My take: AAP Revolution in the Words of the Wise
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Kishore Asthana
Jan 23, 2014, 1:29:23 AM1/23/14
to Kishore Asthana
AAP Revolution in the Words of the Wise
Much has been made about AAP’s recent demonstration. Arvind
Kejriwal has been called a madman by the Home Minister. AAP has also been
called a party of anarchists and its opposite, fascists, often by the same
people. Let us look out of the confining walls of this middle class angst and
consider what some wise people, from Seneca onwards, have to say about such revolutions.
AAP was formed when some leaders recognized that we have two
flags always: one for the rich and one
for the poor. When the rich fly it means that things are under control; when
the poor fly it means danger, revolution, anarchy.1
The AAP team decided to do something about this unfair state
of affairs. Convinced that any people anywhere, being inclined and having the
power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and
force a new one that suits them better, 2 they proposed to furnish
this power to the aam aadmi – the common man & woman. This grew out of the India Against Corruption movement.
The India Against Corruption movement was started because
some courageous people knew that he who passively accepts evil is as much
involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without
protesting against it is really cooperating with it.3 They were also aware that oppression can
only survive through silence4 and they decided to speak up for not doing
so would have ensured the triumph of evil. 5
When they were a part of the India Against Corruption
movement, potential AAP leaders realized that though this movement had a
vision, its non-political ethos would not be enough to significantly change
the status quo. It was not effective enough to change the system. They knew that vision without action is merely a dream. Action
without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.
6
AAP was formed to combine the anti-corruption vision of IAC with
suitable action in the political arena. Their objective is based on the knowledge that to be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair
convincing. 7
AAP members feel that no real social
change has ever been brought about without a revolution… revolution is but
thought carried into action. 8 For AAP members, this revolution means radical
change9 from the established status quo which has done so much
disservice to the country lately.
They are also aware that revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have
to make it fall10. Based on this conviction, they have decided to act. Their revolution is meant to be one of the most important revolutions of all - a revolution in sentiments, manners and moral opinions. 11
Many years back, Mahatma Gandhi had launched a revolution
against another set of oppressors. It had succeeded in winning independence for
India. However, so many years later, Indians found that methods of thought,
which claim to give the lead to our world in the name of revolution, had
become, in reality, ideologies of consent and not of rebellion. 12 Gandhi’s
revolution had evaporated and left behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.
13 And, one may add, the corruption of the new, largely venal political
class. This had to be changed in the interest of the country through another revolution.
While launching their revolution, AAP leaders acted on the
premise that masses are the decisive element, they are the rock on which the
final victory of the revolution will be built14 and they went
directly to the people who they wanted to empower. After their preliminary
foray, they are now looking far beyond mere reform. A reform is a correction of
abuses; a revolution is a transfer of power.15
To start bringing this transfer of power about, many actions
have been taken which do not always sit well with the middle class. They screw
their noses – a central government minister has even called AAP a party of stinkers. AAP should
ask this minister - "Do you think then that revolutions are made with rose
water?" 16
No, a revolution is not a dinner party. 17 AAP
leaders are willing to suffer for the cause and are doing so, for, indeed, a
revolution is not a bed of roses. 18 There are many thorns, not the
least of which are those born of the venality of its opponents on all sides of
the established order. AAP is realizing the truth of the saying that in the
eyes of authority - and maybe rightly so - nothing looks more like a terrorist
than the ordinary man. 19 They
were relatively unaware of this till now, as, in their inexperience with Indian politics, their minds were focused on
their ideology and they did not allow for the reactions of the present rulers.
The humanity and sincerity which dispose men to resist
injustice and tyranny render them unfit to cope with the cunning and power of
those who are opposed to them. The friends of liberty trust to the professions
of others because they are themselves sincere, and endeavor to secure the
public good with the least possible hurt to its enemies, who have no regard to
anything but their own unprincipled ends, and stick at nothing to accomplish
them. 20 Both the Congress and BJP – bitter mutual enemies in public
– are attacking AAP, using all kinds of trickery and deceit. The reason is not
difficult to fathom.
In trying to oppose the peaceful AAP revolution by hook or
by crook, the established order must realize that those who make peaceful
revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. 21
Thomas Jefferson said that every generation needs a new
revolution. The AAP revolution is the one largely for our youth. The previous
generations also saw revolutions such as the one by Jay Prakash Narain, but, sadly, these faded away.
AAP has to ensure that its revolution does not meet the same fate and, though the start of the present revolution has been eventful, the real challenge is ahead of the party. AAP has made some mistakes –
sometimes out of inexperience and at other times out of naiveté. At times, hubris also appears to have played a part in the actions of some of its leaders. It must learn and grow beyond its simple-hearted
origins. The challenge is a huge one for, in a revolution, as in a novel, the
most difficult part to invent is the end. 22
AAP members feels that their cause is noble; it is the cause of
mankind! 23 However, the party has to be very careful regarding
where it is headed. Not everything in a revolution is under the control of
those who start it because it is impossible to predict the time and progress of
revolution. It is governed by its own more or less mysterious laws. 24 However, the wisdom of the leaders can,
to a large extent, keep the ship steady.
AAP has to keep in mind that it is far more easy to pull
down, than to build up, and to destroy, than to preserve. Revolutions have on
this account been falsely supposed to be fertile of great talent; as the dregs
rise to the top during a fermentation and the lightest things are carried
highest by the whirlwind. And the practice of this proposition bears out the
theory; for demagogues have succeeded tolerably well in making ruins; but the
moment they begin to build anew from the materials that they have overthrown,
they have often been uselessly employed with regard to others, and more often
dangerously with regard to themselves. 25
AAP has to be alert against this and, at every step ensure
that this tendency is stifled as soon as it arises. The necessary review
mechanism has to be incorporated in the party’s systems and procedures to keep
a check on all kinds of negativity sprouting up. They shouldn’t be looking for heroes, they
should be looking for good ideas. 26
AAP has to be not only destructive of the status quo but
creative in observing it from another angle and shaping the future in a
beautiful manner. They should heed Paul
Cezanne, who said, that the day is coming when a single carrot, freshly
observed, will set off a revolution. Though the revolution has
already been started – some may wryly say that AAP saw the carrots being
harvested illegally by the powers-that-be – Cezanne’s insight can be applied to
the implementation of the revolutionary vision, too. AAP should herald this new
dawn through their energy and their integrity. Only virtue can keep their forces together.
27
I would like to conclude by saying: There is nothing which
persevering effort and unceasing and diligent care cannot accomplish. 28 Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in
all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as
long as ever you can. 29
If AAP realizes its potential and delivers on its promise,
we can exclaim, with pride and relief, like Samuel Adams did at the Battle of
Lexington, “What a glorious morning this is!”
Kishore Asthana
1.Henry Miller. 2. Abraham
Lincoln 3. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 4. Carmen de Monteflores 5. Edmund Burke
6. Joel A. Barker. 7. Raymond Williams 8. Emma Goldman 9.Aung San Suu Kyi 10. Che Guevara 11. Edmund Burke. 12. Albert Camus. 13. Franz Kafka 14. Rosa Luxemburg 15.
Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton. 16. Sebastien-Roch-Nicolas de Chamfort 17. Sun
Yat-sen 18. Fidel Castro. 19. Giorgio
Agamben 20. William Hazlitt. 21. John F.
Kennedy 22. Alexis de Tocqueville 23. George
Washington. 24. Vladimir Lenin. 25. Charles Caleb Colton, Lacon 26. Noam
Chomsky 27. John Brooks 28. Seneca. 29. John Wesley
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