THE LIT MATCHSTICK -------- What began as a popular mass movement against corruption has finally culminated in a seat of power, of the capital city/state, no less, but it looks like therein lies the challenge for the AAP now. How does it get out of activist and populist mode, and temper its idealism with large doses of reality in order to provide what it has promised – transparent, clean, corruption-free governance. The party has been in power for less than a month now and already it appears as if the honeymoon period is beginning to get over. Social media can be a double edged sword at times, and the jokes will only get more vitriolic. But can the visionaries of the AAP still continue to be driven by social media and SMS- based referendums? They have been trusted with a responsibility by the people and it is their job to carry it out to the best of their ability, without fear or prejudice but also without resorting to knee-jerk populist gimmicks favoring their core constituency – otherwise what difference is there between them and any other mainstream political party? To be fair to them, I have never thought that the AAP is the magic silver bullet , the 10th avatar of Vishnu, or Superman – and certainly not all combined – nor do I think they are Satan’s spawn who will push the country into anarchy, chaos and bloody revolution. It is true that some of their moves so far smack of populism and vigilantism and that can become dangerous if not checked early enough..... ------ The full blog can be read at - cmehendale.wordpress/2014/01/21/the-lit-matchstick/ And for the sake of a saner discussion, do read the full blog before jumping to conclusions and accusations of being baised or paid or whatever.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 07:37:16 +0000
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