Analysis: The 'Grim Future' Of Politics And Aam Aadmi Party

By Likha Veer | INNLIVE

One of the most magical moments of this election, the moment when people saw politics once again as an act of faith and hope, was the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party. The story of AAP is not just its story, it is the story of these people reinventing politics and themselves.

I want to begin with a story. Last night, I received a phone call from a friend of mine. She told me that she was on a truck heading for the Kolar Gold Fields to campaign for a friend who had joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). She hinted that AAP there spoke a different dialect from AAP in Bangalore or Varanasi.

Young India sees politics as a management challenge

By M H Ahssan

A year ago when Rahul Gandhi embarked on his mission to democratize the Youth Congress and NSUI, with the idea of attracting youth to politics,
hardly anyone could have said for sure that he would be successful. And yet, youth is the flavour of the season today. In the wake of the Congress Party’s spectacular performance in the 15th Lok Sabha elections, youth is at the core of our national discourse.

The world missed the significance of our baby steps in democratizing the Congress’s youth organizations. Everyone wrongly assumed young Indians were allergic to politics and change. But they are eager to be active agents of change.

The election results are scant evidence of the chord Rahul has struck with youth with his attempts to throw open political parties to the next generation. In the last few months, we held elections for our youth organizations in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Punjab. The result was the new vigour seen in GenNext during the Lok Sabha elections — they took up campaigning in big numbers and turned out in hordes to vote. They seem to have backed Congress with great enthusiasm.

It is the young who can — and will — change the country and the way it is run. The basic problem arises from the simplistic assumption that the young are averse to “dirty politics”. The urban middle class may be cynical about politics but in the rural heartland there are 5.5 lakh panchayats and several lakh young men and women serving as panchs, sarpanchs and as members of zilla parishads. According to a rough estimate, 70% of these elected representatives are no older than 35.

Surely that is evidence enough to show that the young are interested in entering the system to change their village communities? If the urban young are apathetic about politics it is largely because of the system’s penchant for political institutions, the closed-door functioning of political outfits and the special status given to politicians. These are all negatives factors and breed revulsion among ordinary people.

The philosophy and purpose of Rahul Gandhi’s internal democratization of the NSUI and Youth Congress was opening them up to the common people. This has created a feeling within the new generation that there is a clean way of getting into politics and moving into leadership positions. At the moment, many young politicians belong to political families and the positions they get are passed down as legacies. There’s nothing wrong with that but there should be equal opportunity for others too if they want it.

It is not a small change. It would open up politics to all, making it possible for ordinary people to compete with the privileged few. Some may try to discourage the change, but it will happen. Ours is a long-term vision but the results of this election are encouraging, particularly because we saw huge youth participation in our campaign and the voting process.

I went to Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh to contest the election. I was a first-timer in the big, challenging world of electoral politics. But the experience was phenomenal. Throughout the campaign, I would get scraps on my Orkut profile and phone calls from boys and girls who would introduce themselves as first-time voters who had cast their ballot in my favour. It was a very satisfying experience — the flight of hope among those who possibly would not have taken to it with such gusto had they not seen change coming into the closed, 60-year-old world of politics.

Through Congress’s philosophy of equality, India’s young will change the way politics is perceived in this country. Politics and elections are seen as an ideological challenge, but young people see it as a management challenge. As the young enter politics, real issues will come to centrestage and the possibility of their own being able to participate in the process would cement their faith in the philosophy of equality, opportunity and change.

It will be a boon for society as it will undercut the school of political thought that promotes divisiveness. As we gain acceptability, there will be copycats. That would be good because they will be following our path.

But this may be hard for those whose politics is based on parochialism. Divisive politics marginalizes the youth it seeks to exclude. Youth participation in such parties will decline. Simply put, divisive ideology is antithetical to greater youth participation.

WELFARE PARTY, CAN IT SURVIVE IN KARNATAKA?

By CJ Khaja Pasha in Bangalore

Near Modi Masjid at Indian Express road take a few turns and before you reach the Welfare Party of India (WPI) Karnataka state office. Located in a residential building, when one gets inside, it nothing but resemble a well-designed corporate office where state leadership in the press hall were busy in taking interviews of candidates who wish to contest election on party’s ticket.

WPI Karnataka state unit is just a year old but seem enthusiastic with the hope of making a mark in a state where corruption rule the roots of the politics.

WPI, formed as anational political party in 2011 was launched by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind in Delhi. It claims of striving towards alternate politics and hopes to achieve it by inculcating moral values in political system. According to WPI the criminalization, communalization, commercialization and the sectarianization of politics are the biggest evils prevailing in Indian political culture, which WPI hopes to eradicate by propagating ‘value-based politics’.

WOMEN IN POLITICS - Many more Mayawatis

They cannot compete with Mayawati, or Jayalalitha or Sonia Gandhi. But the new breed of women politicians springing up in India's small towns will become a political force to reckon with in the years to come, writes Kalpana Sharma.

Rajeshwari Nora owns a beauty parlour by that name in the town of Narnaul in Haryana's Mahendragarh district. Her 6 ft by 10 ft beauty parlour has mirrors on two sides and large posters of a host of popular Hindi film stars ranging from Rani Mukherjee to Katrina Kaif on the back wall. Two swivel chairs and a bench for those waiting their turn completes the furniture. All the film stars are dressed in bridal finery. Rajeshwari tells me she specialises in bridal make up. Beauty parlours are a flourishing business in this small town of under one lakh people, she says.

At home in politics
But Rajeshwari is not just in the beauty business. She is also into politics as a nominated member of the local municipal council. And she takes her task seriously, worrying about the water supply and garbage clearance. She already speaks like a veteran politician. "My family was in the BJP. I was also in the BJP. Right now I'm in the Congress. But I can change," she tells me without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

In Mirzapur in U.P., a town on the banks of the Ganga that also hosts the carpet industry, Mamta Yadav is enthusiasm personified. This 28-year-old MA in history has been elected to the Mirzapur municipal council. She got the largest number of votes and says she won because "people thought we should vote for an educated person." Mamta also heads the standing committee on education and she loves every minute of the importance and attention she is getting. "Rajneeti bahut achchi cheez hai (politics is a very good thing)", she tells me as we sit in her home in Mirzapur town.

Mamta lives in a middle-income colony with paved paths and unexpectedly clean drains. Her husband, a cable operator in five wards, supports his wife's efforts. Unlike other husbands of elected women representatives, he defers to her and lets her do all the talking. "I'm a fan of politics," says Mamta, a mother of two children, a boy aged nine and a girl aged five. Earlier, she had considered becoming a teacher. But now she has been bitten by the rajneeti (politics) bug and intends to continue.

Mamta says she draws inspiration from Mayawati, Pratibha Patil and Sonia Gandhi. "Whatever you say, women are proud that a woman and a Dalit has reached such a high position," she says of Mayawati. An interesting comment coming from a woman who is not a Dalit and who is close to the Congress Party.

In Rajnandgaon in Chhatisgarh, a Dalit doctor is a member of the municipal council. Dr. Rekha Meshram is a Mahar. She runs her clinic and her office as a councillor from her home, located in a colony of Mahars. Her education helps her, she says, to understand her duties and her rights as a councillor. She can read the budget and discuss it unlike other councillors, many of whom are barely literate.

