It goes without saying, yet, we keep saying it anyways, that the
United States government has had its share of problems in recent months.
From the federal shutdown to the Affordable Care Act fiasco, it hasn’t
been a period to build confidence or pride in the American government.
Still, many Americans
would find it preposterous if someone were to
suggest that the U.S. should turn its gaze eastward in order to learn a
thing or two about how a democracy should work. Specifically, to the
only other democracy on the planet with more citizens than the U.S.
itself. While India and the U.S. may be the world’s largest democracies,
the similarities may just about end there. The U.S. approaches nearly
250 years as a democracy, and almost a century as a global superpower,
while India has yet to achieve seven decades of democratic independence
and is unanimously labeled the next world power or the next abysmal
failure, depending on the prevailing sentiment any given week. Yes, we
in the U.S. may be floundering when it comes to democratic legitimacy
and trust in the government, but in India the situation must be
infinitely more corrupt, more complicated and just, overall, worse. What
could the older, wealthier and more socially progressive United States
possibly learn from India? As 2014 gets underway, the two countries are
preoccupied with very different political debates and controversies…or
so it may appear.
As the momentum builds towards a national election in India this
spring, it is clear that Indian politics is facing a turning point where
the established co-dominance of the incumbent Congress and its long
time right-wing rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), faces a
challenge not just from regional parties, as in the past, but from a new
national party that plans to contest the national election.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), headed by Arvind Kejriwal, the newly
instated Chief Minister of Delhi, has shocked India by rising from a
grassroots activist movement to a legitimate political contender on the
national stage. Kejriwal became a well-known figure in 2011 because of
his involvement in the social activist Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption
movement, which used Gandhian tactics to pressure the Indian government
to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill. Yet, that in less than three years this man
and the brand new party he created would be edging the Congress out of
power in the Indian capital state and that he would replace Sheila
Dikshit, the Chief Minister of Delhi for 15 consecutive years, may have
seemed unthinkable. Since India achieved independence from Britain in
1947, the Congress has enjoyed unquestioned dominance in Indian
politics. Few political commentators in India may be entertaining the
idea that the AAP will achieve a similar underdog victory on the
national stage; it is a largely urban phenomenon and the majority of
India and its voters remain rural. The BJP, whose predecessors first
began challenging the Congress in 1967 in much the same way the AAP is
today, has become the conservative alternative to the Congress and is
the conclusive favorite to win the national election this spring and
appoint its candidate, Narendra Modi, as prime minister. Still, the AAP,
which translates to the “Common Man Party”, is notable for two reasons:
1. Its ideological values— in opposition to both the neo-liberal status
quo of the Congress and the Hindu nationalism of the BJP, and instead
in favor of a corruption free government that is accountable to Indian
citizens and a more socio-economically equal society for all castes and
religious groups. 2. Its astonishingly quick rise to prominence— the AAP
was established in November 2012, and Kejriwal became the fifth most
mentioned political figure on Indian social media by July 2013,
according to a post on dailybhaskar.com. A notable achievement in an
election that is increasingly playing out in the social media space and
dominated by youth culture. Modi, who has an incredibly strong following
among Indian youth nationwide, is the most mentioned politician on
social media sites (followed by Congress stalwarts Rahul Gandhi,
Manmohan Singh, and Sonia Gandhi).
But what can the rise of the AAP teach the United States? As the U.S.
approaches a midterm election in the fall and already deafening buzz
surrounding potential presidential candidates for the 2016 election, it
is clear that there is widespread discontent with the American
government by Americans themselves. More than 30 longtime congressmen
and women are retiring from a House whose immature lack of cooperation
and productivity has made it clear that policymakers are more determined
to play out petty partisan rivalries than protect the interests of
American citizens. The Affordable Care Act, one of the main priorities
of the man who allegedly holds the “highest office in the land”, has
faced so many impediments to successful implementation that it’s more of
a laughingstock than a legitimate piece of legislation that will
achieve its intended goals. All of this is occurring while the American
rich get richer and the poor face declining prospects for decent
education and access to social services and, consequently, declining
chances for socio-economic upward mobility.
It may surprise some Americans that all of the concerns described in
the paragraph above also evoke prescient themes in India today. For
generations, Indians have had only two real options when it comes to
national elections— the Congress and the BJP, who may not win by
landslides but unequivocally control coalition governments and the
appointments of prime ministers. Yet, neither party appears to be
fundamentally interested in the problems afflicting the Indian populace
they aspire to lead. Rather, both are preoccupied with defining
themselves in contrast to one another and furthering elitist political
agendas. Similarly, in the United States, all current political issues
are divided by Republicans versus Democrats, where if something is
supported by one party it is, by definition, opposed by the other. In
India, the AAP was created to overcome this perpetual stalemate between
the Congress and the BJP by offering Indians an alternative that is
committed to progress and equality for all Indians, instead of divisive
and, ultimately counter-productive, rivalries. Is there a need in the
U.S. for a new party that can break the bitter binary between
Republicans and Democrats that splits the nation along red and blue
lines?
My answer is a measured yes. Both Indians and Americans are fed up
with political parties that are more concerned with squabbling with each
other than governing and protecting the interests of citizens.
Likewise, both Indians and Americans are fed up with growing economic
inequality and a division between elite politicians and big businesses
that determine how the government is run instead of the people
themselves. In India, Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP rose out of a movement
similar (although admittedly in no way identical) to the Occupy Wall
Street movement protesting the injustice of the concentrated wealth and
power of the “1%”. While such protests undoubtedly exert some political
pressure, Kejriwal recognized that it is elected officials themselves
who change policies and enact laws. If Americans are truly ready to stop
complaining about the ineffective government and the belligerence that
characterizes relations between Republicans and Democrats, then maybe
it’s time for a new party that is committed to an alternative future for
American politics with the potential for a more productive government
dedicated to citizens instead of partisan interests.
