AAP aur Aapka Desh

The great saga that will decide the fate of the world’s largest democracy has begun.

While the recent AAP bubble is floating high in the middle class cadre, I would request all of you to read this post, citizens of Delhi and other cities where AAP is luring people with the promise of a corruption free country.

Delhi as a city has progressed 5 folds in the last 15 years under Sheila Dikshit’s leadership. The metro, airport, CNG, roads, better electricity (90’s was a nightmare) and commercial betterment.

The CWG scam and lousy work in the last couple of years rightly got the Congress led government out of office and on its knees.

Kejriwal led AAP had a golden chance to make Delhi a global city but they sought a seemingly valid excuse of Jan Lokpal Bill to get rid of their responsibilities and eye the central elections.

Here are some of the things Delhi needed and AAP could have done it without the Jan Lokpal Bill too:

1.   Yamuna has become a standstill sewer, 5 years could have been used to channelize a plan to clean the waters and make a bank where people could come for recreational purposes

2.   All the cities in the country lack town-planning and aesthetic hygine, Delhi could have been a national role model

3.   Implementing measures to promote green buildings and renewable energy would have not only made Delhi less polluted but garnered international acclaim for the city

4.   Dedicated lanes could have been constructed for cyclists to promote a healthy lifestyle and reduce traffic congestion

5.   The auto and taxi drivers in Delhi are rowdy and a nuisance to deal with. A lesson could have been learnt from Bombay here

6.   Suburbs like Noida and Gurgaon are using their close proximity to Delhi as a parasitical advantage and slowly draining commercial and corporate activities out of Delhi. Reforms could have been brought in place to attract corporates to relocate to Delhi by making new trade and business centers

7.   Delhi is a fortunate city with a glorious past. The city is bestowed with over a thousand years of living tradition in its monuments, they need restoration and 5 years could have been devoted to make Delhi a World Heritage City, hence increasing tourism

8.   Under Mughal patronage Delhi witnessed a brief stint of renaissance in artisans with mastery over miniature paintings, calligraphy, urdu poetry, culinary arts and music of Delhi Gharana. The state could have aggressively pursued revival of these dying art forms which are integral to the city’s culture and history

9.   Delhi is teeming with a crop of artists, musicians and designers. The state could have fuelled the growth in these sectors with exchange programs, international exhibitions and concerts; putting Delhi on the global arts & culture map

10.    Community centres, sports clubs, public toilets and parks exist physically but most of them are in a dilapidated condition, in 5 years they could have had a face-lift to truly serve the citizens

11.    The new government could have worked towards redeeming the city of CWG scam by developing infrastructure that would have enabled Delhi to bid for hosting Olympics

12.    Delhi and Bombay are one of the most populous cities in the world, with unimaginable load on civic infrastructure and resources. The centre along with the state governments in these cities must workout a plan to cultivate other metros as centers for trade and commerce so there can be load-shedding on these immensely overpopulated centres. This could have been initiated by AAP

13.    And lastly, women need to be safe in a city that is the capital of this country

There are a 100 other things that could have been done, but this muffler clad monkey made a mockery of governance by lying on the streets like a mongrel and bringing a new gimmick every day for 49 days.

Harping on the tune “Hum desh ke dabe kuchle log hain...” may strike an emotional chord with the masses but apart from "corruption free India” what is your mandate AAP? Your foreign and economic policy?

Had Kejriwal been a man of integrity and vision, after a failed attempt from BJP to make government, he would have declined Congress’ support and appealed to the citizens of Delhi to bring him in majority in a re-election.

Delhi is still just a state, a part of India. This is the hour when our nation stands at a crucial juncture and India needs assertive leadership to provide:

1.   Food and energy security for the country

2.   Strengthen defence against aggressive Chinese encroachment and extremist terrorist nurseries in our neighbourhood

3.   Nurture an environment where talent from our top institutions doesn’t flee to other countries on first given opportunity but looks forward to working in India

4.   Policies to control population. 1.25 billion Indians out of 7 billion world population? We breed like monkeys and rabbits!

  5.    State run hospitals and schools should be at par with what their private counterparts offer

6.   Overhaul the educational infrastructure to not only educate but groom evolved Indians of the future who take the country towards global leadership

7.   Work towards obtaining membership of G8 and permanent membership of UN Security Council

8.   Policies that are industry, entrepreneur and investor friendly

9.   Cars = German, Electronics = Japanese, Medical Apparatus = Scandinavian, Home Decor = Italian, Weapons = Russian... Where the hell is India on the industrial map of the world? Our next government should fix this, it is a shame to import technology and industrial apparatus when we can very well produce our own.

10.  Service tax, VAT, income tax, sales tax... is there an end to the taxes we pay? An industrialized nation with a positive balance of trade and high GDP will ease that

11. Substantial sanctions to propel research in this country, Kapil Sharma and Sunny Leone won’t lead you to the dawn of future, scientists will

12. Be a secular and scientific nation. Let temples, mosques, churches and gurudwaras fall under audit and their collections be taxable for state monitored social welfare

13.   Preserve our cultural and social heritage. Following the trail of upper middle class, the nation is slowly degenerating into pseudo Americans and it won’t be long before thousands of languages, art forms, crafts, attire and cuisine will die if we follow the western way of life. Embrace their positive attributes but don’t ape their lifestyle at the cost of your own heritage and identity

     I speak for myself here and hope to find consensus in my readers. The leader and government which provides India with the above mentioned points is the government I would want to vote for.

If this may seem to be an idealistic portrayal of governance, one can chose for a candidate and a party which is closest to the task of truly developing our nation into a 21st century leader. 

It is a humble appeal to my readers and to all Indians to judge who you vote for...

Jai Hind