Nikhil Kulkarni

There’s a bit of a back-story, so please bear with me.

I think the journey (yes, I’d call it that) started on the New Year’s eve in 2008 (as in end of 2007, did I get the usage of New Year’s eve right?) with that long and highly charged up discussions with Pole & Seth. We were in high spirits (indeed) and each of us were quite particular that our point of view/line of thought was the more appropriate one. The discussions were so involved and loud, that the policemen driving by stopped to enquire about what was going on, when we had stepped out to get some food at around 3 AM on the streets of BTM Layout.

When I look back now, that summer seemed to last forever, I was what one would refer to as a ‘bleeding heart liberal‘. Sounds quite nice, no? Used to feel quite good as well. I don’t know if it was the influence of Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi or following publications like Outlook, The Week, India Today very closely or even looking up to news-persons like Prannoy Roy,Barkha Dutt that made me turn into one. It could also do with the fact that I was just out of college then and hadn’t really started to go through the grind of the real world. In fact, my concern for the underprivileged, minorities and those who didn’t have enough access and facilities was much more than what I had for myself & my own people. I still had a very open mind on things like reservations, (supposed) security for the minorities, schemes/programs for the poor & underprivileged (not in a way that there was a need for such programs, but in a way it was their right to get such schemes) and to be honest, it was more in line with what the Congress stood for. I believed that a BJP government was terrible for the ‘secular fabric’ of our country (saffronization in text books et al, repeated noises about the Ram Mandir) and that the minorities in our country needed to be treated much better. In a way, it was quite fair as well. Though I used to follow politics closely, I still didn’t have very firm views on some key issues and the Congress’s ideologies were quite suitable (now I’d say convenient) to identify with. And why not? The Manmohan Singh government was in power for close to 3 years and hadn’t done all that badly. In fact, it appeared that the government was very well-meaning and it was the Left Front that was holding the government to ransom and not letting it function properly. Moreover, with well-educated & highly qualified people like P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Jairam Ramesh, Sachin Pilot, Jitin Prasada in the government, one had all the reasons to believe that the government would do the right things for its people. I was very sceptical about Sonia Gandhi’s hold over the government though the NAC, but then I was hoping the socialist schemes of the NAC would be balanced with some right (not that kind of right)-minded action from the good minds and souls in the government. And let me confess, I was taken by the charm of people like Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze. They appeared to be so do-goody and intellectual that I truly believed they meant the right things. But most importantly, Rahul Gandhi wasn’t as big an entity as he is now.

Much water has flown down the Sabarmati (how could I not bring in the Gujarat angle!) since and somehow I feel that my views on politics and governance (yes, I’m using that lofty word!) have undergone a huge transformation. Perhaps, it’s also got to do with my progression as an individual as well and how I see my hopes and aspirations coming true over the years. I’m in my late twenties, married and working in a tech startup hoping to make it big like many of us do. My wife is a recent Masters graduate and will be joining the workforce soon. My sister has finished her MBBS and has been studying and appearing for umpteen PG entrance exams. My father, a senior officer in a Karnataka state government department, will be retiring in about a year’s time and whenever we talk of his work he has only two things to say – first, there’s too much interference by politicians (and their relatives, friends, family, neighbours, drivers, maids & pretty much everyone  who takes their name) that doesn’t let him do his work and second, you only work for ten months’ salary as the rest of it goes in taxes anyway. Though I have my disagreements with him on the first point, I’m in complete agreement on the second! The point being that the schemes don’t really well work on the ground.

Now considering at what stage I am in life and the fact that the elections present us an opportunity to choose whom we elect to be in the government for the next five years, I think it is important that this decision be made along the right (again, not that right. Not yet!) lines. Also, when I think about it, while it is definitely about what the government can do for me, it’s also about what the government can do for this country. Yes, there are numbers that you can throw around and talk about where the country is heading – GDP growth rates, inflation, UN Human Development Index numbers, Transparency International’s Corruption Index etc., but there are also certain actions/events that define the movement of a country in a certain direction. For e.g.  the nuclear tests of 1998, the Kargil War, the IC-814 hijack, performance in the Olympics, hosting key international events like the Cricket World Cup, CWG etc. One will also get a sense of how the country is doing when you travel abroad! When you speak to people in those countries & understand their perception of your country, but most importantly, when you need to exchange the currency! Till a few years back, we used to feel that one strong advantage India had over other countries was the demographic dividend. As a country with a large young population, India was expected to hugely benefit from it. But then what happens when that large young population is unproductive? The situation is so precarious now that we’re actually looking at a demographic disaster. From the article linked:

One-third of our unemployed are graduates and above. If we don’t create enough jobs for them, we won’t be talking about a demographic dividend — it will be a demographic disaster.

