bhaibaldeep

First they claimed to win 117/117 Punjab Assembly seats; then they bargained a little, settling for a 100/117 seats; come elections, they were claiming to get 80 plus; a little closer to the results they had a little sour taste in their boastful mouths, somehow, yet they were giving themselves 65 plus seats. Well they only got 20/117.

Summer of 2014, I used to speak in my speeches, even write, that the 2017 Punjab assembly elections were in the pocket of Sukhbir Singh Badal for he had the power, privilege, money and all sorts of options to bribe people and officials with —that it was his election to lose; that, whoever wants to beat him can beat him albeit by being intelligent, even wise.

Autumn of 2014, I was warning the AAP volunteers and leaders including Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia that the amount of effort it would take to clean what had become of Aam Aadmi Party – Punjab, that a similar effort would now be good enough to clean up even Shiromani Akali Dal, Punjab Congress – PPCC, or even Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab. That there were 4 kinds of 1984 politics (about which I have already written before) and that neither of these would win “us” Punjab; that we are not an attractive destination for the finest Punjabi minds any more; that the so-called drug-sand-land mafia were planting their people in AAP Punjab; that the finest assets (remember me writing about the four fatal failures —assets identification, assets evaluation, assets consolidation and assets management) in AAP Punjab are being pack-hunted out at the behest of AAP’s opposition who are hell bent to rock AAP’s boat, to dismantle and dismember the whole movement; that AAP’s senior leadership sitting in Delhi is being taken for a ride and that they are being had, and being had bad.

Stupid people stupid eardrums —only sycophants had key to access.

Winter of 2014, Arvind Kejriwal’s band wagon comprising yet-to-be-established-cheats such as Jitender Tomar went on their offensive against Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Prof Anand Kumar and other PAC members who were desirous on keeping the movement from going astray. I had sprung into action —trying to hold the threads intact, and from breaking. I was to become the first MP candidate of AAP to call spade a spade and demand that no-one be kicked out illegally and unconstitutionally. But, I was to be amazed by the ambitious-viciousness of Arvind and Manish to hold on to, and consolidate the-absolute-power. They backstabbed on all promises that the AAP held, embarrassed the dignified, and deliberately chose to embrace the corrupt and their practices instead. Arvind and his coterie were to embark upon a curve where they grossly overestimated themselves, and severely underestimated the might of people with integrity, and who actually had the capacity to usher in alternative politics, transparency, probity, etc.

March of 2015, after the 67/70 Delhi Assembly seats, and anticipating the change in guard inside the PAC and NE, Arvind was to go on to give his nod to illegally oust the most important founding members of AAP. I had said then, that 2017 Punjab Assembly elections will now be a hung assembly, given the fact the only other option, Punjab Congress, was a deeply divided camp with open relentless tongue-lashing between Captain Amarinder Singh and Partap Singh Bajwa in particular.

2016 —AAP had successfully shattered its prism of hope, with its pieces scattered all over, but Congress made the move —its camp became calm and therefore, quieter. With no hue nor cry audible no more to the world outside, PPCC was seemingly the hungrier than all others dreaming for an electoral win in Punjab elections. While Sukhbir Singh Badal seemed to be a little too brash, even idiotic, his camp made the most of the illnesses of AAP in Punjab. I still believe that if he had had the courage to remedy several wrongs that his party, as well as his father, did, and show some humility, Shiromani Akali Dal could have won the elections. Not that I wanted them to win (or lose) nor am I saying they would have been good or bad for Punjab, just that it was politico-mathematically possible. Well, he did not have the courage to shed his garb of foolhardiness, so he lost – even perhaps for good.

5 years is a long time, and Arvind Kejriwal is slowly learning that. Arvind somehow reminds me of the first half-marathon I had run in my first year of National Cadet Corps. I was only 15. I started well, was in the lead pack and I had thought a lot about myself that I can keep up with the rest. You know when you, as a new brand car, are just out of the showroom and you look down upon others on the road that were worn, torn, dented, not clean, unkempt. I was exactly like that —as a newborn stud imagining to be the star of every gal that lived. Arvind seems to be still like that. Well, by the time the finish line me approached, I was still believing that others would’ve had similar issues and that somehow the tape would still be there, waiting for me; that my expensive tracksuit and dashing new shoes will carry me across ahead of everyone else (hoping for a miracle it is called). Well, I was among the last quarter to reach and all of those who had finished ahead, and there were many, were even done with their refreshments. That is a story, I remembered after what —1984 autumn, that taught me a lot. When I went for my SSB at No. 1 AFSB, Dehradun in that autumn of 1989, by the time most of the fellas were finishing their first round, I had just begun my third round. If I had not lost, but more importantly taken lessons from that first “marathon”, I would have never made it along the lead pack in 1989, and even a step ahead. Arvind and his coterie not only think they are smarter than everyone else on the planet, but also believe there are no lessons out there for them to learn.

First Manpreet Singh Badal was stripped down; then my kinda folks were dismissed as if we were lesser mortals; then Navjot Singh Sidhu kinds were also kept away, even humiliated but more importantly, some of the finest political thinkers, strategists, policy writers, volunteers and donors, kept away. They, or, we were able to see that this was a crumbling tower, that much awaited Armageddon or, like watching a poorly made tragedy (film) even after having read the novel a few times. When you do not know why you sat through the pain for all those hours, nay years.

When I began writing this note, I had a thing or two to say —@BhagwantMann had just been made President of Aam Aadmi Party – Punjab and Sukhpal Singh Khaira had also resigned as party’s Chief Whip in Punjab Assembly. But the time, I have garnered energy to either finish or dump this note, Gurpreet Ghuggi has left the party! I am now disgustedly bored to silence, or whatever.

Arvind, you are a child of the movement. You were neither its father nor its mother. This movement was just another wave that our civilisation has continually produced across millenniums. That is why there is hope, that another one will form not too long after. Are you just another one of those fake cries —fake promises, that have insulted our lands, our waters, our skies, our narratives, across ages, or better? Time may have nearly told. Time passes quickly and the sun may just be setting upon you and your bandwagon for you seem to have dug a deeper hole than your might.

I am Earth —I will wait for the next sunrise not knowing what is in store for me. Whether I shall burn, standing in for the Sun, or be scorched in its light, its might, fade away in its slight.

I am just another wave in the ocean, hoping the sunrise would be awesome after the destructive tornado that just was. That a whole day would pass; that a storm wouldn’t come by and destroy the next ship full of hopeful aspirants and desirous.