In Conversation with an Accidental Doctor...

Mr. Bhaarat visits Dr. Arvind in his newly opened consulting room at AA Polyclinic.

Dr. Arvind:    Welcome Mr. Bhaarat, I have studied the reports of your complete medical check-up done at JustLok Sabha Diagnostic Centre.

Mr. Bhaarat:  (Nervous) Yes Doctor. Some of the readings have been underlined and are in bold, meaning warning signals.

Dr. Arvind:    You have crossed the warnings signal stage long back! You have corruption of the lungs due environmental neglect and use of banned substances, there is inflation of the liver due to excessive drinking, your heart is at risk thanks to poor infrastructure of arteries, high cholesterol and very high triglycerides due to faulty oil policy, heavy diabetes due to a sugar coated foreign policy, poor immune system caused by terrorism of many viruses…the list goes on! And all these problems have become chronic.

Mr. Bhaarat: (Sweating) Ohh My Doc! You have scared me! But Doctor, some of the ailments you just said are not even mentioned in my reports.

Dr. Arvind:    (Nonchalantly) Maybe. But it is based on information available with me. Why don’t you do a thorough investigation? The truth will come out!

Mr. Bhaarat:  (Confused) But I have just undergone a complete medical check-up. What else do you want me to do?

Dr. Arvind:    Forget that! Unless you take immediate corrective action, all these ailments will soon catch up and you may not be able to live a normal healthy life. Do you want your family to go through that?

Mr. Bhaarat:  (Pleading) Not at all! I am willing to undergo any treatment, strict diet, giving up bad habits, abstinence, etc. whatever you prescribe. Please advise me what to do. I beg of you.

Dr. Arvind:    (Nonchalantly) What can I advise you? I am just an aam doctor.

Mr. Bhaarat:  (Irritated and annoyed) What? You just spelt out all the diseases I am suffering from. So for God’s sake please also advise the line of treatment. I am prepared to get admitted under your care at the AA Polyclinic.

Dr. Arvind:    (Nonchalantly) Frankly I am a very small man. I am not important at all. I am nobody but an aam doctor. Meri koi auqaat nahi hai. YOUR life is important. YOUR health is important. YOU have to help yourself.

Mr. Bhaarat:  (About to explode) But how can I help myself? YOU are the doctor and I am the patient! Ok, at least can you refer me to some other Doctor or Hospital?

Dr. Arvind:    (Emphatically) There are many Hospitals around but you must carefully choose where to get admitted. Take the example of INC Hospital. It is the oldest Hospital in India but it is not what it used to be. The last few decades has seen consistently falling quality standards. Most of their patients have sworn not to return if time comes. Many of their Doctors too have left the Hospital. I wouldn’t advise you to go there. I want you to get the best of treatment and attention and regain your health.

Mr. Bhaarat:  Ok, which are the other options?

Dr. Arvind:    There is this Nerd Front Hospital. It crops up once in five years. It has more Heads of the Departments and less specialist doctors, RMOs, nurses and support staff. Their equipments and facilities aren’t modernised. This hospital has a long track record of doing nothing. I wouldn’t recommend that either. I want you to get the best of treatment and attention and regain your health.

Mr. Bhaarat: (Losing patience) Ok, I won’t go there either. Next?

Dr. Arvind:    Then there is the Better Juvenation Polyclinic. Its present Dean always misguides unsuspecting patients by making tall claims and then fleeces them. I call it the Boastful & Jingoistic Polyclinic! And he is also involved in the deaths of many patients. So it is a strict no for you! All I want for you if the best of treatment and attention to regain your health.

Mr. Bhaarat:  So it means the Better Juvenation Polyclinic and its Dean haven’t successfully treated any patient but keep misguiding and misleading people about their track record?

Dr. Arvind:    Not exactly. But in my half day visit I have personally seen some patients suffering in pain.

Mr. Bhaarat:  Could they be patients who were just admitted and undergoing treatment?

Dr. Arvind:    Maybe, but they were definitely suffering in pain.

Mr. Bhaarat:  But isn’t ‘patients suffering in pain’, a common sight in all hospitals? And surely, the Central Medical Council of India would have definitely exposed them and taken strict action against them for the deaths and for misleading the public?

Dr. Arvind:    They have been trying for the last 12 years, but so far haven’t succeeded in collecting any credible evidence.

Mr. Bhaarat: (Completely lost) So where should I get admitted?

Dr. Arvind:    There are also many small nursing homes, clinics and independent medical practitioners who do not have the expertise, equipment and facilities for the treatment you need. So you can safely forget about them too.

Mr. Bhaarat: (At his wit's end) You have been telling me what not to do. Now can you please tell me what I ought to do? Where do I undergo the treatment?

Dr. Arvind:    (Nonchalantly) I care for you and want you to get the best of treatment and regain your health.

