" MY VOTE IS NOT FOR AAP " - TAVLEEN SINGH
My vote is not for AAP
Tavleen Singh
January 12, 2014
The bubble of euphoria that is making a disturbingly large number
of Indians see the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in soft focus needs to
be pierced before it is too late.And, as someone who has been wary of Arvind Kejriwal, Anna Hazare
and friends from day one, I consider it my duty to perform this task.It will make me less popular than I already am with Leftists, secularists,
Stalinists, Leninists et al, but I did not become a political columnist to
win a popularity contest.So the venom they spew worries me not one bit. The truth is I worry
much more when they agree with something I say, and it is partly
because of their unstinting support for AAP that I feel the need to
start ringing alarm bells.
No matter how good AAP looks at the moment, no matter how humble
Kejriwal’s demeanour and how sweet the song he sang at his inaugural,
we need to be very, very careful.Incidentally, the song that he said was the AAP anthem is from an
old Hindi film called 'Paigham',and it was disingenuous of him not to
mention this.I thought it had been written by AAP’s resident poet[ Kumar Vishwas ]
and was quite astonished when a friend pulled it up on YouTube and I
spotted Dilip Kumar and Vyjayanthimala in starring roles.But, a small deception compared to the bigger deception that AAP
is trying to pull off politically and economically, with the unstinting
support of Leftist hacks and a caboodle of semi-retired ‘professionals’
who have leapt on the AAP bandwagon.These include bankers, businessmen, dancers and IT whiz kids, most of
whom appear not to have noticed that the economic policies AAP stands
for are the opposite of those they made their money from.
So let’s talk about AAP’s economic vision.It is usually best expressed by Prashant Bhushan, who unfailingly
makes it clear that he despises the private sector for
‘looting’ resources that in his view belong to the people of India.He forgets that this is exactly what Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira
Gandhi believed, so they banned the private sector from most areas
of enterprise and poured people’s money into the public sector.It was when public sector companies failed to make profits (except
for corrupt officials) that the private sector was allowed in, but only
in a small way.No matter what the losses of ‘Coalgate’ and 2G, they are minuscule
compared with the losses caused by coal that burns in underground fields
and the natural gas that is wasted daily because public sector companies
do not have the technology to exploit it.
AAP’s ideologues know that corrupt officials have ruined India.
That is why there was the movement led by the mighty Anna Hazare for
a strong Lokpal.But what is puzzling is AAP’s solution.This in one simple sentence is: we know officials can be corrupt,
so we must give more power to honest officials to catch
the corrupt ones.Where are these honest officials going to come from and how long
will they stay honest?And, if private investment is so evil, where is the money going to
come from to give the ‘aam aadmi’ free electricity, water, schools
and healthcare?
AAP’s political vision is so frightening that if implemented
(may the gods have mercy!), it could turn India into a Stalinist
police state.Citizen Kejriwal has asked every citizen of Delhi to start conducting
private ‘sting’ operations on officials who ask them
for a bribe or indulge in other forms of corruption.What happens then?Will there be a guillotine in Vijay Chowk to which these officials
will be led or will they be tried by an already clogged justice system?And, when every citizen becomes a policeman, what happens to
the rule of law?
As for AAP’s more gimmicky political ideas, these have already
started to die their own death.All that drama about using public transport for the inaugural
at Ramlila Maidan was just drama.Because the very next day Kejriwal gave his ministers Innova cars.And, all that talk about living humbly was just talk because the
chief minister is now looking for a ‘smaller’ house, but smaller
than two five-bedroom houses is not exactly small.As for the new ministers, will they be living in the filthy alleys and
squalid bazaars in which the ‘aam aadmi’ lives in Delhi, or will they
find ‘small’ houses in more salubrious areas?
It will not be long before even the most gullible new voters see
through the deceptions of AAP, but it is important that the deceptions
become apparent before the 2014 general elections.Recent polls indicate that Kejriwal is being seen as a more credible
prime minister than Rahul Gandhi.Can you hear the sound of those alarm bells?
Follow Tavleen Singh on Twitter @ tavleen_singh--------------------------------------------------- RELATED PLEASE :--------------------------------------------------
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