But Rekha has a different spin on educated women entering politics. "I understand why educated people don't want to enter. We need to be patient, to be articulate. Being educated is the biggest handicap in politics. You can't get ahead on your own talent. Till you have a godfather, you can't go all out. Women get caught, entangled in this web. Party politics is very difficult for women members." Rekha is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Although she believes that women have a difficult time, she too is convinced she will continue to be in politics.

Education, an asset
In Madhubani in Bihar, Anuja Jha, who also has a post-graduate degree, is one of the most active members of the municipal council. Unlike Rekha, she does not consider her education a handicap. Far from it. She has used it effectively to her advantage. She is the only one from the council who is a member of the District Planning Committee. She takes on the role of a leader, even though a man is the chairman of the council. Anuja sees a future for herself in politics. "Politics is janata ki seva (serving people)", she says. "I decided to enter because people said only men could do it. I said, why not women?"

These are just four of thousands of women who are now in local governments in thousands of small towns across India. They are educated. They could have just remained housewives or become teachers. Instead, they are in public life. Admittedly, there are also other women in urban local bodies who are not so well educated and who are mere proxies for their husbands. The latter do everything except attend the official meetings. Even fathers-in-law are proxies for elected women representatives, as I discovered in Madhubani. But the increasing number of educated women who are articulate and active needs to be noted.

So, even as the media focuses on educated women like Meera Sanyal, the CEO of ABN-AMRO Bank and Mallika Sarabhai, the well-known activist and dancer, who have decided to contest in the Lok Sabha elections as independents from Mumbai and Ahmedabad respectively, we should recognise that other women have already entered politics at the local level without drawing too much attention to themselves.

Crucial difference
The difference is that women like Mamta, Rajeshwari, Anuja and Rekha live in small towns where strong bonds between people continue to survive despite urbanisation. People know each other. They are engaged in problems that have an immediate impact on their neighbourhood. The process of devolution facilitated by the 74th Amendment, giving urban local bodies additional powers, allows these women to take initiatives that make a noticeable difference in their wards. But they are also not afraid of party politics. Many of them accept that this is the only way to advance in politics.

In the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati might well be the Queen Bee who decides the shape and form of the next government. But in years to come, we could see many more women surging forward from local politics into State and ultimately into national politics. Reservation has given them a leg up. But it is their enthusiasm about the political process that will ultimately carry them through.

Marketing & Politics - A Unique Combination Of 'Marriage'!

By Likha Veer | INNLIVE

SPECIAL FEATURE Should a political 'brand' communicate the same, clear message as brands in business? Just as a marketing organisation needs a clear picture of its target, Indian political parties need to recognise the changing realities in the political market place.

In the wildest of Dream, the founding father of Marketing would not have imagined such an innovative, creative, out of the box application of Marketing concept!! Yes, the readers of this blog are thinking right it is a unique marriage between Marketing and Politics. 

Ever since politics has become synonymous with the power, marketing has been used widely by politician for own advantage. In fact, now a days political pundit is hiring multitude of professionals to work for their cause in fact marketing has been used increasingly in politics.

Special Report: Will Film Stars Shine Bright In Elections?

By Arhaan Faraaz | INNLIVE

From old-timers like Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Babbar and Hema Malini to new entrants–Kirron Kher, Gul Panag, Moon Moon Sen, Pawan Kalyan and Innocent– several stars have jumped into electoral politics this time to try their luck, adding glamour to the battle for power.

Film stars’ flirtation with politics is not new but so far it has not been successful in North India as much as in the South.

People in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh show an unmatched passion for their movie stars and have voted matinee idols like N T Rama Rao and M G Ramachandran to power but in the North big names like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra and Govinda got into politics with great fanfare but only to leave it halfway.

'Same Side Goal' Politics, Bengal’s New Brand Image?

By Dipankar Sinha (Guest Writer)

The people of West Bengal want to live with security and dignity and desire the fulfilment of basic needs and amenities in everyday life. There are too many pressing issues in the state waiting to get the attention of authorities. Unfortunately, it seems that the powers that be are playing a thankless and self-destructive game of "same side goal".

Politics is widely known to have produced a bewildering variety of actions and reactions. Could West Bengal remain far behind? Considering the trends towards what we would prefer to describe as the “same side goal” politics in the state, one can assert that it cannot.

Rotten politics and our society

By Samiya Anwar

Can we live without talking to people? No. we cannot. We all know that it is next to impossible. Here come society and the existence of members who dwell into it. We’re part of society. Isn’t it? We aren’t guest here. Aren’t we? According to Aristotle, Man is by nature a political animal. But many think that Politics is irrelevant to their lives. I don’t agree with them. Where is not politics? It is everywhere in every field. Reality hits the head. But politics is in everyone’s lives indeed.

Politics is a complex phenomenon. It is a dirty game. Either you have to PLAY IT or GET USED TO IT. It cannot be separated out of our lives. It has been observed in all human group interactions, including homes, offices, education, media and else everywhere. It is mixed in our lives like quantity of salt in our food. Some people think it is only political leaders running the system who are in politics not themselves. But no. we all are part of political tactics in the vein of the society.

It is no surprise to me when Jaya (name changed), a bank employee complained about her elder sibling trying to be two-facedness with her on continuing job in personal and also sham her husband to stop her going out of the house soon after marriage. She couldn’t understand the double standards of his brother who is he a slave of his spouse. There have been a constant politics in the house. The insecurity breed and the husband and wife developed misunderstanding. This called for help to the couple. It is not just with Jaya, most of the houses are filled with political monsters. People attack right on the faces. Beyond predictions the rifts between the members is deep and raw. The rifts never heal fully and the family drama continues. They just meet at social gatherings and get-togethers to pretend as a family. But nothing is subtle in the paradise. There is always trouble and many things locked inside the bottle.

Very often people want to debunk the personal matters of others. When I was in school I observed steadily my Chemistry teacher always throwing mud on my friend by calling him son of blacksmith. He was poor and pays the tuition fee late every term. It is not his mistake that he was born to a blacksmith and others to some highly educated and professional persons. It always touched me. The teacher’s duty is to teach and not to point a finger at any section of the people.

Nevertheless, these are small quibbles about politics into my perspective. This is an insane world. It is full of people who are overzealous, or use the power of authority as for the wrong purpose. The toughest in all areas is corporate life. With the economic slowdown and no guarantee jobs, frequent hire and fire without any specific reason. If you want to move up the corporate ladder, you must know the political tactics. It can make or break your career, because many sleepless nights one faces with the on-going politics in the offices. In some companies, playing corporate politics is the only job few people have and you become silent victim of the selfish vultures. You were paid for doing some work and you get involve into the other.

When few people gain control over you, life becomes frustrating alike living in Hell. One needs to acknowledge that corporate politics play a role in success. Learn to manage any situation you come across and build professional network. Like how Suresh (name change) working in MNC was fired from the job after giving important two years of his life to the company. He was called in the office and given a pink slip suddenly. Thanks to the professional network and group of people he worked in the past he was called in the previous company and he has a job now. Not all can be fortunate but the professional network he maintained acted as a SAFETEY NET in times of crises.

The society is full of good and bad people. It is like swimming with sharks. Playing politics is not all bad. It acts as a guide and helps to learn. It is a key to survival in the cruel world. A boss can be IDIOT or a LIAR, he is the boss. If you have to work in the company, you need to show some respect and win through impressive skills. In case of any worst scenario be preparing for the worst helps, and hope for the best.