Is it worrying? Definitely. Has the government done something about it? Oh, absolutely. And what has it done? The much bandied about MNREGA scheme wherein people are paid for a certain minimum days of work each year, which, in many cases means doing nothing. Yes, there’s the National Skill Development Council, a public-private partnership that aims at skilling/upskilling 500 million people in India by 2022. Being in the education space, I have seen some of the work that’s happening there and we’d be very lucky if we get anywhere close to the numbers targeted. If the current situation continues, I don’t think we’re too far from seeing days where there will be open skirmishes, looting & arson happening sporadically because the youth can’t find suitable employment and are frustrated with their lives. I don’t think we’re paying enough attention to the hidden anger and frustration among the youth today that manifests in multiple ways – the road rage, large set of youth whose ‘job’ is in ‘real estate’, decently educated youth who migrate from the villages only to work as construction workers and feel even more deprived being right where they expected their dreams to come true. If left unaddressed, this could turn out to be a huge problem in the coming years.

Sorry, I digress. You know, my problem with the Congress is not so much about its policies or its ideology, definitely not the love kind that Rahul Gandhi talks about. That really makes me cringe. A healthy democracy needs parties to represent different thought processes and Congress, for a country like India, fits the role of a left of center party quite well. In all fairness, they came to power for two terms and had the mandate to pursue the policies that they deem fit for the people who elected them. That we had have (it’s not over yet!) a lame duck Accidental Prime Minister run by a remote control is our absolute misfortune, but then you’d have expected things to be still fine between these two power centers (complete nonsense as we all know where the true power lies), as long as they didn’t indulge in large scale looting of our resources, look away while national image nosedived and become apathetic towards anything that seemed to help the country move forward.

So here’s what gets my goat. Each time a Congress minster/spokesperson/party functionary opens his/her mouth, I feel insulted, first as a reasonable and a rational individual and secondly, as an Indian citizen. It’s absolutely fine to criticize your opponents and take potshots at them once in a while. Some unnecessary things are even said in the heat of the moment in TV studios or during campaigning. But it’s nauseating to see the Congress (through its people) talk about each and everything in a patronizing and condescending tone. And what hurts the most is to see these Oxbridge education, dictionary-spewing ministers treat us as if we’re living off their leftovers. I’m sorry if this sounds crude, but that’s really the kind of feeling I get when I hear them speak.

I’m afraid this post will run really long if I start to write in detail about each one of them, but here we go anyway. Now what do I say about Kapil Sibal, our IT, Telecom & Law Minister and formerly the HRD Minister. That the Aakash tablet  has been floating in the sky and never got to the earth is another matter, we haven’t seen a single thing that can help our IT industry move forward. All we hear once in a while is how social media needs to be regulated and that random Twitter accounts and URLs are blocked by some Junior Under Secretary in the Telecom Department. As for Zero Loss, I really hope the people of Chandni Chowk teach him what zero loss actually means – that you lose an election by getting exactly zero votes. And then we’ve seen Mr. Salman Khurshid on TV multiple times, haven’t we? Here’s more about Mr. Khurshid from his website –  A dynamic leader of mankind. who has combined in himself the introspection of a man of learning and the boldness of a man of action…..A product of DPS, St. Stephen’s and Oxford, he is an eminent lawyer of the Supreme court of India and an orator par excellence.  We all have seen that oratory par excellence on TV for sure. But for what? Refuting allegations against misuse of funds by his trust,  attacking Narendra Modi & BJP (that’s the prime duty of all Congressmen anyway). Heard anything about our external affairs or foreign policy from him even a single time over the last couple of years? And even if we hear it’s that an incursion of a foreign country into our territory is an acne that can be cured by applying an ointment. I’m sure our soldiers’ confidence must’ve been boosted a thousand times over after hearing a statement like this. Our Defence Minister doesn’t do anything anyway, so less said the better about him. And then there’s our very own Manish Tewari. Well, he isn’t actually for Oxford or Cambridge or some such hot shot university, but the way he speaks makes you believe he’s probably from a hotter shotter (for the lack of a better term!) university! One that perhaps is on an alien planet. Honestly, I can’t think of a better term than ‘verbal diarrhea’ to describe what I imagine when he speaks.  The list doesn’t end here. There are just so many more who only pontificate in front of the TV cameras and just don’t seem to care about what’s actually happening –  P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sanjay Jha (he’s more the Johnny Lever kind of side actor providing some comic relief) and the list goes on. In fact, I’d also hold bureaucrats like Montek Singh Ahluwalia guilty of just sermonizing and doing nothing to address the issues. In such a case, I don’t think anyone in their right minds would want another term for this government and have this set of people in power again. Clearly, there’s a need for change.

