These are just some reactions to whether Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) should form a government in Delhi or not.
By having a "yes/no" type of public vote, the AAP leaders may have bought some time, but in making the decision I don't think that should matter. According to me, what is at stake is this.
Currently the AAP is facing the curse of doing much better than it realistically anticipated. Never mind the bravado of internal opinion polls, but it seems that the AAP is not ready to run a government. They probably do not have the expertise or manpower or even the inclination (so far) to run a government. By pushing them to form a government, the mainstream parties have done the right thing. In Mumbai the slang when someone is burdened with un-realistic expectation is "bachhe ki jaan lega kya" (will you take the life of a kid?) So the mainstream parties think that the best way to fix AAP is by forcing it to form a government and then failing.
Now the AAP also has national ambitions and the national polls are only a few months away. To scale to a national level will require their top brains to fully dedicate to this task. This means that if it forms a government in Delhi, then it has to curtail its national ambitions. Otherwise it will fail miserably at the polls and the sheen of success will quickly fade.
So what should the AAP do?
In my view, the option is clear. Curtail national ambitions and try and run a government for as much time as possible. Why?
1. By not forming a government, it will lose faith of Delhi voters. They voted for governance and they deserve one.
2. The party is yet to establish it at the national level, so even if the momentum is big, it will take a lot of time to separate the signal from noise and this will not happen overnight.
3. By forming a government, they will learn the inner workings of running the government machinery. It is one thing to criticize, but it is another thing to motivate, fill the gaps, educate the government workers so that they start delivering.
4. By doing a decent job in Delhi, people across India will have a lot more faith in the AAP
5. Fixing urban utilities (water, electricity), public schooling and healthcare are "big" problems and all the top AAP leaders should get their hands dirty and show direction on how they are going to address them.
I think its a no brainer that AAP should form a government, even for 6 months or a year and show the mainstream parties that they are not kids. Arvind Kejriwal must become chief minister. He clearly went for the top job, standing himself against Sheila Dixit.
National ambitions can wait, minor resources could be applied to form deep relations with other regional leaders and also the verify if they are truly in for the "new" politics of AAP.
The worst outcome will be to form a government in Delhi and go for national ambition at the same time. This way they will do a half-assed job in both and lose the moment.
Best wishes to AAP in what they decide.
(I am a member of AAP)
By having a "yes/no" type of public vote, the AAP leaders may have bought some time, but in making the decision I don't think that should matter. According to me, what is at stake is this.
Currently the AAP is facing the curse of doing much better than it realistically anticipated. Never mind the bravado of internal opinion polls, but it seems that the AAP is not ready to run a government. They probably do not have the expertise or manpower or even the inclination (so far) to run a government. By pushing them to form a government, the mainstream parties have done the right thing. In Mumbai the slang when someone is burdened with un-realistic expectation is "bachhe ki jaan lega kya" (will you take the life of a kid?) So the mainstream parties think that the best way to fix AAP is by forcing it to form a government and then failing.
Now the AAP also has national ambitions and the national polls are only a few months away. To scale to a national level will require their top brains to fully dedicate to this task. This means that if it forms a government in Delhi, then it has to curtail its national ambitions. Otherwise it will fail miserably at the polls and the sheen of success will quickly fade.
So what should the AAP do?
In my view, the option is clear. Curtail national ambitions and try and run a government for as much time as possible. Why?
1. By not forming a government, it will lose faith of Delhi voters. They voted for governance and they deserve one.
2. The party is yet to establish it at the national level, so even if the momentum is big, it will take a lot of time to separate the signal from noise and this will not happen overnight.
3. By forming a government, they will learn the inner workings of running the government machinery. It is one thing to criticize, but it is another thing to motivate, fill the gaps, educate the government workers so that they start delivering.
4. By doing a decent job in Delhi, people across India will have a lot more faith in the AAP
5. Fixing urban utilities (water, electricity), public schooling and healthcare are "big" problems and all the top AAP leaders should get their hands dirty and show direction on how they are going to address them.
I think its a no brainer that AAP should form a government, even for 6 months or a year and show the mainstream parties that they are not kids. Arvind Kejriwal must become chief minister. He clearly went for the top job, standing himself against Sheila Dixit.
National ambitions can wait, minor resources could be applied to form deep relations with other regional leaders and also the verify if they are truly in for the "new" politics of AAP.
The worst outcome will be to form a government in Delhi and go for national ambition at the same time. This way they will do a half-assed job in both and lose the moment.
Best wishes to AAP in what they decide.
(I am a member of AAP)
5 comments:
Disagree. If Rabri Devi can run a govt of a large state I don't think that it is really that a big deal. Also if Congress/BJP can run it and AAP has shown more capability then them it is really not the question of being unprepared. It is no rocket science, it is different yes, but not necessarily beyond.
Why the hurry. Get a revised mandate, if you have it this time and it is no fluke you will get a more re-sounding victory once again. If you don't get it, you do the job of responsible opposition. Opposition is also missing and important and needs the credibility which is missing. Whats the big deal with a re-election, i think re-election expense is mis-interpreted. it is not for re-election we are loosing Forex. It merely spread in the economy from the govt, but creates so-much awareness, politician are humbled. it is awesome to have re-election in Delhi.
Rabri Devi is a really bad example to compare. But, your points are valid too. I think people want to end corruption, but they also want good governance, both have to go hand in hand. This is a golden chance to address issues not yet addressed by the party. That is governance.
In government, AAP can do great things - like show complete transparency in decision making. Make public debates - engage the public and government employees to fix delivery issues, fix broken tendering systems, go after corrupt traders etc.
I think this will give people a lot more confidence.
Also re-election will happen in a year anyways. This time AAP will have something concrete to show to the public - see what we can do. Now bring us back again.
Also if they are pulled out before national election, they can tell the public - "see we did what we did and the congress pulled us out"
If they stick around till national elections - "don't you want the whole country to be governed this way?"
I can't agree more. Its time now. Taking time is ok but they are risking losing people's confidence in them. Then when the reeletion happens they may not vote again for AAP. So its better if they form the govt. and even if they last for little while and take some really good initiatives. Thats the way to go.
Finally AAP played in congress hands. Anna got the credit and Rahul will get Anna's blessings in 2014 elections. It means AAP is killed before its birth. This is a classic congress game. I smell pranabda's flavour in this!
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