Members of the now disbanded Team Anna, If you want to join politics to make a Change, Come up with Ideas not Platitudes

The only things that Anna and Baba movements have established are that multitudes of people have been suffering for long, and that they are very very angry. In such a situation there is a spontaneous realization that something must be done. However the more important questions are What are the things that need to be done? It is here that ideas are more important than mere good intentions. It is true that we need people of good character to join politics, however mere good character, like mere good intentions, is not sufficient. We need good ideas. Where are the ideas? What are those ideas? This is where there has been a vacuum.

While Congress and Left have been parroting platitudes like Secularism and Socialism for decades, despite their fairly obvious failures, their adversaries, namely the BJP, propose nothing significantly different in terms of ideas. The BJP prides itself with the epithet of true-Secularism, while it hopes to befuddle the Hindus by using the term "Hindutva", all the while remaining ambivalent about rampant state sponsored welfare-ism. 

Such cerebral lethargy will not do. We not only have to perceive urgently that the system is crumbling, in addition we must also identify the causes. For example, if the nation had not indulged in the hero-worship of Mohandas, Jawahar etc. and had not subscribed to the Jawaharian obsessions of Secularism and Socialism; we would not have faced the financial crisis in 1991 or the scourge of Madrasa indoctrinated home-grown Jihadi groups. Thus a corruption in ideas is a very dangerous thing. Therefore we must clearly understand that however "clean" these new politicians may turn out to be- if at all - if they employ bad or wrong ideas as solution to the Political, Social and Economic problems, the eventual outcomes will be disastrous. Similarly we must also stop, think and evaluate our experience with the law enforcement system we have had for the past 65 years. We must perceive how our justice system is so lethargic and so twisted towards protecting the rights of the offenders that the offended have hardly any hope of getting even a semblance of justice.

The likes of Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan have been vociferously making a case for revolution, however, their revolution, even if it ever happens, would be nothing more than fluff and gas. The real revolution must usually be initiated in the field of ideas. One can not bring about a revolution and then stop to think for ideas! We have seen the utter futility of such revolutions. Kejriwal and Bhushan do have some ideas - even if we disregard Kashmir stupidity of Bhushan - but they are the very same ideas which have failed all over the world. Like the BJP wanting to bring "true Secularism", team Anna will promise to bring "true welfare". Such attempts are doomed at the very outset.

For example, it was realized by the end of last century that Socialism was doomed and could only result in economic disaster. Likewise, since the beginning of the present century, the realization is slowly yet steadily dawning that Secularism and its bastard child multiculturalism and its illegitimate cousin minorityism is doomed and can only result in socio political disaster. And yet, team Anna members do not have even a hint of a dash of willingness to debate these matters.

In this sense, if we want to make any real difference, we must learn to forsake, at least for some while, our unquestioning respect for the existing institutions, be it the Constitution, be it the Supremacy of the Parliament, etc. For without a healthy amount of scepticism, we may never get to the bottom of the understanding, which is the least that we need in order to come up with solutions to the colossal problems that we are presently facing. However, what we observe in the political discourse is almost a fanatic devotion to phrases like "Supremacy of the Parliament", "We must uphold the Constitution" and so on. It is nothing much different from stupid prejudice if supposed intellectuals insist on preconceived notions like these.

Moreover, these empty suits among the Indian intellectuals who keep singing glories of "institutions" must realize that institutions provide sustenance to ideas. Therefore institutions by themselves can not be good or bad. Institutions founded for sustaining good ideas will be good and vice versa. For example a Madrasa is an Educational Institution, however since it is an instrument for indoctrinating young and impressionable minds with virulently poisonous and utterly violent teachings, they are bad institutions.

Unfortunately Team Anna members have betrayed themselves as a bunch of empty suits, perhaps well meaning, but empty suits nevertheless. All through their chest-beating din against Corruption, moron-like platitudes like Secularism, Welfare for the Poor, are yelled repeatedly. We do not claim that Baba Ramdev is much different or that the existing political parties are any better. However the fact of the matter is, you can not get right results out of wrong ideas. Those wanting to make any real difference have to initiate a battle in the domain of ideas and not waste resources in parroting platitudes. Team Anna members parrot the same wrong ideas which have failed us in the past 65 years. They also repeat the same ideas that have failed the world over in the past century.