Naturally, you’d turn to the main opposition party, the BJP in such a scenario. But then if you’ve read the title and the post this far, you’d know which side I’m leaning towards anyway. Let’s leave that aside for a moment and take a good, hard look at the joker (and I mean this literally) in the pack – the AAP. This party is actually a much better opposition party than the main opposition party. I mean, who in this world sits on a dharna when you yourself are in power. Yes, there’s all the technical detail that the Delhi govt is powerless and the Central Govt has all the powers. But if you’re in power, it’s expected of you to be resourceful, tactful & intelligent enough to get your work done as long as it’s being done in the best interest of the people. But no, you need the cameras around you every moment and you start crying like a child if you’re deprived of the chocolate that is media attention, that too the favorable kind only. Hence, it is not without reason that I call AAP the joker in the pack. While many people refer to the Indian Elections as a circus and in a circus, what really sticks with you are those one or two acts by the jokers rather than the acts by other artists. Similarly, AAP is that joker who doesn’t really matter much in the larger scheme of things, but something that both the circus show presenter (the media in this case) as well as the audience (us) need to make the show more entertaining.  This is what I had tweeted when the Mr. Kejriwal was sworn in as the CM of Delhi :

Today is clearly Mr. Kejriwal’s day & he deserves this for sure. But how long before disappointment/disillusionment starts to creep in?

— Nikhil Kulkarni (@nikhilnk) December 28, 2013

Honestly, I don’t have much regard for the national leadership of AAP.  There’s something about them that makes me very uncomfortable. Is it their I-know-what’s-best-for-this-country-so-you-shut-up attitude? Unsubstantiated self-righteousness is what I’m probably looking for. It’s perhaps also supreme leader’s u-turn at each important juncture, be it about entering politics or taking support from the Congress or taking fancy government accommodation or even about taking security for himself. Mr. Kejriwal reminds me of this typical first bencher topper in school, someone who’d raise his hand to answer every question to earn (needless) brownie points from the teacher, point out those who talk in the class, doesn’t let his homework/notes to be copied and reports those who are copying in the exam! All this, just to prove that he’s better than the rest and claim a higher moral ground. You know, somewhat like this character! Chatur, our Mr. Kejriwal definitely is.

Their leadership aside, I’ve found something very peculiar about the set of people who support AAP. On one hand, there are those from the lowest strata of the society, those in the jhuggi jhopdis, the rickshawwallahs and even among the Muslims (who need to introspect why they’re looked at as a vote bank and not as individuals who can think for themselves). On the other hand, you have corporate bigwigs, film and TV personalities, journalists joining the AAP. I wonder if any of them have any strong ideological attachment to the party (the party itself isn’t clear about what it stands for in the first place!) and are here just because it keeps them in the headlines. APP has already seen so many prominent people come & go – Mallika Sarabhai, Capt Gopinath, Remo Fernandes among others and we hear everyday of Lok Sabha candidates returning their tickets. Come May 16th, I’m pretty sure the process of exit will be even more accelerated. It’s very difficult to have such diverse of people work together on a consistent basis & build something. When you have a specific activity, say a hunger strike, a dharna or even an election to fight, different people can come together & see things through, but working on building an organization, especially a political party is going to be highly challenging.

However, there’s something  that the AAP is doing that’s very dangerous. No, I’m not talking about AAP being CIA funded or some such thing. It’s quite alarming if that’s indeed the case. (For now, the claim appears to be based on a lot of circumstantial material and if there’s any merit in these accusations, there must be a proper investigation.) I’m really concerned about the volunteers  and supporters of AAP from among the youth. I’m a volunteer for different initiatives & I understand the efforts that go into putting something together, especially when it’s driven by volunteers. The amount of passion and energy needed to see things through is very high and I sincerely compliment the AAP volunteers for what they’re doing, given the lack of a proper organizational structure and resouces (or so I’d like to believe). Among such young volunteers and supporters, there are those who think it’s cool to put on the topi and say a few things about how rooting out corruption is the cure of all evils plaguing the country. And then there are those who truly believe in the ideology (if such a thing exists for the AAP) and think Mr. Kejriwal is God reincarnate. I think the ones who look for cool things will move on to the next cool thing once the elections are over. It’s really the committed to AAP  kind who will be left truly disillusioned once AAP disintegrates. They’ll probably lost hope in the system and will not participate in any further activities related to politics etc. Yes, AAP may continue to exist as a regional party with some presence in Delhi & Haryana, but the oxygen on which it thrives, the media attention, is more or less likely to be cut off after the elections. Clearly, AAP is not a choice for me.  Most of all, I don’t get their gripe against Ambani & Adani for every single thing that doesn’t go according to their plans. I wonder what Ms. Sanyal & Mr. Balakrishnan think of this, but then they’re too busy posing with brooms for the cameras.

