Individual or people initiatives, taken at the right time and
in the proper perspective, can bring about a desired change. As Victor Hugo
said, no one can stop an idea when its time has come. We have seen this in
world history as well as our own: movements, uprisings, revolutions. We have
tasted success with the Right to Information act passed by the parliament after
Arvind Kejriwal and others took up the issue seriously and successfully to its
logical conclusion. Attempts to dilute its importance with amendments have been
resisted, and the RTI act continues to illumine the other catalysts of change.
Spurred by its success, Anna Hazare and others including
Kejriwal took up the fight against corruption up to a point where it could
become a central issue in our country the last two years. However, India
Against Corruption, the organization that spearheaded the movement, became too ambitious,
was split, and the movement declined. We are now on the anticlimax in the fight
against corruption. But the corruption issue is not dead, and the people will
rise again at the right time with revised perspectives. Movements that fail in
their first attempt usually take time to resume in the second, even the third
avatar. At this point of time, however, we must admit it has become a political
farce in the run up to the Karnataka assembly elections with the kettle and the
pot calling each other black.
Hazare and other leaders of the defunct India Against Corruption
may still work out strategies for reviving the movement. But that is not my
subject today. And I am not discussing the merits and demerits, or the prospects of the Aam Aadmi Party established
by Kejriwal in the forthcoming elections to the Delhi state assembly. What, however, I find worth discussing is the
innovative idea of having 71
separate manifestoes to the 70 seat
Delhi legislature, one each for the 70 constituencies of the assembly, and one
for the entire state.
You may wonder what’s so exciting about 71 manifestoes when
even a single state-wide manifesto of a political party is just a piece of
paper that is neither respected nor implemented. Who takes a manifesto seriously anyway? The
manifestoes of parties are prepared by committees consisting of politicians far
removed from the people, and released when the campaign is almost over. Not
prepared by the ones who stand for elections, and interact with the people even
if for the limited purpose of getting votes. Our elections are becoming more
personality oriented rather than party, ideology or program oriented. Personality
cults are being established in almost all parties, regional and national. In
such a scenario there is little place for manifestoes.
Now comes Kejriwal to revive the manifesto as the first step
to prepare for an election that is not immediate but impending. And he wants
the people of each constituency to prepare their own manifesto along with the
volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party. The people’s involvement, at the level of
ideation and for drawing out a program to implement during the five year term
of the new government, will go a long way in empowering the voters as the real
rulers of their state. Once the voters have agreed on their manifesto, they
will be in a better position to select their candidate to carry out not her/his
promises but the program set by the voters themselves. Rebel candidates should
not be given much importance in this scheme of things.
Kejriwal says the state manifesto will be drafted by pulling
common issues from the 70 constituency
manifestoes, and including them in a comprehensive document for the entire
city.
Will it work? Doesn’t it sound utopian? It does at first glance. But it can work. The
method should be tested in Delhi. It can be improved upon after the Delhi
experience, and tried in other small states. There will certainly be hurdles of
various types especially by vested interests. Democracy is not a static but
dynamic form of government, and it is evolving more than any other form. Whether
multiple manifestoes will yield electoral success immediately can’t be
foretold. But electoral success or not, the innovation will definitely benefit
the evolution to a better democracy. Other parties will have to follow the
trend sooner or later. The workers of a party and other active citizens will
gain a say in development of their constituencies and states. It’s a sure way
to promote participation, and arrest fascism that is currently showing up.
May I add that we had a similar experience in Goa in 2010 at
the panchayat level while formulating the Regional Plan 2021. Each panchayat gram
sabha had a say in deciding various aspects of the plan related to their areas,
and in determining their village status. The RP 2021 may have been put in the
deep slumber mode. But people have realized their potential. The potential did
turn into an assertion of power to vote in the Goa elections in March and May
2012.
The road is long, but if we want to, we can reach the
destination. Start small, and realize that small is beautiful.