Mr. Bhaarat:  (Tearing out his hair) How can I? You won’t treat me, you have ruled out ALL other hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and independent practitioners. Where the hell should I go? I think I have to make my own decision now.

Mr. Bhaarat leaves the consulting room. Outside and alone, he reflects…

“Chronic illnesses take time to get fully cured and call for a great deal of patience. It is fine if I don’t get the best treatment and attention. But I must have a Doctor who is confident, rather than a diffident one or a greenhorn. I want my Doctor to give me the comfort and confidence that he will take good care of me and that I am safe and sound with him. My body constitution is definitely strong enough to withstand some setbacks during treatment. And if this Doctor does not treat me well, I can always dump him. I am certainly not going to die. But for starters, I need an experienced and energetic driver for my arduous journey of medical treatment instead of a novice or a ‘has been’ doctor or a critic who claims to know the way but who cannot drive the car.”

The Aam Aadmi's Common Sense...

In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the electorate comprising aam aadmis and aam ladies has an important decision to make; both individually and collectively. Our decisions as voters will either haunt us for the next 5 years (or more) or spark the beginning of a turnaround in the nation’s fortunes. This piece attempts only to analyse and address the dilemma of the common voter and is meant neither to promote or glorify nor to criticise or run down any political party or person.

As we near the poll dates, no single party or pre-poll alliance seems to have a realistic chance to cross the magic number of 273 in the Lok Sabha of 545 seats. The biggest concern to any government formation is a hung parliament. Parties make claims of achieving a majority in public to rally their troops, but remain skeptical in private. In case of a fractured mandate, closed door negotiations for cobbling together a compromise government will commence and the principles of honesty and integrity which all parties swore by during their election campaigns will be ‘kept on hold’. By accommodating too many incompatible constituents, the government’s hands would be tied behind its back as it will need consensus of coalition partners for anything it plans to do. It is therefore critical that a single party or combination is voted to power and that too, with a reasonable majority. But with 545 constituencies across 29 States and elections spread over a five week period, it is impossible to predict how the electorate would vote.

An interesting factor is that these elections will have an estimated 15 crore first-time voters; primarily youngsters. Thanks to the social media there is significant awareness in the younger generation about the ground realities and issues facing the nation. They are also smart enough not to blindly support a particular party or a leader. The extent of voter turnout is also critical for an election. When people have strong sentiments – positive or negative – about the incumbent government or other burning issues, they usually step out to vote in large numbers. In such cases, their votes are also likely to be concentrated in a specific direction and not scattered. A lower voter turnout usually benefits the incumbent government and vice versa.

Coming to the contestants, these elections have four major ones… Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Third Front and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind Kejriwal. Most of the other parties are regional parties or fence sitters who will cling on to any combination that forms the government.

The UPA is unlikely to return to power thanks to its never ending list of scams, policy-paralysis, sheer high-handedness and brazenness. People seem to have grown weary of the UPA’s misrule and are anxious for a change. Even in their few months in power, as many as six scams have been exposed by the media! The first family of the Congress has also been involved in controversies which the UPA leaders either defend or deny. And all through this, we haven’t heard anything from the PM, who has silently presided over this government over the last 10 years.

The reluctant prince is making all the right noises, to appeal to the masses that he is the agent of change the nation desperately needs. But while he preaches sermons of honesty and makes lofty promises, his party continues its merry ways and practices something altogether different! He has always shirked executive responsibility and has no administrative experience. He finally agreed to become PM in a highly improbable UPA-3, but his first TV interview in 10 years may actually end up discouraging people from voting for the UPA!

The Third Front is a disjointed combination of parties with very little in common, who have joined forces ostensibly to keep the corrupt Congress and the communal BJP away from power. However, most of these parties have at some time in the past, aligned with governments led by the Congress or BJP. The Third Front has more generals than soldiers and each party leader nurses a secret but impractical desire to become PM. With only 100 odd MPs in the present Lok Sabha, it is unfair to expect them to muster 272+ seats. And even if they somehow manage it – with outside support – it is anybody’s guess how long they can stay together, given their internal contradictions.

The Third Front is therefore an unrealistic alternative, being incapable of mustering the numbers to offer a stable government. The Third Front can hope to form the government only if the UPA is routed (like in 1989) and offers them outside support to keep the NDA out. The stability of such a government will always be suspect, with the Damocles’ sword of withdrawal of support hanging over their heads (like in 1990-91). And one hasn’t yet attempted to fathom the quality of governance this motley group can jointly offer!

The people whole heartedly supported the AAP as a party with honest intentions, echoing the common man’s voice against corruption and bad governance. Their courage in taking on the big daddies of politics inspired the working class and younger generation to join or support them. AAP made a stunning debut in the Delhi assembly elections, knocking out many heavyweights. But within two months, they resigned and abdicated their responsibility towards the people of Delhi. However, AAP is confident that its selfless act of giving up power would benefit them in the Lok Sabha elections. Time will tell if they are proven right.