It is hilarious to note the present day’s NEWS channels creating so much hype and stereotype questions in the minds of thousands of people. Media should serve the society. But the POLITICS and MEDIA go hand-in-hand. With the election season as political parties start media for themselves and utilize it for their own selfish ends. The leaders talk more and act less, same is with the media. They don’t really solve the problem, they make an issue of every petty thing for hours making breaking news at every newspaper and TV channels. The role of the media is very much narrowed. It is unfair not to highlight the public with important issues and keep repeating the Cinema news, bollywood gupshups, box-office hits and lows, etc. Also it won’t be anonymous to say that it is we, the people who love the more exaggerated news and interesting programmes like Sansani on Star News. However the media should educate the general public and bring out the sufferings from them by applying awareness to their problems.

Remember, all human relationships have political essence. The society is rotten and also the politics inside it. If in need, take advice from others. Not necessary you use it. But no harm in trying out seeking help from the people you trust. The primary solution to the problem is to RECOGNISE it, PLAY it, also GET USED TO it. There is always a political friction around you everywhere. So best of luck!

Will Superstar Rajinikanth finally enter politics?

His failure to live up to the expectations he often builds up has made such speculation a sort of amusement.

“Naa eppo varuven eppadi varuven nu yarukum theriyathu
aana varavendiya tithula correct ah varuven”
(No one knows when and how I will enter. But I will enter at the right time)

This was Rajinikanth’s legendary punchline in the 1995 blockbuster Muthu.

Of Radical Democracy and Anti-Partyism

The populist notions that underlie critiques of the practice of representative democracy made by groups like the Aam Aadmi Party have some worrisome aspects. Their ideas of expanding the democratic involvement of citizens are not only romantic, they also tend to undermine political equality. The question that supporters of such "more democracy" need to ask themselves is, do we want to expand democratic rights but effectively restrict their scope?

It is not very often that a political party is discussed even before it has made its electoral debut. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), formally launched in late 2012, seems to have acquired that distinction. While Shukla takes a careful look at the vision document of the party, Anand Kumar presents a formal statement on behalf of the party. But such politically correct statements and intentions are not adequate grounds for the assessment of parties and organisations wanting to intervene in the political process. The ability to intervene, the direction of intervention and, above all, the social character of that intervention constitute the criteria for such assessments. For such an assessment, it is necessary to turn to the context that produced this new party and the issues that the founding group raised even before it was formed.

As of now, the AAP is an addition to the already crowded list of “registered unrecognised” parties. In January 2013, the Election Commission of India listed 1,392 such parties.1 Will the AAP be just one among this lot? And if it is indeed a “different” party, what exactly is the difference? As Anand Kumar makes clear, the party itself would like to be different in that it is a combination of a party and a movement. As a party it pitches itself against all other parties, not just as another competitor, but also as a force that seeks to undermine the bases of existing party politics. As a movement, it intends to sustain the momentum for the urban protests that it triggered and turn those protests into something more tangible and durable.

This note intends to discuss the context in which the party (AAP) emerged and how that context shapes both its radical democratic stance and the politics of anti-political establishment.

The Context
Obviously, the party thinks that it can break the monopoly of the “established” parties and gatecrash into the system. In all probability, the party’s first political test would come when it contests the Delhi Assembly election later this year. As it is, Delhi has been the theatre carefully chosen by the party even before it came into being. It is ironical that at a time when the theatre of politics has shifted away from Delhi, a party of reform should choose to project itself from the grounds and roads of the national capital without much grassroots organisation elsewhere in the country to precede it.

The other problem associated with the party right from the time prior to its inception has been its deep engagement with the media. The manner in which the party and the pre-party agitation was pitched made a love affair between the party and the media possible. To be fair, one could say that this is not an instance of the media setting the agenda; perhaps, it is the skilful handling of the new media that has helped the anti-corruption agitation and the AAP to launch themselves so visibly into the national political arena. But at a minimum, it is certainly a case of “mediatisation” of politics. In this process, the presentation of views becomes an important source of information and opinion formation for those sections, who are “without party identification”, who are “apolitical but sophisticated” caught in the midst of the crisis of the party system – exactly the constituency that the anti-corruption agitation and later the AAP tapped/is tapping.

The formation of the AAP is a culmination of the agitation that began in 2011 on the issue of a law for establishing an effective machinery to curb corruption in politics and bureaucracy. That agitation had the following tendencies. First, it was, in its broader sense, against corruption in public life (though the agitation and its residue even today confine themselves to the magic wand called the Jan Lokpal). Second, because the participants and many of its leaders felt that politicians tend to be more corrupt than the rest of society, the anti-corruption agitation expressed deep anxieties about politics and political parties. Third, that agitation did not have any socio-economic agenda and this fact helped it in generating support. The absence of an agenda meant that there would be less cross-cutting social cleavages that would undermine the agitation and its single-point anti-corruption mobilisation. Fourth, the agitation nurtured a romantic objective of making our democracy more real and people-based rather than representative-based. Thus, the agitation combined a paradoxical mix of cynicism towards politics and a radical democratic goal.

While the claims of the supporters make us believe that many parts of the country were engulfed by the agitation, this is a contestable claim. If anything, the agitation was an urban phenomenon – visible more in large cities and made more visible by the electronic media. This is not to say that corruption is not an issue for a large number of people – if you ask people whether corruption is an issue, of course they would endorse that statement. However, corruption is often down the list of main concerns – after price rise, employment and the like. Thus, to a straight question on whether the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is corrupt, 28% of the respondents said it was very corrupt. More importantly, while 38% of the respondents believed that the situation regarding corruption had deteriorated, 50% thought that the situation regarding rising prices had deteriorated.2 This indicates that while corruption was seen as a major issue, people were aware of the other (more) pressing matters. When we ask someone if corruption is an issue, they would surely answer in the positive. However, when asked to name the “most important problem”, corruption is 14th in the list, with only 1% of the respondents mentioning it.

These details are instructive. They suggest that when there is a lot of discussion in the media on matters related to corruption and when people are specifically asked about corruption, they are bound to be critical of and concerned about the issue of corruption. However, this surely does not support a conclusion that today corruption has become the most central issue in the politics of the country.

This detour allows us to be cautious in assuming that corruption has become the key issue or that a sustained political struggle can be run on this issue or that a party can survive mainly on the basis of anti-corruption sentiments and exposes of corruption by politicians. Therefore, it becomes a moot question as to whether a party born out of and fed on anti-corruption sentiment and agitation can be a sustainable political force. If the party adopts only an anti-corruption agenda it is likely to limit itself to the hardcore of the anti-corruption crusade; if it broadens its agenda it is likely to lose its supporters who gathered around it without agreeing to many political positions the party later takes.

Populist Notions of Democracy
But the AAP may say that theirs is not just an anti-corruption platform; it is a party of political reform and better democratic practice. Both the early followers of the pre-AAP agitation and at least some of its key founding figures appear to have an affinity towards a radical conception of democracy. At one level, this stems from the critique of the practice of representative democracy. At another level, there seems to be a populist notion behind it. More than the single-point agenda of corruption that marked the beginning of the party, this aspect is somewhat more worrisome. There are always various suggestions regarding the reform and democratisation of the political process. These include the right to reject, right to recall, citizens’ initiative in formulating bills and legislative proposals, and wide-ranging decentralisation or localisation of decision-making powers.

