The new year 2014 has been ushered in with the expectation that there will be a total change in the way the country is administered.
The first change agent that India saw was in the form of Narendra Modi who has been gaining in popularity across the country. This was evident in the results seen in the state elections that concluded recently.
However since the beginning of this year, Aam Admi Party of Arvind Kejriwal has also entered the scene and is promising to be a second change agent who will leave his impression in the 2014 elections.
Will Narendra Modi be able to keep his lead to the extent necessary to be able to lead the country in 2014? or will the entry of AAP dent his efforts?.. is a matter to be closely watched.
In Delhi, despite BJP gaining the majority of seats, it had to concede the Government to AAP. If therefore AAP also contests in the Loksabha elections and because of AAP entrance, BJP fails to muster its own strength in the Loksabha during the elections, it is possible that under one pretext or the other BJP may be pushed back again into the opposition benches.
The recent indications that Ms Jayalalitha is also likely to be a possible PM candidate, has complicated the BJP cause further since so far JJ was considered to be an ally of BJP. If she is harboring her own ambitions, BJP needs to look at Tamil Nadu as a state where it has to chart its own course.
In the midst of all these confusions, Congress under Rahul Gandhi may try to sneak in with its own brand of coalition politics.
While NaMo Vs Rahul Gandhi was a more predictable fight with advantage clearly to NaMo, the emerging situation where AAP will nibble away some urban voters and JJ goes independent of BJP, the political canvas is unclear.
In the emerging context even NaMo needs to re-invent himself and ensure that the voter base of BJP does not get eroded by AAP.
Will it be better for BJP to ignore AAP and continue its campaign only as one against Congress? or Will it be better for BJP to recognize the disruptive strength of AAP and counter it with its weaknesses such as “Lack of Governance experience”, is what the BJP strategists need to consider.
I would take this opportunity to invite BJP once again to look at some of the suggestions made in this column earlier during the Karnataka elections which it ignored and paid the price. Obviously, strategy for national elections will be different from that for the state elections and hence a fresh thinking may be necessary. However certain principles such as “Considering Netizens as a recognized political force” continues to hold good even now.
I also invite the public once again to share their views if any on how the interests of Netizens can be put across to political parties as an agenda for governance.
So.. let’s start thinking again on the year ahead in this perspective of what is in store for Netizens?
P.S: Naavi is an ordinary citizen of India and apart from his professional standing, also has a personal and political view point. If professionals like Nandan Nilekani and V Balakrishnan can join active politics, it is not unthinkable that Naavi will also express his political views in the public. I hope my professional friends will appreciate my freedom of speech and freedom to express political views and do not look at my professional work with coloured eyes.
Naavi as a Netizen