AAP is still a fledgling party without a deep and wide organisational network in many States. So while AAP will certainly make a debut in the Lok Sabha, it cannot be expected to win 272+ seats in these Lok Sabha elections. AAP will surely eat the votes of mainstream party candidates, leading to a few tight contests or upsets. But having contested the elections on the issue of corruption of ALL political parties, AAP won’t align with any other party, as they had initially declared in Delhi. So unless they change their stand, AAP won’t play a role in government formation.

Nevertheless, AAP should continue its good work on the ground more responsibly, without the histrionics and public relations gimmicks. AAP’s constant criticism of everyone in their way - at times without credible evidence - gives them the image of person who claim to know the way but who cannot drive the car. India cannot afford failure of AAP as an experiment of change and one can only hope that in the years to come, AAP will consistently and significantly increase its tally to be able to influence decision making on important legislations affecting the common man.

And now we come to the NDA. Narendra Modi, NDA’s PM candidate, is a strong personality with a long track record as Chief Minister of Gujarat. His detractors routinely challenge the development in Gujarat and blame him of fudging the data. The UPA, with all the government databases and machinery at its disposal could easily have called Modi’s bluff, but haven’t been able to do so for over 10 years. That surely means something, right?

The UPA and others still blame him for the Gujarat riots despite the Courts expressing a contrary view. All these years till the Court’s ruling, they kept saying that the law will catch up with Modi, but now continuing with their rant are questioning the Court ruling itself. They also say Modi is a polarising figure who won’t practice inclusive politics and the minorities won’t feel safe and secure. For them, there isn’t much difference in ‘inclusive politics’ and ‘vote bank politics’. But the question to be asked is whether 66 years after independence is not adequate for previous governments to bridge the social and economic gaps between the various communities?

Modi is perhaps the most charismatic and articulate leaders in the BJP and has tremendous mass appeal. He is often criticised for his dictatorial attitude, but single mindedness of focus and some amount of bull dozing your way is at times necessary for successfully completing any formidable task. If Gujarat has made some progress under a ‘dictator’ like Modi, it is an experiment worth implementing at the Centre. Today India needs a stable government led by a strong and decisive leader who commands respect at home and incapable of being taken for granted by other nations, especially the unfriendly ones. He should ‘rule’ as well as ‘govern’ with an iron hand and lead India to becoming a ‘welfare state’. Other than Modi, there isn’t any leader who answers that description. I would be happy to be corrected on this.

Once we convince ourselves that no one is in politics for selfless public service, ‘whom to vote for?’ becomes more of a pragmatic decision of making a choice based on assessment of the prevailing circumstances and alternatives available. The NDA is not exactly God's gift to India, but seems to be the best option available today. 

Second chances are rare; Make most of the first!

Remember the film ‘Lagaan’? The landmark film about how a bunch of ordinary Indian villagers led by the inspirational Bhuvan defeats the British commanding officer, Captain Andrew Russell’s team in a cricket match and wins a three-year waiver of taxes for the province. The villagers had absolutely no clue about the game of cricket, but Bhuvan accepted the challenge on the behalf of the province as he knew there was no other alternative.

His unilateral decision irked many village elders who thought they could still get the tax waiver through conventional methods. They chided Bhuvan for being naive to accept an impossible task and parted ways with him. However, Bhuvan stood firm on his decision. He initially found only five people willing to join him, but remained undeterred and unfazed. In his effort to prepare the villagers for the match, Bhuvan got help from people who had confidence in him and who too felt that the villagers deserved one last chance.

The British team had proper cricket bats, gloves and pads but the villagers’ accessories were primitive in quality, made from indigenous materials and nowhere as good in comparison. But it was the best the villagers could manage with their meagre resources. The British soldiers were more adept at cricket and regularly played the game for recreation. So the match certainly appeared to be a 'no contest'. But what the villagers lacked in resources, knowledge, skill and experience, they vowed to make up with determination, courage and spirit. They were mindful of the consequences of losing the match – paying thrice the amount of taxes – and also knew that nobody would be able bear that burden. With time, many villagers who had parted ways with Bhuvan gradually began to extend support. Many people from nearby villages also followed suit. Within weeks, Bhuvan’s small team had developed a huge support base and became a mass movement.

Meanwhile, Captain Russell came to know that the villagers were making decent progress in their preparations and wondered if there was a cause to worry. Yet, he refused to believe that a bunch of amateurs could even put up a decent fight – forget winning – at a game he knew very well and they didn't. His supreme confidence did not allow him to think of the possibility of a defeat and he rested easy.