To begin with, these proposals need to be juxtaposed with the actual experience of popular participation. That helps us appreciate the gap between the empirical citizen and the ideal citizen. Beyond voting, the level of popular participation is fairly limited – both in India and elsewhere in most other “democracies”. The National Election Study of 2009 and 2004 show that participation in election meetings has been on an average 23% and participation in election rallies has been just around 13%. Among the more active citizens, there is an under-representation of women, dalits and adivasis. Moreover, not more than 7 to 9% of the respondents are interested in “politics beyond voting and elections”.4 In such circumstances, right to recall and right to initiate legislations are measures that will allow the more articulate sections to have a greater say in the political process than they enjoy today.

It may appear paradoxical, but “expansion” of democracy in this manner does not always help democracy; it has a tendency to make democracy more selective and elitist. Thus, besides practicability, the restrictive nature of democratising measures is a crucial issue. Such democratising measures presuppose an equal citizenry in terms of social status and economic position so that status and livelihood constraints do not hamper the citizen’s chance to actually participate in the decision-making process.

As mass democracies emerged, the two tasks of democratisation and levelling of citizens’ actual socio-economic endowments separated and did not develop in a symmetric manner. As a result we now encounter citizenship that is marked by political equality and non-equal socio-economic situations. Against this backdrop, the ideas of expanding democratic involvement of the citizens are not only romantic, they also tend to undermine political equality. The question that AAP and supporters of such “more democracy” need to ask themselves is: do we want to expand democratic rights but effectively restrict their scope?

Shades of Anarchism
On the other hand, ideas of recall and legislative initiative also have a shade of political anarchism to them. Recall in particular is a recipe for chaos and undermining the system’s ability to run. Even at the local level, the recall provisions have been (rightly) tempered with provisos (such as no recall if one fails, and stipulations that no-confidence motions in panchayats can be moved only after a certain period has elapsed since the last election). The insistence on recall and such other procedures, however, are very attractive to those sections who want to see greater accountability of the representatives.

These measures are also popular because they tend to undermine the system of representative politics. In this sense, the AAP talks of “destroying” the system as the system is seen as a product of a fraudulent notion of democracy. If the representative system were to be destroyed, the first disenfranchisement will happen in the case of the poor, semi-literate sections with low socio-economic status. Therefore, the radical and seemingly revolutionary talk of unsettling the system becomes very problematic.

Besides, the solution in terms of decentralisation, local democracies and limiting the powers of central government requires careful consideration. The marginalised sections may find themselves more isolated and powerless if extra powers are vested at the local level. Democratic societies have yet to arrive at a satisfactory response to this dilemma – local power is the essence of democracy but local powers are more conservative, blind to the injustices of the local environments and antithetical to individual rights and entitlements. To wit, as the location of power becomes distant, the possibility of detaching it from traditional hierarchies is greater. Unless a community of roughly equal citizens exists, local power can become a romance with local repression. Any political intervention intending to undertake political reform will have to take into account this dimension and strike a very delicate balance between location of democratic power (of governance) and the loci of social power (of domination).

Associated with this issue of political reform is another complex issue of party building. It is not an easy task to graduate from a network of organisations, activists and like-minded actors into a political machine that is capable of serious intervention. As the AAP may be finding out already, when a new party is coming into being there is considerable excitement and rush among the politically more enthusiastic sections to join the party and own it. Their intention might sometimes be altruistic; they may also be instrumental at times.

A party that seeks to adopt very open procedures for designating its office holders runs the risk of being hijacked or being taken over by those who may have different ideas from those of the founders and more active members. During the India Against Corruption (IAC) phase, the agitation was repeatedly charged of being run by various elements such as the Sangh parivar, etc. Similarly, others (who are interested in destroying the system) may also take over the party at the ground level. Here too, how to balance democratic and open functioning, and interests and ideas that are central to the party is going to prove tough.

Anti-establishment Potential
The democratic ideas of the AAP need to be further problematised in the context of visible signs of anti-politics during the anti-corruption agitation. There is tension between the anti-politics sentiments of a large constituency that initially gathered around the pre-party agitation (some of whom later got attracted to the party in its initial phase) and the objective of cleansing and reforming politics that the party has adopted now.

The young urban professionals who seem to have found a cause in the anti-corruption agitation manifested deep anxieties about the politician and the political realm. They see corruption as a corollary of politics and related only to politics. This line of thinking allows large numbers of the “anti-politics” citizens to think that politics needs to be minimised, reformed and/or sanitised. Indeed, the politics of substantial sections of middle classes is marked by contempt towards politics itself. It is not clear if the AAP has acquired supporters beyond this group or whether it has convinced this group of the necessity of and messiness of politics.

The main targets of attack are elected representatives, party officials and public office holders. In this sense, the pre-party agitation run by the IAC and the tendencies prevalent in the AAP are close to the description of being “anti-political – establishment” though they also harbour more forthright anti-politics sentiments. Even the write-up by Anand Kumar expresses the anti-political-establishment stance of the party very clearly.

Therefore, in spite of the difficulties regarding its practice and position, we must also ask another question: what role may the AAP play in the politics of the country in the near future? This question becomes valid also on account of the unprecedented media attention the party has received; its ability to either produce mass protests (in select cities) or its ability to ride piggyback on “flash mobs” and the possibility that it might gatecrash at least in biparty situations where reliable third options are not emerging.

In the last four years, the Congress and the UPA have been discredited; but the real failure has been that of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It has singly failed as an opposition party. This has left a vacuum both at the all-India level and also in states where the BJP is the main contender apart from the Congress. Besides, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) too has not got its act together. It experienced defeat in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and has also been unable to mobilise voters in other states where it could have expanded. Given this overall inability of the existing parties to produce substantial reconfiguration, new and “mediatised” parties like the AAP would certainly think that they have a good chance to make their presence felt.

‘Spoilers’
As it so often happens in the Indian context, and particularly against the backdrop of diffuse multiparty competition at the all-India level, new parties end up being “spoilers” for one of the established players – and that too only in some states or places. There is no clarity about the threshold of relevance in the contemporary party framework in India. In comparative literature, 3% of seats is seen by one study as the threshold. For a multiparty competition with a large legislature, more than 17 or 18 seats may be a tall order. Even if we settle for 3% of the required strength as necessary for government (majority) formation, that amounts to five seats. Besides the Congress and BJP, in the present Lok Sabha, only the following eight parties have a strength of five or more: Trinamool, DMK, JD(U), Shiv Sena, RLD, CPM, SP and BSP. Then, there are 20 parties with three or less than three members in the House. The crucial issue is whether with three or five members a party would be in a position to force a certain policy or programme unless the party is necessary for government formation and is also willing to participate in the ruling coalition.

From the high reformist and moral language the AAP speaks, it is difficult to think of the party getting involved in government formation – even if we assume that it wins a couple of seats to the Lok Sabha or a few seats to a state legislature. Thus, crossing the threshold (even at the state level) might be tough and having crossed it, becoming relevant to policymaking and/or government formation is even more unlikely.

Against this backdrop, the main asset of the AAP will be its image as a party that is ready to take on the “establishment”. In more or less stable biparty/bipolar competition, third or minor parties “serve as vehicles channelling political discontent” because the third/minor parties tend to represent and capitalise upon prevailing “anti-partyism”. Existing literature suggests that those citizens who are fed up with parties in general tend to abstain from voting whereas those who are angry/upset with major parties tend to turn to new/third parties. 

