of Kejriwal and the subsequent dissolution of the Delhi Assembly. There must have been quite a few voters who, naive they may have been, thought that here was a man who will remove all that is bad in the country. There will at least be quite a few aspiring politicians who thought there was a chance for them also to become a minister or at least an MP or MLA. This may or may not include corrupt politicians who were chucked out of their old parties or may have resigned citing reasons of neglect. Whatever the reasons for the AAP to rise so suddenly, it has been proved that they cannot govern and even if they are able to govern, being in a fragile coalition they will never be able to do anything on their own. They had to depend on the Congress or the BJP for any decision to be taken.

I am not here to write about the AAP’s inefficiency or its leaders’ arrogance or immaturity. I am here to talk about the dangers of electing a party that has to depend on a coalition to form a government. I am here to write about the dangers of voting regional parties in the national election. Regional parties are just that – regional. Most of them don’t have a national presence nor do they have a national agenda, or their leaders have a national perspective or view. They come into power due to some regional issues and they never grow above that. They may good to form a state government and may even be able to do a good job at that.

Voters generally vote for the regional and communal parties only because of their selfish interests. Most regional parties are community based and they promise every form of subsidy or freebie to their community and get the votes. Later they hold the whole coalition to ransom and get their demands met. These demands are never in the interest of the whole nation or even sometimes not in the interest of the whole state where the coalition is in power. We have seen how communal parties with minority status have been able to get sanctions for colleges and schools. In many cases these colleges just cater to that particular community and mostly only to those of the community who can afford to pay huge sums for the seats. Most of them don’t even have the necessary facilities. This is just one example.

Even in the national level we have seen how parties like AIADMK, DMK, TMC, SP, BSP etc have held the national government at ransom and literally blackmailed the government to give favours to these parties. We have even seen hard core criminals in these parties escape punishment because of the party’s influence at the centre. We have seen how some these parties’ leaders themselves have escaped punishment by threatening to pull out of the coalition. Even the so called national party CPI (M) have kept the government on tenterhooks threatening to quit the coalition.

When it comes to the national government, it is important that decisions affecting the whole population are taken immediately and effectively. There may be many laws which may have to be brought for the safety of the nation, which may affect one or two of the regional parties. There government at the centre will have to consider the countries’ population as a whole when they take decisions. There may be a few communities who may get affected. There may be some special benefits to particular regions or communities which will have to be sacrificed in the interest of the nation. The centre government cannot look at any state or region in isolation. All these need a party which can act strongly and swiftly when needed. This requires a party which can have a national perspective and take care of the nations’ interests at large. They must be able to take decision without having to depend on the support of a lot of coalition partners, whose interests may clash with each other. To govern the nation effectively we need a strong government at the centre who can take action without having to have all-party meetings or friendly dinners.

In India currently there seem to be only two parties which can claim national presence. The so-called third or fourth front, which claims partnership of parties from all over the country, cannot take a collective decision as many of the partners themselves cannot see eye-to-eye. The only two parties remaining are the Congress and the BJP. I am not here to discuss the merits and demerits of either party, though I am a strong supporter of one of them. The only way ahead for the country is for the people to vote for one of these two, in a way that they have an absolute majority and can take firm decisions on their own. It is the time for people to forget their selfish interests and think nationally. The time has come for people to elect a strong government at the centre so that India can at least dream of becoming a stable developing nation.