We Indians have lots of political parties to choose from. In fact we should be delighted to have so many parties competing to serve us!!! Then why aren't we???
Well, the problem is that most of them don't care about their own proclaimed ideologies and a large number of them simply don't have any.
The communists have abandoned any true allegiance to their manifesto long ago. The Indian National Congress too has completed this process of forgetting it's ideology. This was further intensified by Indira Gandhi. Now we have a Congress party which is like one of those public sector undertakings which does not contribute to the nation making, but is too big to let go.
In comparison, the BJP, has held on to it's rightist ideology. However, it still has a long way to go before it can claim to have achieved any of it's proclaimed goals. This is partly due to the unfavorable numbers in the Rajya Sabha and partly due to the misinformed polarization caused by those goals. Article 370 and uniform civil code are examples. But, if Modiji manages to win the next Lok Sabha elections in 2019, BJP will no longer be allowed the benefit of doubt by its core supporters. However, it's core ideology is highly unlikely to get abandoned owing to many factors including the RSS.
On the other hand we have a plethora of parties whose ideology depends solely on the whims and fancies of the party supremo. What Indira Gandhi did to the Congress became the role model for these regional players who dictate terms to the national parties.
In such a scenario, it was natural for people to get disillusioned. Somewhere down the line, they lost faith in the polity and developed an apathy towards the process of governance. But it seems to have changed now. These days, increasingly large number of people are getting engaged in political debates via social media. They have a platform where they can make themselves heard while not stepping out of their living rooms. Having said that, it would be a blunder to attribute this renewed interest in politics to the mere availability of media like Facebook or Twitter. In my opinion two factors caused this.
Narendra Modi has captured the nation's imagination in a big way. Love him or hate him, you can't ignore him. During the general elections, he carpet bombed the country not only by crisscrossing the vast geographical mass, but by using technologies from the internet to 3D holographic image projection. Even after the historic victory, he continues to hog the limelight.
The second factor was the birth of a new party known as AAP. This party showcased a welcome change from the work culture of established parties and offered a great opportunity to the educated middle-class to get directly involved. This had such a big impact that they won the Delhi elections twice with unprecedented majority.
Even more amazing is the fact that AAP achieved this without presenting any real plans or programs. The clean politics promise and freebies were enough to secure the victory. But the recent incidents in AAP have once again shown that AK is taking this party down the well trodden path taken by Indira Gandhi and many others like Jayalalitha, Mamata, Lalau, Mulayam etc. What promised to be a truly inclusive movement has been reduced to a 'high command' centric bunch of sycophants truly worthy of being called Congress B Team. In the process, Delhiites may well have set the record for being fooled twice within a span of an year, tragic as it is.
What a shame!!!
posted from Bloggeroid