With its specific targeting of the main opposition and the ruling party, the AAP in its short life so far seems to have sharpened a sense of “specific anti-partyism” (sentiments against the main parties), it is also possible that it has converted some general anti-partyism (an overall anti-party sentiment) into the specific version of anti-partyism. The crucial question for AAP is twofold – what space would it have in non-bipolar situations? And, does it have the capacity to place itself in a position to exploit the specific anti-partyism against the Congress and BJP beyond a few cities? But more than these questions of realpolitik, the question would be what kind of democracy it wants to build and what kind of political sensibilities it wants to tap.

Navjot Singh Sidhu: A Strokeless Wonder In Politics, Now Suffering From 'Political Hazards'

What has happened to Navjot Singh Sidhu? The man never stops grinning and joking whenever we see him on television channels and is always ready to tackle life as it comes, thanks to the power of Sidhuism. 

How come such a man always full of positive energy has suddenly started feeling suffocated in his party and that too a year before the country goes to the next Lok Sabha election? Is he an lion-hearted personality suffocated by the intricacies of the system or a weak-hearted politician who is afraid to face the electoral backlash for he knows that he doesn't deserve to be there? 

The way the cricketer-turned-politician's wife is batting for him, it doesn't look like Sidhu is facing the prick of conscience. There is more to it and the Amritsar MP knows very clearly that he doesn't have much run to defend before the next poll arrives.

Focus: Aam Aadmi Party: Decoding the Indian Media Logics

By M H Ahssan | INNLIVE

The spectacular rise of the Aam Aadmi Party and all the recent controversies it has sparked prompt us to examine the role of media in the making of the "common man". This article traces the logics of print, television, and social media, to ask what it means to consider AAP as a "media party".

The victory of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is hailed as heralding a new era of urban politics in India, a sign of citizens finally waking up to the call of cleansing “dirty politics”. Riding on the sentiment of challenging legacy parties and their unscrupulous politics of stealth and loot, AAP has made an impressive foray into electoral combat by combining rhetoric with hard organisational work. 

Commentary: Shameful Game Of 'Identity Politics' In India

By Rajiv Kumar / INN Live

It is that time again when all of us Indians should hang our heads in shame. What has happened in Muzaffarnagar is beyond mere repentance and regret. It is a national shame and we should have our national flag at half mast all over Uttar Pradesh and indeed in Delhi for the next month in the memory of the victims.

We should also ensure that the governments in Lucknow and Delhi do not easily forget their culpability in this totally avoidable tragedy. Our political parties should resolve to not send their glib spokespersons ( offensive at times in their arrogance and compulsion to shift blame) to any TV discussion on this issue as that just helps to trivialise this horrific act. Instead, they should be introspecting and examining their role in this latest episode of subhuman behaviour.

Big Role For Priyanka Gandhi? Congress Makes 'Sure Mind'

By Aniket Sharma | INNLIVE

In arguably the strongest push yet for bringing Priyanka Gandhi to the forefront of the Congress, senior party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi has said that Rajiv Gandhi spoke to him about his daughter’s political aptitude way back in 1990. 
    
Promising to reveal details in due course, Dwivedi said, “As far as I know, her (Priyanka) interest in politics started at an early age. She was keen to understand political developments and the language of politics from the very start. I even have proof of this but I don’t want to discuss it now. All I’ll say is that Rajiv Gandhi told me something about this in 1990. That’s all for the moment.” 

Women in Politics - Beyond numbers

By Saleha Fatima

Recent reports in India indicating that many women politicians are finding it difficult to participate in politics, let alone equalize the gender gap that exists, point to an increasing need to analyse the role that women play in Indian politics. The latest elections, with its saga of violence and conflicting rhetoric, further support this need.

A recent "Times of India" report corroborates much of what has been discussed in this handbook: namely that "domestic responsibilities, lack of financial clout, rising criminalization of politics and the threat of character assassination" are making it increasingly difficult for women to be part of the political framework. Moreover, women politicians point out that even within the political parties, women are rarely found in leadership positions. In fact, "women candidates are usually fielded from 'losing' constituencies where the party does not want to 'waste' a male candidate".

In this section we examine the results of a study of women parliamentarians in India during the Twevlth Parliament. The discussion focuses on three main areas: the social profile of women parliamentarians; the routes they have taken to get to their political position; and the public policy areas in which they were involved.

The Indian Political System - Party System and Women's Representation
India is a bicameral parliamentary democracy, with a strong multi-party political system. The lower house is called the Lok Sabha (Peoples' Assembly) and has 545 members. The upper house is called the Rajya Sabha (States' Assembly) with 250 members. In 1991, women constituted 5.2 per cent of the membership of the Lok Sabha and 9.8 per cent of the membership of the Rajya Sabha.1 This was lower than the preceding 1989 parliament. The election results in 1996 showed a further decline in women's representation. This trend is worrying given the recent state-led initiatives to ensure women's representation in political institutions.

One of the reasons for this decline may be the strength of the party system itself, which can lead to the marginalization of issue-based politics, or to an expropriation of movements that are based on single issues. The women's movement in India has had to confront this issue. Indian political parties are, however, organizationally weak and dependant on local elites. This might be a second factor for the resistance to implementation of gender-sensitive political initiatives.

Women's Movement and the Issue of Representation
The demand for greater representation of women in political institutions in India was not taken up in a systematic way until the setting up of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (CSWI) which published its report in 1976. Before this the focus of the growing women's movement had been on improving women's socio-economic position. The CSWI report suggested that women's representation in political institutions, especially at the grass-roots level, needed to be increased through a policy of reservation of seats for women. In 1988, the National Perspective Plan for Women suggested that a 30 per cent quota for women be introduced at all levels of elective bodies. Women's groups insisted that reservation be restricted to the panchayat (village council) level to encourage grass-roots participation in politics. The consensus around this demand resulted in the adoption of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution in 1993.

In 1995, the question of quotas was raised again, but this time the focus was women in parliament. Initially, most political parties agreed to this proposition. But soon doubts surfaced. When the bill addressing this issue was introduced in the Eleventh Parliament in 1997, several parties and groups raised objections. The objections focused around two main issues: first, the issue of overlapping quotas for women in general and those for women of the lower castes; second, the issue of elitism.

Most women's groups felt that the caste issue was a divisive one for women. Also, many felt uneasy about giving special privileges to elite women by ensuring seats for them in the parliament, while they had previously supported quotas for women at the grass-roots level of the panchayats. To date, the amendment has not been passed by parliament. However, the current government of the Hindu nationalist BJP has committed itself to introducing another quota bill for women in parliament.

The 39 women representatives in the 1991­1996 Indian Parliament were mostly middle-class, professional women, with little or no links to the women's movement. A significant number of them accessed politics through their families, some through student and civil rights movements, and some as a result of state initiatives aimed at increasing representation from the lower castes.

Gender and Caste in Parliament
Caste has been an important feature of Indian public and political life. Most of the women MPs in the Tenth Parliament were members of the higher castes. For example, there were six women from the Brahmin caste. This represents a sizeable 17.14 per cent of the women MPs, while Brahmins comprise only 5.52 per cent of the population. However, it is important to guard against making an easy correlation between caste and political representation. For example, of the six women who are Brahmins, two are MPs from the Communist Party of India. In both cases the caste factor is less important than their privileged class backgrounds. Further, both were products of political movements, the nationalist struggle and the anti-emergency movement.

