Friday, May 16, 2014

Election 2014 - thoughts on AAP

Well, now that the election results are out and the dust has settled it is time to talk about my thoughts on the newest entrant AAP.

I genuinely feel Indian democracy will be better with AAP. But, I just hope they can get their act together. While AAP "offers" transparent and honest government - they are way of the mark in their economic policies. In my opinion, in the next few days, they have a choice to make - establish themselves as a credible party by working hard in the MP seats they won (4 I think) and prove that they can translate their words into action. If they can set up this example of responsible behavior - they can become more mainstream. I think their decision to resign from Delhi came back to bite them. There is a difference between activism and governance. If you take up the reins of governance you will need to learn to compromise - not with ethics - but prioritize and identify things to change. You cannot change everything in one day - patience is essential. They can contribute to Indian democracy by being the torch bearers for cleaner politics. For this they will have to prune themselves in size and focus on clean candidate in select urban locations. They should have focused on 20 Lok Sabha seats instead of having 422 candidate - they lose credibility by taking such steps. While I never see myself agreeing with economic philosophies drawn from communist and left leaning intellectuals, they can provide a true Left of center party (as opposed to the current dynastic culture of congress). But they have to be patient and put in the hard work. If not, it will be one of those blimps on the Indian election spectrum that will die out in a short time.


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