Culture of subsidy or tokenism won’t help anyone
With the rise of a new party in Delhi, it is evident that UPA Subsidy Raj is renewed and is quite heavy in the air of Indian politics. Culture of freebies is being propagated in the name of expansive welfarism. The renewed practice exhibited by AAP after taking oath in Delhi is the easiest and short-cut to win votes but eventually will shatter growth story. Other parties will soon come with dream sops to win in the upcoming elections.
People have voted AAP for fresh take on governance and not to exhibit the same subsidy raj of UPA. Surprisingly they are emulating and repeating the culture of populist approach by giving away easiest and short term relieve.
Doling out sops is an old school politics and people are no longer in thrall of populism. It is better leadership and good governance that people demand. Our expectation from political parties is to revamp and re-engineer policies to maximize welfare of people.
Tackling leakage and improving infrastructure to ensure water supply to all would have paid rich dividend to both party and people. Power shortage is a big crisis in our country; we need to improve supply and competition. If we can use money in these areas instead of doling out sops, desired result is sure to come.
Populist approach is also imperative for the parties. AAP could have started working in the area of introduction of new pipelines, fixation of meters and groundwater recharge. Mere steps in these areas would have made them more popular.
We have seen that by attacking the establishment and criticizing the government, APP has excelled to power. They must now start defining realistic goals and workable strategies to achieve them and stop playing to a headline-seeking media. These are more difficult tasks than making unrealistic election promises to the people.