The number of women who are able to avail of India's caste-based reservation system remains small. While 22 per cent of the parliamentary seats were reserved for the Scheduled Castes, women occupied only 4.1 per cent of the reserved seats. Two women MPs were from what are called the Scheduled Tribes. However, out of 39 women MPs in the Tenth Lok Sabha (representing seven per cent of the total), 14 per cent were from the Scheduled Castes. Two women MPs belonged to the "backward" castes and represented open constituencies. Caste, therefore, affects the profile, loyalties, and work of representatives in the Indian Parliament.

Out of the 39 women MPs in the 1991­1996 Lok Sabha, 32 had postgraduate qualifications; in the Rajya Sabha 14 out of the 17 women were graduates. The class position of these women is obviously more important to their educational levels than caste. Only one out of the seven lower caste women MPs was not a graduate, and the one Scheduled Caste woman MP in the Rajya Sabha had postgraduate education. The levels of education are also reflected in the professional profiles of these women. Thirty per cent of women MPs in the Rajya Sabha for example were lawyers, and 25 per cent in the Lok Sabha were either teachers or lecturers.

Most of the women MPs (about 65 per cent) were between their late 30s and 60s, and therefore did not have the responsibility of bringing up a young family. Given the almost universal marriage pattern that exists in India, the figure for unmarried MPs is extraordinarily high, and indicates the social pressures on women who join public life. For those who are married, the pressures of public life are eased a bit by their class situation. Most MPs are able to afford paid help in the home. In many cases the joint family system, or at least strong family support also helps. However, the constraints of family life continue to be real concerns even for privileged women.

Women have different strategies to cope with these constraints. If the family has accepted a woman's career in politics, she can negotiate with her family. This is more likely if the family is an elite political family with more than one member participating in politics. If the woman was already active in political life before she married, she can face tremendous pressures from her husband's family to conform to a traditional role that allows little scope for pursuing an active political career. A woman politician's options in this case are either to conform to the expectations of the family and retreat from public life, or to leave the family in pursuit of an uncertain future in party politics. In the latter case, the lack of family support and the stigma of divorce are a clear disadvantage for a woman in politics.

Class also mediates the influence of religion. With only one woman Muslim MP in the Rajya Sabha and one in the Lok Sabha, Muslim women are significantly under-represented. Dr. Najma Heptullah, who was also the Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha, is from an elite class and educational background, and enjoys support for her work from both her natal and marital family. Margaret Alva, a Christian, and then Minister of State, and Founder Chair of the National Commission for Women of India, is from a similar background. In both cases the families were involved in the national movement, were influenced by liberal ideology, and were highly educated.

Thus, the majority of women in the Indian Parliament are elite women. While their public role challenges some stereotypes, their class position often allows them far greater range of options than are available to poorer women.

Surprisingly, active participation in the women's movement has not been one of the entry routes into formal party politics for women MPs.

Kinship or more?
"Male equivalence" has been a dominant explanation for how women access political life. The assumption here is that women access political life with the support, backing and contacts of the family, in particular that of the husband. In the sample of 15 women surveyed, 1/3 of the women MPs, for example, have "family support" in the background. However, in a well-argued critique of this theory, Carol Wolkowitz points out that "male equivalence" is an inadequate conceptual framework. First, because it is the public sphere (e.g. state institutions, press, and political discourse) that has to be negotiated if the family decision to put forward a woman in politics is to succeed; it is not a private, but a public matter.

Second, in many cases the husbands do not support the candidature of the wife at all. It is the pressure of party political bosses that forces the issue in many cases. The centralized system of distribution of seats in mass political parties helps in this context. A party's concern with levels of representation of certain groups within its ranks, and consequences for legitimacy of the party among the under-represented groups might be the motive for including women.

Social and Political Movements
Together with "kinship link" and state initiatives, an important factor impacting on women's access to political life seems to be social and political movements. These movements have created windows of opportunity and some women have been able to take advantage of these opportunities to access political life.

For example, the national movement was an important mobilizer of women. Gandhi's contribution to bringing women into politics is well-documented; the left movement also mobilized women. Women's organizations were constituted under the umbrella and control of the party ­ the Mahila Congress and the All India Women's Federation (CPI). However, none of the women interviewed in this survey had strong links with the women's wing of their party prior to their entry into parliamentary politics.

The civil rights and anti-emergency movement led by Jaiprakash Narayan (JP) in 1975­1977 was an important political movement that brought students to the forefront of national politics. Many women, both on the right and on the left wing, joined this movement and continued on in politics. Finally, in the context of current politics in India, fundamentalist and communal parties are mobilizing women. One of the most charismatic woman MP's is Uma Bharti, the product of the rise of Hindu militancy in Indian politics. She is the member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a mobilizational wing of the BJP and a "preacher" of Hindu texts by profession. She was in the forefront of the movement that brought down the Babri Mosque in Ayodhyaya.

The influence of individual national leaders is also an important factor that militates against the "male equivalence" theory. While Indira Gandhi, for example, did little to promote women's representation in politics, Rajiv Gandhi accepted the principle of reservation of seats for women. He initiated measures that had a direct impact on the inclusion of women in politics, e.g., the 1993 provision for reservation of 33 per cent of elected seats on village panchayats for women. As we have mentioned, who is able to take advantage of such reservations is mediated by class, ethnicity and caste.

However, the support of the state and state / political leaders can be important to women who want to access the political system. Quotas for women as a strategy for accessing the political arena has growing support among women MPs, despite the fact that very few have accessed the system through that route, and are firm believers in the meritocratic argument. Most women MPs have supported the 81st Amendment, which would ensure a 33 per cent quota for women in parliament, even though party discipline has not allowed them to vote for this. This issue highlights the constraints that the party system poses for women politicians.

Gender and Public Power: What do Women MPs do ?
Out of the 20 Congress women MPs in the 1991­1996 Lok Sabha, none was a Cabinet minister; two were Ministers of State; and two were Deputy Ministers of State. In the Rajya Sabha, out of seven Congress women MPs, one is a Minister of State. The portfolios of these Ministers included, Human Resource Development, Civil Aviation and Tourism, Health and Family Welfare, and Personnel and Public Grievances. All these are generally regarded as "soft portfolios"; this does not, however, take away from the responsibility that these women ministers have. One Congress woman MP is the Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. At the level of the party, one MP was on the disciplinary committee of the party, and one was the President of the Mahila Congress. Among BJP women, the one Rajya Sabha member was the spokesperson on the economy and general political line of the party. Of the 10 members of the Lok Sabha, one was one of the vice-presidents of the party, and two were on the National Executive Committee of their party.

The system of institutional incentives and disincentives at the level of the party and parliament impact on the issues that women espouse in parliament. Most women MPs interviewed did not have women's issues high on their list of interests. Rather, they wanted to be on committees relating to economy, international relations, and trade. As ambitious women these MPs want to be where power and influence converge.

The Accountability Question
One of the important issues for any discussion on gender and representation has to deal with the constituency that women represent. As there are no "women's only" constituencies, women MPs are not accountable to women as women. And yet, when issues regarding women are raised in the parliament, these women are expected to, and do participate in the debates. Issues such as the welfare of women and violence against women are particularly important in uniting women MPs.

