Delhi elections are on 4th December. You can't imagine how much I want to be there during that time to witness the results of this historic event, (and of course, to cast my vote), but I won't be there due to some stupid reasons.
I wanted to talk to people who didn't want to vote for AAP and convince them otherwise. Since I have trouble talking, I am writing this post and giving it a try.
I'll assume that you believe that both other parties are corrupt, and their intention about the welfare of the people is not good. They talk about various things in tv debates, but when it comes to doing, they do only for themselves. (Which is exactly what anybody should do :D)
Arvind Kejriwal, did his graduation from IIT, then went to become some commissioner in Income tax department. He worked with Mother Teresa, and says that working for others is the best spiritual feeling or something. He (and some others too, probably) made the Delhi's 'privatization of water supply' project stop. (The video below has some mention of it, but details of the project are there in some other kejriwal video) He is considered to be the main guy who brought RTI. He says that it is a necessary but insufficient condition for true democracy. True democracy lies in Swaraj, the decentralization of power and giving parts of it to the people. Let the decisions that can be made at the lowest level, be made at the lowest level. Only then start moving up. He has written a book about Swaraj which, of course, I haven't read.
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exyAS3ABI3I&feature=share
The way he talks gives all signs that he is a bit too honest, and has an extremely high IQ. (IQ has been judged with similar results by other people too, in case you think how I can claim this IQ thing). He is fearless, goes against the most powerful people. When he goes to any public debate, with anybody, any guesses about who wins most arguments?
I do feel he is some sort of control freak (some say dictator), but since the decisions seem to be in my (our) favor, I don't mind. If power is decentralized, and accountability of of the government is increased, and a strong anti-corruption law is passed, what can he do even if he goes rogue? And seeing the history of this man, who donated his prize money of 22-24 lakhs in the Janlokpal andolan, worked for years and years with poor people, worked for laws like RTI and Janlokpal, just see the passion in him when he talks about all these things, how much else do we need to trust him?
This man is the biggest reason why I, and probably many others, are willing to vote for AAP.
Some people say AAP guys are not experienced, they can't do much. One argument they make in their defence is that it is good that they don't have this experience in corruption and communal-ism and stuff that other parties have. They say that a good minister just needs to have a good intent for the people, so that he can listen to them. They just have to listen to the people and do what they want. How to do, is managed by the bureaucrat layer.
And just see the innovative ideas and strategies they are putting in for their campaign, who can say that they are not capable?
They can become corrupt
They say that they are going to pass some anti-corruption law (Lokayukt) as soon as they go into power (within 15 days, that too in Ram Leela Maidan). Some say it is not possible with their own will, Delhi doesn't have a state status so it can't pass bills like that, or something. In case that happens, then AAP guys can also get corrupt. (It should be the natural tendency after getting power) But if power is given to Mohallas (272 municipal wards, each to be divided into around 10 Mohallas, whose monthly meetings will decide what is to be done in a particular Mohalla), this should again become less relevant.
Qualities: They make their received donations public (and stop taking more after 20 crores, as they announced just after starting their party), their expenditure public, government does its investigations but doesn't find anything wrong, they openly challenge everybody to investigate them, and declare to not contest elections if anything is found wrong, they say we'll leave the seat if anything wrong is found in any of there candidates, their manifesto says that there will be an yearly meeting to leaders with public to make sure that manifestos are actually being implemented, corruption eradication, education, health are at the topmost of their concerns, everybody knows about their concerns on water and electricity, they are also very much willing to affect the Delhi police, even though it is not in state government's control because Delhi is not a state.
They are in favor of promoting new business ventures, so that wealth and employment is generated, they wish to make easier VAT laws so that business can be made easier, they are in support of privatization of electricity
They promise to bring Right to Recall (remove MLA if you don't like him) in case they come to power in central government.
This is all before elections, what after that? They can become corrupt, right?(Ans: Umm.. maybe..) But can they go as far as BJP and Congress have gone!?(Ans: Oh no! not at all!) If Lokayukt comes and power is given to lower levels, would it even be possible? (Ans: No) Assuming Kejriwal himself will not get corrupt, do you think he'll let the ones below to get corrupt? (Ans: No)
Credibility comes with the things that you do, and of course we can't trust anybody in this world, but if a party is to be trusted, which one would it be?
Recent Accusations (which I don't believe are true)
When the sting operations came, they were willing to not fight elections from the seats from where the accused candidates are fighting elections. If you watch their second press conference of 22nd Nov, 2013, Yogendra yadav clearly explains the reasons why they cannot believe the accusations until they receive the unedited footage. And they are not getting the raw footage because the MediaSarkar (maker of the sting videos) is not giving it to them, so I infer that the footage will make it clear that the accused will be proved innocent. Also, it seems that AAP want the things to be investigated within 24 hours, while the powers want that let people be confused until elections are over.