Now then, to the BJP. Honestly, I wouldn’t even be considering BJP as strongly as I’m pitching for it now if it weren’t for Mr. Modi. For a moment, imagine if the same campaign were to led by Mr. Advani or Ms. Swaraj and Rahul Gandhi would’ve perhaps come out shining! Congress, being Congress, would’ve found some way to hold on to power or at least have a very weak NDA govt come to power while ensuring the safety of its leaders, rather its the leader. Such a scenario can hardly be visualized now. In fact, the Delhi Durbar is clearly under threat with the imminent arrival of Mr. Modi to 7 RCR and a lot of people will have a tough time getting used to life where power/favours are going to be very difficult to come by. I’d expect Mr. Modi to be fair & scruplous while dealing with his opponents but also ensure that any wrongdoing doesn’t go unpunished. While he’s proven himself as an administrator, Mr. Modi is clearly the leader the country needs at this time to get it out of the current mess. And if you ask me what mess are we living in, I’ll give you the benefit of doubt and assume that you’re living a privileged life and you aren’t really bothered by what’s going on. Ask me again, and I’ll believe you’re rubbing salt on my wounds 🙂

Well, here’s a man who’s been a Chief Minister of one of India’s key states for more than a decade, won multiple elections by large margins and has been recognized for that (many times by the Central government itself). And if you’re saying that there’s been no development at all in Gujarat and what Mr. Modi claims is all falsehood, you’re actually insulting the intelligence of the voters in Gujarat. Those of us living outside of Gujarat can possibly be taken in by all the marketing & PR glitz (as Rahul Gandhi termed it in today’s interview), but to say that people of Gujarat are not sensible enough to vote the right government is equivalent to insulting them.

Fair, you say.  But what about 2002? Again, you can get into all the technicalities, but the fact of the matter remains that no one in public life in the recent past (or even earlier) has faced such scrutiny from multiple quarters and still has managed to come out clean. Things have turned around so much that those who were constantly badgering him are now playing court-court to avoid arrest! And what’s that for?  For embezzling funds meant for a memorial for riot victims! But then they’re activists and that’s perhaps a fair thing to do in their books. They can speak fancy English, say a few standard sentences about secularism on TV and get away with it, right? And one more thing, if you think that what a few people said in the sting operations conducted by magazines like Tehelka/Cobrapost is the absolute truth, I’ll question your intelligence  🙂

There’s been enough written about fact that while Mr. Modi may have been cleared of any wrongdoing legally, there still some  moral  questions. Well, in that case, we’ll never to able to move forward. In the same vein, what about Mr. Rahul Gandhi partying right after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai? RTI & Women’s Empowerment are nice things to say on TV, but can we trust this man with the security of our nation. While every second sentence spoken by Mr. Gandhi tom toms the RTI, why is their government unwilling to furnish the details of his and his mother’s foreign trips under the same RTI? More so, when the details of foreign trips of other MPs were furnished? Hence, it’s very easy to get into an infinite loop giving arguments & counter arguments. However, it’s important that we move ahead.

Finally, what about secularism and that Mr. Modi will be a threat to minorities if he comes to power? If you watch the debates on English news channels and read the English newspapers and didn’t know what was actually happening, you’d be under the impression that Mr. Modi will go around on a killing rampage the moment he takes the oath as Prime Minister. Honestly, if his many years of peaceful rule in Gujarat and his interviews/speeches do not address your concerns, perhaps nothing will. And Mr. Modi is doing the right thing by not getting drawn into the secularism game as it’s being played by the Congress and the mainstream media, esp. the English media. Not only is he setting the rules and playing as per his own terms, but also winning handsomely.

I’m clear about a couple of things though. One, that secularism, as it’s being understood & practiced now is a complete sham and it does no one any good. Secondly, just raising a bogey of anti-corruption and projecting that as a solution to all ills (especially when your own record at governance is laughable) isn’t going to move things forward even by an inch. What India now needs is a government under a strong, capable leader, backed by a qualified & efficient team to first make up for the time lost & then take the country towards the path of higher growth & progress. Only a government under Mr. Modi can provide that and hence he gets my vote in this election.

PS. Why I’m also excited about the NDA government come to power is because I’m expecting some highly qualified people to be a part of the government. People like Arun Shourie, Maj Gen B C Khanduri, Suresh Prabhu had done some excellent work in the previous NDA government and I’m them and some others as well to deliver in the new government as well. Maybe the next post will be around what a Modi cabinet would look like!