These issues are discussed in the "ladies room" in the parliament. However, as all the MPs questioned made clear, they are "party women first"; party whip is rarely flouted.

Some women MPs are also asked by the party leadership to get involved in the women's wing of the party. While the women MPs do not necessarily see this role as an enhancement of their status within the party, some have made a success of this role and as a result gained influence with the leadership of the party.

As "party women" with political ambitions, women MPs respond to the institutional incentives and disincentives that are placed on them. All these factors limit the potential of these women MPs representing the interests of Indian women across a range of issues. As a result there seems to be little regular contact between women's groups and women MPs. The exception here is of course the women's wing of political parties that do liaise with women MPs. This does allow the possibility of women MPs becoming conduits between the party's leadership and its women members. They are also consulted from time to time by the party leadership on issues regarding the family, and women's rights. But non-party women's groups do not seem to approach women MPs.

Conclusion
Women's representation in the parliament, while important on the grounds of social justice and legitimacy of the political system, does not easily translate into improved representation of women's various interests.

While we cannot assume that more women in public offices would mean a better deal for women in general, there are important reasons for demanding greater representation of women in political life. First is the intuitive one ­ the greater the number of women in public office, articulating interests, and seen to be wielding power, the more the gender hierarchy in public life could become disrupted. Without sufficiently visible, if not proportionate, presence in the political system ­ "threshold representation"11 ­ a group's ability to influence either policy-making, or indeed the political culture framing the representative system, is limited. This fact is confirmed by the various other contributions in this volume. Further, the fact that these women are largely elite women might mean that the impact that they have on public consciousness might be disproportionately larger than their numbers would suggest.

Second, and more important, we could explore the strategies that women employ to access the public sphere in the context of a patriarchal socio-political system. These women have been successful in subverting the boundaries of gender, and in operating in a very aggressive male-dominated sphere. Could other women learn from this example? The problem here is, of course, precisely that these women are an elite. The class from which most of these women come is perhaps the most important factor in their successful inclusion into the political system. We can, however, examine whether socio-political movements provide opportunities for women to use certain strategies that might be able to subvert the gender hierarchy in politics. Finally, we can explore the dynamics between institutional and grass-roots politics. As this study demonstrates, the "politicization of gender" in the Indian political system is due largely to the success of the women's movement.

Women representatives have thus benefited from this success of the women's movement. However, there has been limited interaction between women representatives and the women's movement ­ one of the important areas of weakness behind both the effectiveness of women MPs as well as that of the women's movement. This is, perhaps, the issue that the women's movement needs to address as part of its expanding agenda for the 1990s.

Why Congress, BJP Don’t Get AAP: Ignorance Or Hubris?

By Kajol Singh | INN Live

ANALYSIS The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) victory in Delhi, and the party itself, is an unprecedented phenomenon in Indian politics. The common people of Delhi got it absolutely loud and clear and sent them to power; but unfortunately, the BJP, Congress are still in denial. 

First was their dismissal of the AAP as a band of overzealous amateurs, apolitical anarchists or even a “B-team”, but the party’s victory stunned them; then came muddling reputation and enlightened predictions. And finally when everything is over, the attempt is to drag them into the same morass that they call politics. BJP was the worst in this game, particularly post-results. 

Akbar Owaisi, Raj Thackeray: The suave new faces of hate politics?

With the rise of Akbaruddin Owaisi, the new icon of hate-speech in India, Raj Thackeray, the ‘Hindutva hottie‘, has competition. But, together, they seem to have demolished the long-held stereotype of hate politics in the country.

They are among the limited edition of younger, hate-speech politicians in India: clean-shaven, suave, well-educated and sharply dressed. Both had an urban and privileged upbringing and went to schools and colleges where they mixed with cosmopolitan crowds.

But when they open their mouth, there is something shockingly misplaced: it’s pure venom that goes well – to our trained eyes and ears – with saffron, vermillion, beards and skull-caps.

However, as we get used to their shrill, they sound interesting, however retrograde and dangerous they are.

This is a new combo of hate politics that we have not been used to. Raj, when he started, looked like an exception; but now, with Owaisi – although not new to politics and hate-speak – are we seeing a new trend?

Are they just a random occurrence or the emerging face of extreme politics in India?

Is hate-speech undergoing an un-laboured make-over?

Probably, it’s too early to say; but that they have established a new look-and-feel for hate-speech politics is significant because politics is also about stereotypes and images. Just as the way the congress had clad itself in khadi, from which even Rajiv or Rahul Gandhi couldn’t escape, hate-speech has always been comfortable being retro, scruffy, frothy and intimidating.

And their constituencies had been mostly rural, old-fashioned and the city-ghettos.

In India’s political iconography, which is also highly deceitful, trying a new model over the existing one – that too a perfectly working one – is fraught with risks of rejection because perception is more important than reality. On the other hand, the new-age looks might be the breakthrough that hate-speech politicians have been looking for to create a new constituency.

The stereotypical extremist was certainly repelling for the urban and young Indian, but a Raj or Owaisi are models that might make their brand of politics look cool. Raj has already shown that it’s a working proposition, and Owaisi might reinforce its replicability.

The duo has instant solutions that this constituency – the urban, young and otherwise apolitical – might lap up. The members of this constituency want faster solutions and systemic changes overnight. They wanted Kasab to be lynched without a trial, and the Delhi rapists to be hanged in public without the courts’ intervention.

They are a highly en-tropic constituency, which is perhaps ashamed of the old images and ways of the country and its people. They might be small in number, but the recent uprisings have shown that they have the firepower.

Raj and Owaisi will appeal to the extreme youth of this constituency. Raj has an easy and instant solution for the ills of Mumbai and incidents like the Delhi rapes – drive out the Bihari migrants. Similarly, Owaisi has an easy solution for Muslim assertion: in 15 minutes, 250 million Muslims can show one billion Hindus who is more powerful.

In the past, when Raj spoke against the Muslims and migrants in Mumbai, Owaisi was certain to execute a fatwa against Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasreen if they ever entered Hyderabad.

Raj proclaims and demands all this and more without stirring out of his home turf, namely Mumbai, and the right for his hate-speech was inherited.

Owaisi’s turf is also strictly his city, and his legacy of hate-speech also was inherited from his father Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, a six time MP from Hyderabad. As in the case of Raj’s uncleBal Thackeray, Owaisi senior was equally flagrant in his communal and divisive politics. While Thackeray poured hatred against minorities and migrants, Owaisi senior targeted the Indian State. According to him, Muslims had been abandoned by India and should stand on their own feet instead of looking for help from the State.

In, India, most of the Sangh Parivar indoctrination started with their khaki and red tikka. They were the established routes to radical thinking.

In the sangh parivar camp, Varun Gandhi, although still kurta-clad, is another representative of this creed. He is young, urban, well-spoken, but unabashedly inflammatory. He dresses up his communal vitriol in such smart oratory that people are more amused than put off.

The designer doctrine might create a parallel and fast-track process of enrollment for hate-speech politics in India. Raj and Owaisi have piloted a model which shows that inflammatory speech and communal polarisation do not have to come with any kind of uniform. They have also shown that it is a smart thing to defy stereotypes and reach out to new constituencies.

Interestingly, the State has been quite soft on the designer radicals. Had they been old fashioned with no urban legacy, the story would have been different.

Anyway, as the cliche goes, let’s wait and see.