Anna Hazare is not with the AAP, and nobody cares. Looks like the only people who use this argument are the politicians or the workers of congress and bjp. He doesn't believe in party system it seems. But I don't know how can the system that he wants come without first entering into the current political system.
IAC fund used in AAP? Kejriwal had to give his own award money for IAC because they stopped receving donations during Janlokpal movement after five days thinking that enough money has been collected, but it was not enough. This has already been investigated by the government earlier, and accounts came out to be fine.
Foreign funding, I don't mind even if they are taking it, though they are asking for an Indian passport number before taking funds from NRI's, and doing investigations in case any donation is more than 10 lakh (afair).
Vote for BJP because of Narendra Modi, NO! Modi will not become the Chief minister of Delhi!
Why I should not vote for AAP
I do feel that in case I need to bribe somebody in the coming future to get some work done, I might not be able to do that. Some people live a happier life because of their political connections, that would not be possible if AAP comes into power. But still, I think that price would be nothing compared to what we'd would be getting.
Put your vote on Jhadu this time. If you are not voting for them, go die.
I wanted to talk to people who didn't want to vote for AAP and convince them otherwise. Since I have trouble talking, I am writing this post and giving it a try.
I'll assume that you believe that both other parties are corrupt, and their intention about the welfare of the people is not good. They talk about various things in tv debates, but when it comes to doing, they do only for themselves. (Which is exactly what anybody should do :D)
Arvind Kejriwal, did his graduation from IIT, then went to become some commissioner in Income tax department. He worked with Mother Teresa, and says that working for others is the best spiritual feeling or something. He (and some others too, probably) made the Delhi's 'privatization of water supply' project stop. (The video below has some mention of it, but details of the project are there in some other kejriwal video) He is considered to be the main guy who brought RTI. He says that it is a necessary but insufficient condition for true democracy. True democracy lies in Swaraj, the decentralization of power and giving parts of it to the people. Let the decisions that can be made at the lowest level, be made at the lowest level. Only then start moving up. He has written a book about Swaraj which, of course, I haven't read.
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exyAS3ABI3I&feature=share
The way he talks gives all signs that he is a bit too honest, and has an extremely high IQ. (IQ has been judged with similar results by other people too, in case you think how I can claim this IQ thing). He is fearless, goes against the most powerful people. When he goes to any public debate, with anybody, any guesses about who wins most arguments?
I do feel he is some sort of control freak (some say dictator), but since the decisions seem to be in my (our) favor, I don't mind. If power is decentralized, and accountability of of the government is increased, and a strong anti-corruption law is passed, what can he do even if he goes rogue? And seeing the history of this man, who donated his prize money of 22-24 lakhs in the Janlokpal andolan, worked for years and years with poor people, worked for laws like RTI and Janlokpal, just see the passion in him when he talks about all these things, how much else do we need to trust him?
This man is the biggest reason why I, and probably many others, are willing to vote for AAP.
Some people say AAP guys are not experienced, they can't do much. One argument they make in their defence is that it is good that they don't have this experience in corruption and communal-ism and stuff that other parties have. They say that a good minister just needs to have a good intent for the people, so that he can listen to them. They just have to listen to the people and do what they want. How to do, is managed by the bureaucrat layer.
And just see the innovative ideas and strategies they are putting in for their campaign, who can say that they are not capable?
They can become corrupt
They say that they are going to pass some anti-corruption law (Lokayukt) as soon as they go into power (within 15 days, that too in Ram Leela Maidan). Some say it is not possible with their own will, Delhi doesn't have a state status so it can't pass bills like that, or something. In case that happens, then AAP guys can also get corrupt. (It should be the natural tendency after getting power) But if power is given to Mohallas (272 municipal wards, each to be divided into around 10 Mohallas, whose monthly meetings will decide what is to be done in a particular Mohalla), this should again become less relevant.
Qualities: They make their received donations public (and stop taking more after 20 crores, as they announced just after starting their party), their expenditure public, government does its investigations but doesn't find anything wrong, they openly challenge everybody to investigate them, and declare to not contest elections if anything is found wrong, they say we'll leave the seat if anything wrong is found in any of there candidates, their manifesto says that there will be an yearly meeting to leaders with public to make sure that manifestos are actually being implemented, corruption eradication, education, health are at the topmost of their concerns, everybody knows about their concerns on water and electricity, they are also very much willing to affect the Delhi police, even though it is not in state government's control because Delhi is not a state.
