The Lily Pad Effect

The Lilly Pad Effect. -Uday Dandavate

Last night I was watching an interview of Arwind Kejriwal on Aaj Tak TV channel.

The interviewer asked Arwind if he believed in God. Arwind’s response was, “In

the past I did not, but now I do.” When asked to explain what he meant, he

elaborated, “I was born in a religious family and as a child I did believe in god.

When I went away to ITT Kanpur to study engineering, I developed a scientific

temperament and as a result did not believe in God anymore. However, since the

past two years, after I joined Anna Hazare as a volunteer in the Jan Lok Pal

movement, I saw the massive response we received from ordinary people. I was

amazed to find that people were coming out in large numbers to collectively fight

corruption. That is when I started thinking that there must be a higher power, than

the persuasion power of the activists who have been fighting for such causes for

a long time- a power that has motivated an entire population to rise in unison.

That is why I am beginning to believe that god must exist.”

The essence of Kejriwal’s realization lies in the fact that a society resigned to

corruption as a way of life, exploitation of the weaker sections of the society as a

chronic ailment, and any given up hope of a better future as a worthless exercise,

has today risen to collectively follow the path illuminated by their conscience.

Though India gained independence from British rule of 200 years, Gandhiji’s

dream of grass root level activism and participatory democracy was put on back

burner when India embraced the grandiose dreams of top down development,

championed by Jawaharlal Nehru. The socialists led by Jayprakash Narayan,

Basawan Singh, Achyutrao Patwardhan, Yusuf Meherally, Ram Manohar Lohia

and others could see through congress party’s opportunistic program and

hollowness of Jawaharlal Nehru’s vision and parted company with the congress

party. Mrs. Indira Gandhi carried forward her father’s pseudo socialism by

indulging in gimmicks such as abolishing privy purses of former princely states,

announcing nationalization of banks and promising eradication of poverty (Garibi

Hatao) in her election campaigns. Indira converted the ideologically inspired

congress party of pre-independence era into an instrument for perpetuating

dynastic rule of Nehru Gandhi family. Gradually she cleansed the congress party

of dissenting voices, and collected around her courtiers who would be willing to

sing and dance to her tune. She installed people devoid of idealism, and bereft of

pride in positions that were once occupied by great intellectuals and statesmen.

She appointed as congress president, D.K. Barua, who pronounced, “Indira is

India”. She appointed Giani Zail Singh as Congress party’s nominee for the

election of the President of India, who upon being nominated, pronounced, “If I

am instructed by Mrs. Gandhi, I would even take up a broom and sweep the floor

for her.” While the Gandhi family continued the task of consolidating power, and

turning leaders into sycophants, corruption crept deep into the fabric of a nation

that was once inspired by the dreams of Swaraj. Increasing cost of election

campaigns became the primary cause of corruption focus of governance turned

to building an infrastructure for financing elections. Election campaigns are now

fought at a scale that would dwarf marketing campaigns of global corporations.

Through successive generations of Gandhi family rule India’s conscience was

subjugated to a new culture of sycophancy and deal making. It appeared that the

hope of Swaraj was lost forever.

People’s hopes for a corruption free society were rekindled from time to time. In

1970s Jayprakash Narayan brought hopes to India with his call for total

revolution, in 1980’s V.P. Singh and NTR captured the imagination of India with

the promise of building a corruption free India in the aftermath of the Bofors

scandal.

During 1990s the BJP fed India’s craving for a homegrown ideology by promoting

the idea of “Hindu Nationalism”. Ram Janmabhoomi movement, Demolition of the

Babri Masjid, and communal riots in the state of Gujarat catalyzed a new sense

of religious chauvinism amongst Hindus. With the congress party championing

free market economy and the BJP’s prescription of Hindu Nationalism,

progressive Indians who dreamt of India becoming a social democracy wedded

to the principles of secularism and social justice received a set back during

1990’s and 2000’s. Both the congress party and the BJP helped build a

consumer culture and through fierce competition for power with each other turned

election process into a competition for market domination funded by big money.

People began to realize that like Coke and Pepsi, there wasn’t really a big

difference between the congresses and the BJP except the marketing messages

being projected by them. At the core they were both instruments of promoting

unchecked capitalism.

The past two years, as Arwind Kejriwal correctly observed during his interview,

have witnessed an upsurge of spontaneous protests against corruption amongst

Indian masses. Today we are witnessing a Lilly pad effect of conscience reached

after years of simmering of discontent. Water lilies tend to grow exponentially.

During initial phases of growth they may appear as slowly growing patches on

the surface of water. However as their grown picks up, suddenly one day they

occupy the entire surface of water. That is what has happened with India’s

conscience- the exponential growth has now taken on a new form. To my mind,

what Arwind perceives as god’s gift is the natural and inevitable lily pad effect.

Today India stands at a crossroad. The lily pad effect provides a perfect

opportunity to experiment with participatory democracy by harnessing the

competencies of large communities of people eager to participate in the political

process. During recent elections to the Delhi assembly, hundreds of youth from

around India and around the world gave up their careers to come and join the

AAP campaign for ushering in a new model of democracy and for conceptualizing

innovative and disruptive mechanism for citizens’ direct participation in

governance. This enthusiasm needs to be sustained and their talent needs to be

directed towards building instruments of citizen and government interface that

allow the leaders of the government to build with the imagination of citizens. I

believe such a participatory approach will make governance more transparent,

and planning for a better future more in sync with the needs of real people. The

lily pad effect has revived Arwind Kejriwal’s belief in god; it has reaffirmed my

faith in the power of co-creation.