Even as a supporter of a rival team, there is something
unmistakably attractive about Manchester United. The sight of roaring
supporters in The Old Trafford, dubbed aptly as The Theatre of Dreams or the
words of Sir Alex Fergusson in describing Manchester United as the most
romantic club in the history of world football. And boy, why not! By now, clichéd but Alan
Hansen’s remark “You’ll never win anything with kids!” being proved wrong by a
bunch of boys who first signed their first Manchester United contracts as
school boys and went on to the perch of footballing hierarchy. Better teams have graced the football field
with better football. The swashbuckling Invincibles, the ruthless Manchester
City. But isn’t it romantic when a group of lads who grew up playing football
from nearby towns with dreams of playing for the club finally realize it
together? Isn’t this what we watch football for?
Have you
already started drawing the parallels? Wasn’t it only a few months back, when
the Pundits said, AAP can win a few votes, not seats. And they won, not a few
but many. Sometimes such as in the case,
winning fades into oblivion when compared to the climate change he has ushered
in. Idealism is back in vogue, Khadi is in fashion, travelling in buses cool
and being Indian is proud again. Helpless romantic that I am, watching a CM
travelling in Metro makes me go weak. Indeed, it is a far cry from the Modi euphoria
where a messiah from far off lands would come in his saffron chariot to relive
us of our miserable existence. Perhaps,
after the next elections the helpful iron-wallah
could become our next MLA. Within a few months, the government no longer
seems to be them but we really seem to be a part of it.
The
romance notwithstanding, I have been troubled by some of the developments. The unrestrained sops doled out on citizens and
the midnights raids on Nigerian women are depressing. Before you train your
guns on Kejri, I will like you to bear with me for a few more moments. The AAP
claims to be a party formed by the common man (or woman!) of the country. Let
us for a moment assume these claims to be true. Ofcourse, the other parties are
not formed by maritians. But, let us assume again that because of reasons like
dynasty and monetary issues, they field candidates who are cut-off from the
common man of the country. Going by AAP’s claims their manifesto is only a
representation of people’s aspirations. And it is not tough to imagine the
people wanting cheaper electricity or free water or anything at a lesser price.
I am not certain if you could imagine the same, but hailing from a lower middle
locality in Pune, the raids against Nigerian women would certainly have had
blessings of the society. They would have never been a part of the manifesto
formation or or hardly would consider them as a part of us. Perhaps, doling out
unwanted subsidies could stop in a few years if the feeling that the Government
really is not a separate entity. But, honestly subsidies isn’t my biggest
concern.
A deeper
concern is, at citizens are we matured enough to handle power? Or as a society
are we? We as individuals or families seem to make decisions which would hold
us in good stead over the future but as a society we seem focused on
retribution for the present. Governance
among ourselves does seem a romantic idea, but should we trust ourselves to
this extent? The Khap panchayats and village panchayats are example of self-governance.
Why do we shudder when the punishment for a rape is marriage by the
perpetrator? The majority of villagers seem to have placed their trust on the
Panchayat to agree on the punishment. Why do “we” want to impose our “rules”? Perhaps,
they would realize their folly once educated. What if “we” are acting like a
Khap panchayat currently? The members who wrote the Constitution were not
elected members but they seem to have done a fair job in the circumstances. In
the mitigating circumstances post the bloody Partition I can imagine a lot of
pressure on the committee to declare India as a Hindu country to which they did
not fall prey to.
If AAP
is really a reflection of our society, we are most probably expected to fail.
But, we could learn.
