NEW ALTERNATIVE?
Aam Aadmi Party has come up before the people promising an
alternative politics. It is evident that
people in the whole country are fed up with all the political parties. They are looking for an alternative. A large number of people across India are
looking up to Aam Aadmi Party.
AAP has formed a government at Delhi with outside support of
Congress party. But the question is
‘will AAP deliver’. Many are disappointed by what they see happening under AAP
government. Apart from their campaign
against corruption, AAP seems to have to clear vision for the nation. They have not spelt out their policies on
number of very important issues.
If we look at UPA government dispassionately we may have to
admit that UPA has achieved a lot in 10 years. No other coalition governments
in the past have achieved so much. The
average economic growth has been much higher than the growth NDA had
achieved. The lowest economic growth
under UPA was not very much lower than the average growth NDA had achieved in
five years. Apart from this UPA has
given its people ‘Right to Information, Employment Guarantee to the rural poor
(MGNREGA), Food Security Act, Lok Pal Act, The Right to Fair Compensation and
Transparency in Land Acquisition - Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act.
UPA is guilty of rampant corruption: corruption in Common Wealth
Games, Adarsh scam, 2G scam, coal gate scam, to mention the most prominent
scams among all. UPA II was most
inefficient government in tackling inflation and price rise. The UPA has
suffered a terrible decline in its popularity.
BJP has put up Narndra Modi as its prime ministerial
candidate to promise that it will take people to a paradise of good governance
and development. However, BJP can never
claim to be above corruption. Has Modi
washed himself clean of his 2002 crimes?
Their communal agenda of bringing Hindu Rashtra would spell disaster for
the nation.
The regional parties are coming together to hammer out an
alternative to both BJP and Congress parties.
Their belief is that neither NDA nor UPA will get enough seats to form a
government. These parties also want to
restrain Modi and BJP from forging ahead for power. They believe Congress will not be able to
restrain BJP and Modi.
If we look closely coming together of regional parties will
not provide a cohesive alliance. Not a single regional party is innocent of
corruption, caste and communal politics.
In UP SP is not only involved in corruption but it is also accused of promoting
‘gunda raj’. Biju Janathadal is not
innocent of corruption. Jayalalitha is
facing trials in cases of possessing dis-proportionate assets.
The left parties who speak in the name of the working people
and the poor are running after corrupt political parties to form an alliance. This
seems to be their efforts to somehow remain relevant to Indian politics.
To put simply, we are facing today is a deep political
crisis. Not a single party has any
credibility to give the nation a government that will offer new hopes to the
people. All the political parties suffer
from lack of vision for the nation and its people. Political power has become a business. Political parties use caste and religion to
further their interests. The citizens of our nation need equal opportunities
and access to resources to build their lives. No political party is working to
build India that is truly democratic, secular, just and without discrimination
under caste, community or creed.
No political party will be worth the salt if it does not
take care of the long term interests of the workers, farmers, dalits, adivasies
and all excluded sections of the society. The real alternative the nation needs
is a government that will ensure:
1.
Regulation: Government should regulate
market, finance and to some extent production to ensure equitable distribution
of goods and services to the citizens. There talk about ‘let the government
govern and it should not interfere in the economic affairs is flawed.
2.
Food
sovereignty: It is not just ‘food
security’ doled out to people by way of providing subsidised food grains. People should be able to produce their food. They should have control on the food
production. People should enjoy right to
land. They should get irrigation facilities
and be able to get credit. They will be employed gainfully in agriculture and
will produce food for the nation. Food
security will be guaranteed only through the universal public distribution
system.
3.
Right to
education: The present RTE seems to be designed to perpetuate discriminatory
multilayered school system where the rich can get educated through private
schools and exclude the poor from quality education. It is the responsibility of government give
quality education to all the children through uniform syllabus. Privatization of education goes against the
goal of universal quality education for all.
4.
Right to
health: Health care is being
systematically privatised. Health
insurance helps the private players to make enormous profits. The government hospitals are only an apology
for government responsibility for health care. Government should fulfil its
constitutional obligation to provide health care to all its citizens.
5.
Right to employment: The neo-liberal
policies have marginalized the working people.
The rights of the workers, which they had gained through long history of
struggles and sacrificing their lives, have been denied to them. Out sourcing, contracting to the middle
people has left the worker in the lurch without trade union rights to fight for
job security and fair wages. Right to
employment means not only work but also right to association and bargaining
power.
6.
Life with dignity: A government that
will ensure equal status and dignity to the citizens of all origin, without
caste and race consideration; that will put an end to atrocities against women,
dalits, minorities and people of different races; giving them equal opportunities
in social, economic and political sphere.
We need a government
that will stand with the majority of our people!
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