Everybody agrees that better talent is available in the country and it should be given a chance to solve our innumerable problems which are different for different sections. For this the talented should enter the political arena. Many have tried and failed. So much so, they are now deterred. Politicians have conspired to make politics so dirty that the talent is deterred by the muck, sleaze, deceit, crime and the system as a whole. They have created a firewall – an impregnable fortress – around the system to protect themselves.

So, how does a well meaning, talented person enter Indian political scene? He may join a party- but then he has to prostrate in front of the politician he wants to save the nation from. In any case, by the time he graduates – if at all- he is exhausted and ends up joining them as otherwise he is ineffective. Or he can be an independent candidate. Either he is stopped at the gate or ends up blowing his own trumpet and due to his unattached status, proves to be an easy prey. So, what can be done? According to Election Commission       “… the conduct of elections in India is largely dependent on the behavior of political parties.”

What do political parties do? They organize, manage, manipulate, fabricate and distort public opinion. Neither can we stop them nor do we want to pay back in the same coin      ( not that we can). However, they successfully deter the conscious, conscientious and concerned citizen from intervention. And the poor, down trodden, toiling, terrorized, and deeply worried about his next meal citizen has to choose between the devil and the deep sea. On the one hand is a party, which has neglected and tormented him for last 5 years and on the other is somebody who did more of the same in the past but promises the sky this time. Naturally, we find our selves falling between two stools time and again.

Actually, politics is in disarray. Politician may not show it but he is very afraid of elections. With out power he feels like a fish out of water. There is big political vacuum in the country. With elections approaching fast this vacuum cries to be filled. Dirty politics, as always, will definitely fill it up if some good idea is not available.

Advani having taken the posture of the proverbial cat on its hind legs about to jump and grab the cake, Congress is under tremendous pressure to reveal its hand. Rahul for PM controversy had to follow. Communists are undecided about their role. They want to have their cake and eat it too. That is why they are fishing for Third or Fourth front. Irony is they may still give out side support to a Congress led coalition after the elections. Congress does not know ‘ what after Aam Aadmi?’.  UPA as NDA, is saddled with regional parties who have a distorted national perspective. They cannot concur on any national issue be it improving delivery mechanism or nuclear deal.

Mulayam is petrified and ready to sleep with the enemy but his other leg is tied to Left. Mayawati is phenomenal and a factor no body has been able to work out. She has already thrown her hat in the Prime ministerial ring. BJP, having lost Hindu credibility, is solely banking on incumbency factor. They have even failed to suggest any deviations from past policies.

While the politicians are playing out the above jamboree to fill this vacuum and if election is the biggest festival of democracy, what is ‘aam aadmi’ doing? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We must do some thing to escape getting way laid again.

Answer lies in Alternative Politics. We create more and better political space and open new doors to defeat the politician in his own game. It is the right time to do it. 
 

In this new space- called alternative politics, we will find, unencumbered by dirty politics and its derivatives ( red tape, corruption, etc), easy solutions for impossible problems. Remember, great opportunities always present themselves disguised as insoluble problems.

We can actually  plan to have a Narayan Murthy or  Abdul Kalam as Prime Minister of India and give them a team of their choice to execute a micro delivery program at the citizen’s level by adopting the Booth Area model. With less than, admittedly, 15 paise out of every rupee reaching the targeted, one can imagine the vast funds that can be released for development by removing leakages and down sizing of top bureaucracy.. We don’t know why do they need a Grameen rojgar yojna  at all. Doesn’t building  rural infrastructure create jobs?

Consider this- 543 parliamentary constituencies each having 1000 to 1200 booths of 800 to 1000 voters or 300 families, come to roughly to 6 lakhs booth areas.  Taking electricity, water, sewer, roads, dispensary, school and a sports complex as basic rural infrastructure and assuming that on an average each of these facilities will cost Rs. 10 lakhs for a locality of 300 families, we need to allocate 6 lakhs * 10 lakhs= Rs 60 thousand crores every year for each of the booth areas in the whole country, to have one of the above  facilities in the order they locally decide, each year.  Seven years for wholesome development of India? Local youth can be made a partner in this infrastructure development. We are already spending roughly this amount on the rojgar yojna.

Where is the problem? Can somebody please explain?

It is DIFFERENT. It is VICALP.