A NEW BREED OF 'EXPERT POLITICIAN' IN KARNATAKA

By Ashok Shettiyar / Bangalore

Every morning, before he sets out for campaigning in Siddlaghatta constituency in Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka, Sivakumar Gowda of the Karnataka Janatha Paksha (KJP) does something no politician does. He spends time at his study table, taking a look at his notes.

That’s because Gowda belongs to a rare breed of politicians who have undergone a diploma course in politics. This builder-cum-developer entered politics three years ago and when he decided to contest the assembly election, he decided to learn the ABC of politics.

Playing Dirty 'Garbage Politics': BJP, AAP, Congress Risk Making Delhi Laughing Stock For The World

Politics is dirty. But what kind of people indulge in politics of dirt? Over the past week, the proponents of Swacch Bharat tried it in Delhi, the symbols of ‘clean politics’ also raked muck on the issue; and even Rahul Gandhi stepped into the cess pool. In the end, by poking their nose in the garbage of Delhi, everybody ended up showing the ugly face of politics in India.

POLITICS - The importance of Hyderabad

By Sunder Srivastava

The best of India must stop running independent side-shows, and bring their energy and vision to well-constructed political spaces, and let this be their contribution to changing India.

Every party is equally bad; there is nothing to celebrate in the victory or defeat of any of them - For the last 25 years, if not longer, this has been the view of many voters, and the reason so many of them have stayed away from the ballot boxes. Politics, millions of Indians believe, is a contest with no good candidates and parties. As a result, they have simply decided to stay away from the mess in large numbers.

Occasionally, there have been attempts to 'take on the political system' by candidates and groups who are fed up with the state of affairs. Every election brings forth at least a few people who decide that they must take the plunge and contest elections themselves. Their motivations are understandable - invariably they hope to see a better India, and want to see this hope made real swiftly. They are not usually ambitious for themselves, but ambitious for the country.

But that has never been enough. Neither the celebrity candidates - from Naval Tata decades ago to Meera Sanyal and Captain Gopinath today - nor the circles of kinship from the IITs or IIMs have made much difference. This is understable. Politics cannot be a momentary passion, rearing its head only at the time of elections. As a profession, it is highly noble, notwithstanding the depths to which India's netas have sunk it. Being in touch with the people, understanding their aspirations, working to realise these - this is representative politics of the highest kind. And like any other career that is fulfilling, politics too must be a life's work.

We must not dissuade or dismiss the Gopinaths and the Sanyals of this world. Many of us share their hopes for India, and we wish them well. But there is one thing we must all now recognise - without an organisation to undergird their politics, they have no chance. The best of India must stop running independent side-shows, and bring their energy and vision to well-constructed political spaces, strengthen them, and let this be their contribution to India.

A journey of a thousand miles
Enter Lok Satta. If there is one political organisation in India that stands any chance of creating the great social and economic reforms we will need in the future, it is this Andhra Pradesh-based party. Founded by the ex-bureaucrat Dr Jayaprakash Narayan as a citizens' movement more than a decade ago, Lok Satta has now put in the hard hours to prove to people across the state that its commitment to addressing their social and economic problems is real and permanent. During this period, and subsequent to the formation of the poitical party two years ago, Lok Satta has also acquired an enviable and unmatched reputation for integrity, with its consistent commitment to transparent organisational accounts and abjuring the politics of money.

The lesson from the defeats of various independent candidates over the years is that integrity alone isn't enough. A true alternative must offer clear and coherent views on how to deal with the challenges we face, and it is here that Lok Satta really scores over many others. The party has developed detailed proposals for dealing with such critical concerns as public health, transport, education, and other areas. These policies are a rare combination of competence and compassion, and if acted upon, they can begin to transform India dramatically.

Voters clearly recognise this distinction between mere passing campaigns of angst against criminal politics, and committed engagement of alternatives. Which is one reason why even as Bangalore and Mumbai recorded such low voter turnouts even in constituencies with highly hailed independent celebrity candidates, voters in Hyderabad showed up in great numbers. Their endorsement of Lok Satta was particularly heartening, as the party garnered 8% of the votes in the city, and JP himself swept to victory in Kukatpally assembly. Statewide, the party won over 750,000 votes. Contrast that to the lost deposits of those who appeared all-too-briefly on the political firmament.

Given its long history, it is certain that Lok Satta will build upon this foundation, and continue with renewed strength. In over a decade of working with communities and helping to address their problems, LS volunteers have shown that their commitment is permanent, and their intent and methods are beyond reproach.

The party carried its 10 years of prepration into the electoral battle. It spent only the barest amounts of money needed to genuinely reach the voters, it declared honestly the funds it raised and spent, and it offered only one 'inducement' to the voters - a better future for themselves and their children. No liquor, no fiscally irresponsible give-aways, and no opportunistic alliances (one major national party would have gladly welcomed Lok Satta into its coalition orbit).

As JP himself has noted, the first victory, however small, is significant - for it is "... a victory of the people. A victory over their fears, their inhibitions, and their despair. We have traveled a long road in reaching here, but the journey is longer still. Therefore, this electoral beginning is also a promise, that there will many more such days, when our voice of reason and informed debate will cut through the fog of 'issue-less' politics and put forward the ideas and the ideals that will change India once again."

Breaching the urban forts
Now the party is looking ahead to the political calendar, which it believes will favour its detail-oriented approach to contests. First up, in a few months, will be elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), followed by a host of other elections to smaller towns in the state, as well as to panchayats. The party is confident that it will begin to notch up small victories in many of these contests, and also begin to show what its governance and leadership can do in the places where it earns these first wins.

The GHMC elections present an opportunity on both these fronts. With Kukatpally won, JP has turned his attention to showing what this victory can mean for the residents of this constituency, and the party is busy setting up citizen centres in each of the municipal wards within the area. These centres will be more than mere facilitation centres to address problems that citizens have with civic agencies; they will be true community spaces where citizens can assemble among themselves to voice their plans, aspirations and expectations for the future.

Given JP's strong victory in the recent elections, and the smaller margins of victory one typically sees in local elections, it would be very surprising if Lok Satta did not win at least 6 seats in the GHMC, and not very surprising if it did thrice as well. Realising this, JP is inviting the brightest citizens in Hyderabad to take an active interest in civic affairs by contesting the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation as Lok Satta candidates. "It is a disgrace to all of us that people should go through the indignity of living amidst overflowing sewers or die of drinking water," he said, recalling that many stalwarts of the freedom struggle cut their teeth in politics by taking part in civic affairs and subsequently emerged as national leaders.

The party has finalized a sharply defined agenda for transforming the city in the next five years, including - to cite only three things here - (a) Supply of safe drinking water in all colonies and bastis which do not have the facility now with the installation of reverse osmosis plants; (b) Implementing a citizens' charter through a call centre, under which failure to attend to a public grievance in a specified period invites a Rs.100 per day penalty on the municipal corporation; and (c) Devolution of Rs.2 crore each year per ward, to be spent by an elected ward committee on tackling pressing local problems. Coupled to the party plans for restructuring city administration and planning, this is an agenda well beyond anything offered by the other parties in the State.

Winning even half a dozen seats in the GHMC elections would catapult Lok Satta into a real force in urban politics, and encourage party volunteers and loyalists in other cities to build upon this in other elections throughout India's cities. It is the best hope before us that we can emerge from the lacklustre politics of recent decades in the near future.