They are in favor of promoting new business ventures, so that wealth and employment is generated, they wish to make easier VAT laws so that business can be made easier, they are in support of privatization of electricity
They promise to bring Right to Recall (remove MLA if you don't like him) in case they come to power in central government.
This is all before elections, what after that? They can become corrupt, right?(Ans: Umm.. maybe..) But can they go as far as BJP and Congress have gone!?(Ans: Oh no! not at all!) If Lokayukt comes and power is given to lower levels, would it even be possible? (Ans: No) Assuming Kejriwal himself will not get corrupt, do you think he'll let the ones below to get corrupt? (Ans: No)
Credibility comes with the things that you do, and of course we can't trust anybody in this world, but if a party is to be trusted, which one would it be?
Recent Accusations (which I don't believe are true)
When the sting operations came, they were willing to not fight elections from the seats from where the accused candidates are fighting elections. If you watch their second press conference of 22nd Nov, 2013, Yogendra yadav clearly explains the reasons why they cannot believe the accusations until they receive the unedited footage. And they are not getting the raw footage because the MediaSarkar (maker of the sting videos) is not giving it to them, so I infer that the footage will make it clear that the accused will be proved innocent. Also, it seems that AAP want the things to be investigated within 24 hours, while the powers want that let people be confused until elections are over.
Anna Hazare is not with the AAP, and nobody cares. Looks like the only people who use this argument are the politicians or the workers of congress and bjp. He doesn't believe in party system it seems. But I don't know how can the system that he wants come without first entering into the current political system.
IAC fund used in AAP? Kejriwal had to give his own award money for IAC because they stopped receving donations during Janlokpal movement after five days thinking that enough money has been collected, but it was not enough. This has already been investigated by the government earlier, and accounts came out to be fine.
Foreign funding, I don't mind even if they are taking it, though they are asking for an Indian passport number before taking funds from NRI's, and doing investigations in case any donation is more than 10 lakh (afair).
Vote for BJP because of Narendra Modi, NO! Modi will not become the Chief minister of Delhi!
Why I should not vote for AAP
I do feel that in case I need to bribe somebody in the coming future to get some work done, I might not be able to do that. Some people live a happier life because of their political connections, that would not be possible if AAP comes into power. But still, I think that price would be nothing compared to what we'd would be getting.
Put your vote on Jhadu this time. If you are not voting for them, go die.
Not many facts and sources provided here. But I have to agree with the consensus. I'm glad to see all major issues were addressed. Was looking for someone's opinion, as I myself am confused.
ReplyDeleteIf your confusion is based on corruption and intentions of the political parties, I think AAP will be the clear winner.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason would be questioning their capabilities. They don't have any experience, the number of people having some experience in public domain is very less. But still, they have planned stuff that they would do to Delhi, and they have made it public. If it works well, we'll see a whole new awesome Delhi. Otherwise, I don't think it can go worse.
Some opinion on this please : http://www.deeshaa.org/2013/04/13/why-a-vote-for-the-aap-is-a-vote-for-the-congress/
ReplyDeleteI'll reiterate AAP's answers about this:
ReplyDelete1) BJP is in MCD, It sucks equally compared to congress.
2) Opinion polls of AAP as well as news channels show that AAP is now a very strong party, standing with BJP and Congress in the fight, so it is not just a vote katua.
3) BJP and Congress are scared and are playing pranks to destroy the image of AAP, thus they themselves consider AAP as a strong candidate.
(BJP- probably ink throwing incident
Congress runs a news channel, which looks like does the only job of maligning AAP's image)
When AAP put posters behind Auto's, a law was passed against it. BJP and Congress call at people's houses feeding them shit about Arvind Kejriwal, BJP copies AAP and announces 70 manifestos for 70 constituencies.
4) On television channels, BJP and Congress don't even reply to the questions asked about the AAP, so that AAP doesn't get any publicity, but they are scared, otherwise AAP won't face such accusations at this crucial time.
5) and vote wasted? That is plain stupid. You can say we think AAP will let COngress win that's why we'll vote for BJP. But if you say, that I'll vote for the party which will win so that my vote doesn't get wasted, you are stupid I feel.
Here, 'vote wasted' means that although AAP might win in Delhi and do good, but more impact is made by the party which wins the central government elections. That party being congress will do far more damage than the good things that AAP might do in Delhi.
ReplyDeleteSo you are saying if AAP wins in Delhi, in the 2014 elections its seats will be counted for making the central govt? I am no champion of politics, but until now I believe that during central govt election time you can vote for BJP again and AAP being in Delhi won't even matter!
ReplyDelete