Captain GR Gopinath (file pic)
(Captain GR Gopinath founded Air Deccan and is considered a pioneer in the low-cost airline sector. He recently joined Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party.)
Anna Hazare gave the youth of this country hope. Hope for a better tomorrow. The young and educated were either largely apathetic and cynical and smug in their cocoon of complacency - their pubs, clubs and social media - and oblivious to the political decadence or civic issues, or constantly critical and sceptical of everything.
On the other hand, the uneducated youth were seething with anger that they were left behind and exploited and were not part of the new economic prosperity as they felt alienated. The increasing rise of Naxalism and other separatist elements are evidence of the growing divide. We also had the other India, the large teeming population of poor and dispossessed who watched helplessly.
Anna gave courage to the common people and demonstrated that they have to script their own future otherwise it will be mortgaged by the corrupt political class. He demanded good governance and autonomous institutions like Jan Lokpal and wanted to restore power and dignity back to the people.
Though he did not succeed in getting the Jan Lokpal bill passed in Parliament as the wily politicians abused his trust and outsmarted him, he succeeded in breathing life and optimism into the people's movement and proved by leading fearlessly that if they were united and steadfast in purpose, they could be the agents of change .
I was drawn to the India Against Corruption movement. And I took part in that movement in Bangalore's Freedom Park and addressed many rallies along with Santosh Hegde.
Unfortunately the movement split with Kejriwal founding AAP.
I felt more than a political party, it is a movement for clean politics of humility, transparency, honesty, good governance and inner party democracy. And I felt I must give my time to support the party and help build it into an enduring organisation.
The AAP's DNA is inherited from Anna. While Anna gave hope and aspirations, Kejriwal gave the ideology and the movement a platform to convert into political action. The party is still young, but Kejriwal and his colleagues have tirelessly and fearlessly built the party into a robust outfit and taken the country by storm by capturing the seat of power in Delhi.
More than that event, they have completely given a new dimension to politics and shown that elections can be fought and won without money, muscle and caste backing. That is the biggest contribution to Indian politics.
The challenge will be how to scale this up nationally and ensure that the elected representatives of AAP down the line do not succumb to arrogance, greed and abuse of power and go the way of all flesh. So AAP must find a way to transmute the values of the party, and of Anna and Kejriwal, to its cadres as the party is bound to grow exponentially across the country on the new-found optimism after the success of Delhi.
The enemy of AAP is not from without Congress or BJP, it is from within. Can it remain humble and be true to its ideology of being servants of the people and not masters once they come to power?
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this blog are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
Anna Hazare gave the youth of this country hope. Hope for a better tomorrow. The young and educated were either largely apathetic and cynical and smug in their cocoon of complacency - their pubs, clubs and social media - and oblivious to the political decadence or civic issues, or constantly critical and sceptical of everything.
On the other hand, the uneducated youth were seething with anger that they were left behind and exploited and were not part of the new economic prosperity as they felt alienated. The increasing rise of Naxalism and other separatist elements are evidence of the growing divide. We also had the other India, the large teeming population of poor and dispossessed who watched helplessly.
Anna gave courage to the common people and demonstrated that they have to script their own future otherwise it will be mortgaged by the corrupt political class. He demanded good governance and autonomous institutions like Jan Lokpal and wanted to restore power and dignity back to the people.
Though he did not succeed in getting the Jan Lokpal bill passed in Parliament as the wily politicians abused his trust and outsmarted him, he succeeded in breathing life and optimism into the people's movement and proved by leading fearlessly that if they were united and steadfast in purpose, they could be the agents of change .
I was drawn to the India Against Corruption movement. And I took part in that movement in Bangalore's Freedom Park and addressed many rallies along with Santosh Hegde.
Unfortunately the movement split with Kejriwal founding AAP.
I felt more than a political party, it is a movement for clean politics of humility, transparency, honesty, good governance and inner party democracy. And I felt I must give my time to support the party and help build it into an enduring organisation.
The AAP's DNA is inherited from Anna. While Anna gave hope and aspirations, Kejriwal gave the ideology and the movement a platform to convert into political action. The party is still young, but Kejriwal and his colleagues have tirelessly and fearlessly built the party into a robust outfit and taken the country by storm by capturing the seat of power in Delhi.
More than that event, they have completely given a new dimension to politics and shown that elections can be fought and won without money, muscle and caste backing. That is the biggest contribution to Indian politics.
The challenge will be how to scale this up nationally and ensure that the elected representatives of AAP down the line do not succumb to arrogance, greed and abuse of power and go the way of all flesh. So AAP must find a way to transmute the values of the party, and of Anna and Kejriwal, to its cadres as the party is bound to grow exponentially across the country on the new-found optimism after the success of Delhi.
The enemy of AAP is not from without Congress or BJP, it is from within. Can it remain humble and be true to its ideology of being servants of the people and not masters once they come to power?
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this blog are the personal opinions of the author. NDTV is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information on this article. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The information, facts or opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
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