The dramatic political debut of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recently concluded Delhi state assembly election, and the rout of the Congress party in the assembly elections held concurrently in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, are landmark events in the troubled history of post-independence India, a sorry narrative of the first great nation-building enterprise of the post-colonial world order whose currents have run pathetically awry. The strength of the ruling Congress is reduced in the Delhi legislative assembly from 43 to 8, and from 96 to 21 seats in Rajasthan.
Yet even as the euphoria which has followed the defeat of the Congress in these ‘semi-final’ elections (a curtain raiser for the general election due to be called before May 2014) is justified, it is pertinent to remember that within three years of the decimation of the Congress party in the general election of 1977, Mrs. Gandhi and the Congress were voted back into office in New Delhi. Therefore there’s real and omnipresent danger of history repeating itself. Over the past 65 years Congress leaders right down to the grassroots level have accumulated vast wealth, which can and will be used to buy influential vote banks and manipulate the electoral process. Like the communist parties of Russia and China, the Congress has metamorphosed into a mafia-like privilegentsia which will fight fang and claw for the right to continue to harvest the loaves and fishes of office at the Centre and in the states.
Yet even if the Congress tainted by venality and corruption has thoroughly alienated the electorate, the prospect of a coalition led by the right wing BJP, urges caution. For a start, just as Congress has corruption embedded in its core, the BJP is infected with the deadly virus of religious fundamen-talism and communalism, which could mire the nation into low-intensity civil conflict of the genre which has destroyed Lebanon and threatens to destabilise several countries of the Middle East and Africa. Moreover, during its first term in office (1999-2004), the BJP also provided ample proof of its susceptibility to corruption and primitive capital accumulation.
It’s against this backdrop that AAP’s stupendous debut in the Delhi state election comes as a reviving dose of oxygen for the battered public, which has had to endure the self-serving machinations of Congress/BJP for too long. Yet it is abundantly clear that AAP is a single-issue party which lacks the intellectual depth and maturity to flesh out a comprehensive agenda covering vital issues such as defence, foreign policy, education, public health and fiscal policy and management. These lacunae are bound to be highlighted by wily leaders of the mainstream parties playing for larger stakes in the forthcoming general election.
Therefore it makes sense for the AAP leadership to make common cause with new political formations such as Lok Satta and the Children First Party of India, which lack the vast monetary resources of Congress and BJP and are struggling against the public’s Stockholm syndrome, but have all-inclusive programmes for national rejuvenation and development as reflected in their manifestos. Likewise, it is advisable for the public — especially the nation’s feckless middle class youth — to get out of the perpetual party mode and become involved with the task of nation-building.
Women’s safety non-negotiable issue
This editorial is being written on December 16, exactly one year after the savage gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student christened Nirbhaya (‘fearless’) by the media, in a moving bus as it coursed through the streets of Delhi, the national capital. Although the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 which makes stalking, voyeurism, groping (routinely projected as courtship by Indian cinema) criminal offences, and prescribes the death penalty for acid attacks and rape, became law last April, incidences of sexual violence against women citizens have not abated.
Indeed, such is the notoriety of a vast majority of the country’s ill-mannered males, that according to one estimate the number of women tourists to India has declined by 35 percent in the past year. And in an ultimate insult on November 21, US ambassador to India Nancy Powell publicly stated that American women students are afraid to come to India because of widespread fear of sexual molestation and rape.
Against this backdrop citizens — especially women —should seriously examine the public declarations and manifestos of new political parties which have appeared on the scene, to ascertain their stand on gender issues and women’s rights. Certainly in the Children First Party of India (CFPI), registered by your editors, the fundamental right of all women to safe and conducive environments is given top priority. “... the National Commission of Women at the Centre and in the states will be given suo motu power to investigate and impose imprisonment sentences of up to 30 days and another 30 days of community service upon anti-socials involved in ‘minor’ cases of sexual harassment and molestation — excluding major gender crimes such as kidnapping, rape, trafficking — of women and children. Moreover, special under-cover women police backed up by highly mobile flying squads of a special wing of helicopter-borne police on standby 24x7 in all metros and state capitals will be appointed to apprehend, prosecute, punish and incarcerate sex offenders and predators. Power will be conferred upon session and high courts to order caning of convicted sex offenders in addition to imprisonment and the death penalty... CFPI guarantees a 75 percent drop nationwide in criminal offences against women within 12 months,” promises the party’s manifesto (see www.childrenfirst.in)
Among right-thinking people, there cannot be any ambiguity or reservation on the issue of women’s rights of freedom of movement and safety. Yet curiously, CFPI and its manifesto have aroused little interest even within India’s educated middle class which has a moral obligation to ensure that society does not descend into chaos and anarchy. Worse, even women leaders seem resigned to lamenting the sins of patriarchy rather than initiating political action or proactively seeking out new political formations committed to their protection and fundamental rights, and making common cause with them.