THE CHALLENGE BEFORE THE AAP

                

            The AAP has undoubtedly posed a huge challenge to all the political parties in India.  There is not a single party in India which will not experience the impact of AAP‘s growth.  This challenge of AAP will be real when AAP take up the challenges facing before the citizens and before the nation as such.  Having entered into politics and forming a government at Delhi it cannot escape from the task of bringing the nation to the high ground from where they had been speaking.

Arvind Kejrival still talks about corruption. Looking at the problems of the nation from the point of view of corruption only is not taking the bull by the horns.  Corruption in my opinion is only an expression of greater problem, i.e. the problem of development in the country.   Arvind Kejrival and all other members of AAP, during their agitation against corruption did not come strong on the issues of aadivasies, daliths, land acquisition and depeasantization. 

However emergence of AAP has eliminated the extreme right forces from within itself.  People like Kiran Bedi who have their hearts with RSS and BJP have not become part of AAP.  They have stood opposed to AAP.  AAP are attracting people  who totally fresh, uncontaminated by corrupt politics or right wing ideology.

 By strong opposition to corruption and standing for aam aadmi they have, knowingly or unknowingly, stood for an economic order which will not favour neo liberal capitalist order.  AAP has not formulated its stand with regard to neo liberal economic order.  But by standing for AAM AADMI it has opposed a political and economic order that excludes aam aadmi.  By their opposition to corruption they have de-facto shot at the corporate houses and multinational corporations which have been primarily involved in corruption.  Corruption in the realm of politics and administration supports the cause of capitalist class.  The capitalist class is the principle beneficiary of corruption. 

If AAP opposes this kind of corruption then AAP should stand for economic order that will function for aam aadmi, keeping aam aadmi at the core of objectives of development.  AAP cannot announce sops for the poor and on the other hand give free hand for the corporate houses and multinational corporations to plunder the national resources and draw enormous profits from the labour power of aam aadmi.

The Congress party brought in MGNREGA and Food Security bill.  Through these legislations Congress wants to take care of the poor and the rural masses.  Congress has developed Special Economic Zones for industries by snatching the land of the dalits, aadivasies and peasant, driving them out of their livelihood.  They have resorted to privatization in all economic sectors.  Disinvestment in public sector, public private partnership, inviting foreign direct investments are the ways by which Congress and BJP have handed the economic affairs of the nation into the hands of profit hungry corporate houses and multinational companies.  All the talk of the Congress Party about inclusive development will eventually turn out to be empty.  Their neo liberal path of development will exclude the aam aadmi.  Their neoliberal policies will out do all the social policies like employment guarantee and food security. All that the Congress Party does is they take away the tax payers’ money to fund these socialistic programmes and on the other hand allow the capitalists free hand to exploit and make profits.  These socialistic programmes can not go along with their neo liberal policies.  There is not a single political formation, at the national level or regional level that has opposed these policies.  BJP has gone far ahead of Congress in articulating and implementing neoliberal policies.  The so called Gujarat Model which is offered as an ideal development model has no place for the poor.

All the programmes the parties initiate for the poor or aam aadmi are meant to win votes.  The modern democracy has a very contradictory facet.  On the one hand the governments have to show growth and progress in the economy.  For this it has to support capitalists and invite foreign direct investment.  Any state government which has attracted maximum investments, especially foreign investments is considered to be a very successful government.  It has to resort to privatization, hand over natural resources to the corporate houses.  On the other hand political parties need aam aadmi to vote for them and bring them to power.  For this reason they offer sops to the poor.  Fundamentally, the governments work for the capitalist class.  But to come to power they need take care of short term interests of aam aadmi.  Our political system can be characterized as one that ‘runs with the hare and hunts with the hound’.

This cannot go on long.  It is precisely this contradiction in our political system that has brought forth the Aam Aadmi Party.  If AAP has to be consistent with its goal and governance then it has to find a new path for economic development. Their governance should be characterized as “by aam aadmi, of aam aadmi and for aam aadmi”. 

  AAP should not fall prey to axioms like “There is no alternative to capitalism”.  Political parties like to express their concern for aam aadmi in the context of capitalism or via media the capitalists.  Almost all the parties, national and regional, believe that development and eradication of poverty can be achieved only through economic development understood in terms of industrialization and economic growth.  Give the capitalists land, water, forest and the minerals and they will give aam aadmi employment, food security, healthcare and education, as if all that aam aadmi needs is these things.

AAP’s paradigm of development should have no place for capitalism and exploitation.  In other words AAP has to follow a non capitalist path of development.  There have been efforts to follow non capitalist path of development.  Soviet Union stood for abolition of wage labour, private ownership of the means of production and establishing Socialism.  Though the USSR has gone away the sceptre of socialism has not become irrelevant.  Even today there are debates in European countries about the relevance of socialism.  France, U.K. are having nuanced socialist programmes in their economy.  Many Latin American countries like Cuba, Venezuela are trying to work along the Socialist path of development.  Even India experimented with Socialism.  AAP will have to invent a new path of bringing about Socialism.  Democracy and Parliamentary politics are most suited to realize this goal.  For this we have to translate seudo democracy into a genuinely participatory democracy.  AAP has been campaigning for such democracy.

There is a need to address the issue of caste not by playing to the gallery, offering sops and perpetuate caste system.  The adivasies who live on the fringe of our economy and social life and who are being systematically eliminated need a holistic remedy to protect their economic and cultural rights and integrate them into social, economic and political main stream.  The issue of land right, prevention of depeasantization and making agriculture to address the issue of employment, food sovereignty and food security of the nation.  It has come out in the open the kind respect we give to women and allow them their right on their bodies and integrity.  No development can be real if the women of that society do not enjoy equal rights and dignity along with men. 

One should not understand these issues as individual unrelated issues that can be solved by individual packages.  These issues are part of the whole problem of the feudal and capitalist form of our society.  These can be addressed by bringing about total transformation of society.  But we do not need to wait for the total transformation to happen to solve these issues.  The total transformation can be brought about by addressing these issues and relate the struggle of all exploited and excluded people into a struggle for total transformation.

The level of development the world in general and India in particular indicates that capitalism has run out its time. Capitalism has lost its capacity to take the world to the next height of and development.  In reality the capitalist and capitalism has become a hindrance to take our society to the next stage of progress.

If AAP has to live up to its name and claims it cannot afford to bypass this issue.  AAP needs to move away from of neoliberal economic development to more equitable, democratic and socialist economic organization.  Then we can truly say, in the word of Prakash Karat, that what the Communist Party began to do long ago and failed to do, AAP has taken this up as an undaunted task.