On match day, thousands of people turned up to watch the spectacle. Most were convinced that the villagers had no realistic chance of winning, but wanted to cheer and support the team for their serious attempt for the public interest. After all, they too would benefit from the three year waiver of taxes. They had hope in their hearts and prayers on their lips.

Till this point, the plot of ‘Lagaan’ bears an uncanny and striking resemblance to the emergence of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The non-political movement ‘India against Corruption’ led by Anna Hazare (village elders in Lagaan) for a Jan Lokpal Bill (waiver of taxes) drew a response from the ruling UPA Government (Captain Russell) that they should join politics instead of criticising politicians (challenge to defeat the British team in a cricket match). Arvind Kejriwal (Bhuvan) accepted the challenge and floated the AAP (villagers’ cricket team) comprising ordinary citizens. In course of time, support poured in from thousands of citizens located in India and abroad (mass support to Bhuvan). The villagers in the movie correspond to the hapless and helpless Indian citizens who always vote hoping for a good and efficient government, but are disappointed every time. Isn't it remarkable how perfectly it all fits?

But that's not all. There are couple of scenes in ‘Lagaan’ which perfectly represent the situation in which the AAP and its leaders presently find themselves.

  i.     In the first over, as the batsman plays the ball towards Bhuvan at cover point, all other fielders run helter-skelter to chase the ball, creating confusion and chaos. Bhuvan, the captain and the most sensible of them, quickly sizes up the situation and warns that only the fielder closest to the ball should attempt to chase or stop it.

  ii.    While batting, Bhuvan plays an irresponsible shot in a moment of madness and just manages to survive. He then realises that he has accepted the challenge on behalf of the entire province and there is no second chance and all will be finished if they lose the match. That thought settles him down as he goes on to play responsibly, scores the runs, stays on till the end and guides his team to victory.

Movies are always distant from reality and have an element of a fairy tale or happy ending. Lagaan is no exception either, as the lowly villagers’ team defeats the British soldiers, something which may not happen in real life. The victory of Bhuvan’s team can be compared with AAP’s performance in the Delhi assembly elections. But this is where the resemblance ends, because the cricket match triumph marked the end of the movie, whereas the AAP’s story has just begun and is unfolding with every passing day.

These days, Arvind Kejriwal and AAP is getting a lot of criticism – and rightly so – for being ‘men in hurry’ and for their ‘arrogant’, ‘instant justice’, ‘street justice’ and ‘power to the people’ approach to governance and administration. Their misplaced enthusiasm and eagerness to do too much in too little time is causing lot of distress to the ‘aam aadmi’ who looked upto AAP as a viable alternative to provide a government and administration that is compassionate to citizens. Contrasting views aired by AAP spokespersons have also not helped matters. The AAP government’s approach towards fulfilling electoral promises can be best described by the word ‘frenzy’, meaning a state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behaviour.

But why are they acting in a frenzied manner? One reason is that they are still ‘political novices’ and ‘inexperienced administrators’ as their political opponents call them. They need to calm down, think through and take informed decisions. There need not be in a tearing hurry as the public is not going to ask for their report card in such a short time. The other possible reason is their apprehension that survival of their government is at the Congress’ mercy, which holds the lifeline of outside support. So the AAP seems to be trying to achieve as much as they can before the Congress topples their government. But even if the Congress withdraws support and their government collapses, AAP has nothing to worry. The Congress will be answerable to the people for foisting another election on them and the AAP can hope for a clear majority in the next elections. Admittedly, that is more of wishful thinking without much conviction or logical reasoning, but sadly today, the AAP seems to be working overtime only to justify the Congress pulling down their government. AAP needs to get its act together and make this work for the people who have reposed so much faith in them, so that the AAP model can be replicated in other States of India as well.

The AAP should therefore quickly realise that they are under constant close scrutiny from the people, media and their political opponents in whatever they do. So like Bhuvan did in ‘Lagaan’, Arvind Kejriwal should immediately size up the situation before it goes out of hand, issue stern warnings and instructions and take steps to put the AAP’s house in order. AAP should embrace humility and simplicity, avoid flip-flops, think long-term and avoid short-cuts, set the right priorities and have well defined policies in place on various issues. They should also get the right people for the right responsibilities. In short, AAP should actually put their heads down, start showing performance on the ground and stay away from histrionics and public relations gimmicks, which it is sadly being associated with. Their work should speak instead of the party leaders.

Lastly, the AAP should not forget that people from all walks of life have joined them, including some high profile executives who sacrificed their promising careers and well paying jobs. So if the AAP turns out to be a failed experiment, citizens would certainly be wary of joining or supporting any such movement, at least in the near future. Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP will have to do a lot of explaining to the country, as a failed AAP will leave the country in the hands of the same political parties who have governed less and ruled more and have cared more for personal affluence and less for national development. And yes, the AAP may never get a second chance, after having recklessly blown up the first one.