If not now, when?

                            

                               It is quite disheartening to see the political scene in Andhra Pradesh these days, with two regions at loggerheads over state division. But what’s more disappointing than the political ruckus going on around in AP is the public indifference towards good politics. We are so passionately fighting for Telangana and Samaikayandhra that we forgot there is a better goal to achieve that is good and clean politics; good and clean politics in the form of Loksatta Party. We have seen the antics of our traditional political parties for years and years. Some make large and careless promises, some guzzle out half of what is promised, some see opportunity in crisis, some see crisis and bide their time until it fizzles out, some play the caste card and some bring in the region, some live off past legacy and some conjure up a legacy where there is none: all in the name of votes and one more term to rule. We have been there and seen all of that. The present crisis is a result of such opportunism. Even a passive observer of politics in AP over past few years cannot disagree how political parties have switched sides, remained silent or fanned discontent in people of Andhra Pradesh. Why then we should still put the blinkers of Telangana or Samaikyandhra on and fail to see a bigger picture? Why are we not looking for changing the nature of our politics though a party that has never compromised on its values and always stood by its words? Why are we not discussing about this positive force in AP politics and why are we only busy criticizing the present parties? Why are we are hailing and cheering the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi for the overhaul of system it is talking about but ignoring a decade old party at home which is a million times more rational and more systemic in its approach towards governance? I was confounded by this phenomenon at first but I can gradually see some reasons now.

                                 One reason I think is the binary nature of our morality which can only see things in black and white. JP charted out a solution to state division by trying to address the reality at hand and grievances of people from all regions. He essentially took a middle path in a scenario where people are bordering on extremes. But the grey shades won’t appeal to us as much as the black and white and they can’t gain mass popularity. In the current state if one doesn’t fully agree with our opinion, he is our enemy. We seem to be in need of extreme stands even if they tend to be fascist, like Kejriwal supporting Khap Panchayats or denying FDI in retail.

                                   Secondly, our short attention spans need heroics all the time to register something in our minds. Going out on to streets, mobilizing hordes of people and appearing on TV every now and then and making baseless allegations against everyone seem to be the only methods we empathize with. What about studying issues thoroughly, charting a solution and agenda to address each and every problem in the country and pushing government to pass laws that can change this country in the silent corridors of institutions? In this era of movies where things change overnight, where heroes beat the shit out of every one around, we forgot how real heroes would look like. The virtues like patience, modesty and hard work have become uninteresting. The news is already out that Kejriwal resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi after 47 days in power, being impatient over failure to see Jan Lokpal bill pass . On the contrary, JP has led his party for 18 years through appreciation and ridicule, through successes and setbacks with unflinching optimism. He was even manhandled twice, but no one could touch his steely resolve to clean the politics in this country. Friends, it’s an earnest appeal to every one of you to think about Loksatta, spread their message and influence as many people as possible to vote for Loksatta. As JP always quotes Hebrew saying "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am only for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?"