Anna’s Political Party – Trust India

I will use a question/answer format to share my thoughts on this topic.

Will not membership in a political party soil us all?
If you believe in democracy and in the Indian constitution, you cannot assume that there will be no clean party ever. We need to trust that India has a future, that there are Indians whom we can trust to lead us.

The problem with existing parties is usually an absence of ideology. The Wikipedia says that an ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things. You can also say that it involves the basic beliefs and principles that characterize the party. Many parties exist merely to give power to an individual, or to people having a narrow identity – narrower than that of Indians in general. Some of our parties have lost their ideology, and some stick to their moth-ridden, moribund ideologies. There was a time when Indian nationalism was the driving force of a party. Concern for the downtrodden was the ideology of several parties.  As long as the parties stayed true to these basic ideologies, they were clean.

What has Anna got that other political parties do not have?
He has the vision of a clean India freed from the thieves and crooks who have worked themselves into positions of authority. So, his party could focus on three things. One is that of a modern India effectively governed by the rule of law. Second a party of unselfish persons who act as trustees of the nation. Third and most importantly, that idealism is not foolish. You can live your life without making deals to get ahead, and paying the price for sticking to your principles whenever necessary.

Will such a party survive?

It may not survive as a single party. It may split and give rise to different parties, but the followers may not forget the fundamental ideology. The party may take longer than a banyan tree to grow to be its true self. A great party cannot be ordered for instant delivery, like fast food!

What should the Party do to survive?
Idealism alone does not win wars! Much strategizing is needed. We have to recognize that Members of Parliament are fundamentally representatives of their constituencies. Those who do not have a constituency do not have the primary power. But, who said that idealists cannot serve a community? Take Anna himself. Don’t the people of Ralegan Siddhi recognize him as their leader? Didn’t Baba Amte serve a constituency?

Service to a constituency does not make a person irrelevant to national leadership. We need a few hundred people who have earned the trust of their communities by their own clean life and long period of service to a constituency. They might have run hospitals, educational institutions, or have served people around them in some other way. They may be serving as doctors, teachers, lawyers or social activists.  They may be industrialists who believe that the major beneficiaries of a company’s activities should be the consumers and the employees of the company, in that order. They surely would not have sold their souls to get Govt land allotted for their own benefit, or to amass unearned wealth otherwise. Many of us know popular restaurants that were started by freedom fighters – and have continued to run serving good food at affordable prices over decades. They have avoided becoming five star, because that is not what the founders started them for.

We will need a thousand dedicated idealists to support each one of the constituency leaders. This should be no problem in a country of 120 Crore people.

Srinivasan Ramani