I Support Anti-Corruption Movement

Summary

This article was first written in Facebook Notes in Nov. 2016 (Link: https://bit.ly/pkcorr1)

I strongly support Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today, as in today’s circumstances, AAP is the most potent and suitable means among the available means to fight corruption in India, as this article proves. Hence my support for AAP. Corruption free (or less corruption) politics is the goal, and there can be several means to achieve the goal. If tomorrow, there is a better means, or some other party shows more promise to fight corruption, I will have no qualms to shift loyalties. For me the goal is more important than the means. However, AAP is important today as it is the most competent means. No other party has the know-how to lead such a mass social movement.

Introduction/Background

Some people wrongly believe that I am AAP supporter. I am a staunch supporter of Anti Corruption Movement. There is a serious need to clean up our highly corrupt and immoral political system of India. The movement is the goal, AAP is just a means. The Goal is important, not the means. Today, the best means to achieve the goal, in my humble opinion, is AAP (read why in the next section). Hence my support for AAP today, and will remain so till AAP remains the most efficient means. Tomorrow if it is someone else, I will switch loyalty to that party on this issue without hesitation. I repeat – the Goal is important, not the means. We often err by focusing on the means and ignore the goal.

Why AAP is the Best Bet Today

Let me explain why for me, AAP’s approach to fight corruption is the most promising today among the available options. Reducing corruption is a people’s movement through social change. Only a people’s movement can root out the evil, and only AAP talks of people’s movement and social change. Modi said you give me votes and I will remove corruption. Kejriwal said you vote for me and together we will fight corruption. He said, you the people are the prime movers of change, I am only a facilitator. That shows who understands the psychology of social change – a topic which few have mastered. Having deeply studied the psychology of technological change as IT Head in limited environment of businesses,  I can imagine how much more difficult it would be to bring about a mass social change in a country. Both require change of mindset and behaviour – not an easy task by any standards (Google on “Behavioral IT” for psychology of technological change, or click here for more.)

Not many understand the psychology of social change. Today Kejriwal’s IAC team only has the know how to bring about a social change. No other party/group has the inclination nor the know-how (not even some new members of AAP).

AAP is a new party and has no baggage. All old parties are so deeply immersed in corruption that even the most honest leader among them cannot pull them out of the muck, because the corrupt elements within will ensure failure. These parties are also interdependent. While showing and outward animosity, they have an unwritten agreement to protect one another irrespective of who is in power. So there is no hope from any of the old parties.

People’s Movement – Now or Never

To create a movement, you need to unite people. It is extremely difficult to unite people, and so easy to divide. We once stood united briefly during Anna and Kejriwal’s anti-corruption movement. And then a group of Muslim-haters and Pakistan-haters, who desperately wanted Modi as PM, started to divide us. And like fools we fell in their trap. Teaching a community and Pakistan a lesson appears to be more important for this group than improving our and our children’s lives though a cleaner and less corrupt society!

Like fools, we are missing a golden opportunity to unite and fight against corruption. It is now or never. If AAP fails, it is not their failure, but our failure as we are refusing to unite and join the movement. Unless we support the movement, they will not succeed. Some are foolishly waiting for them to succeed before deciding to offer support.They do not understand the catch 22 type of situation – you will not join them unless they succeed, and they will not succeed unless you join them. You need to jump in and contribute, not sit on the fence as observers and offer armchair advice, if you want them to succeed.

The world of social media has made it slightly easier for us to contribute – you need not even come out in the streets like we did during Anna movement. You could start with giving a moral support and showing your solidarity on social media. A “Virtual Movement” can snowball into something big. Do not underestimate the power of the social media – it can unseat the powerful perpetrators of corruption and the goliaths. Because all of them want your votes and can’t afford to lose your favors.

Let’s Show Some Maturity

We are showing total immaturity, ignorance and lack of understanding of the psychology of Social change. Kejriwal’s group had said that to clean the muck, they have to jump into the muck. (“keechad mein koodana hoga”). When they have jumped in, they obviously have to change their tactics to navigate through the muck, they can’t be swimming or cruising smoothly as if in clear water. We have to give them concessions to adopt to the muck, to change their strategy to negotiate through the muck. In Rome, you need to live like Romans. Whereas like fools we expect them to be Mr. Clean and cruise through the muck with same tools and techniques as if they are sailing in clear water.

Three mighty forces are ganging up against AAP: the entire opposition and the centre; the powerful criminals and the corrupt for whom it is a matter of life and death to save face; and the religious extremists who want to protect Modi for a different cause. They are killing the movement, not AAP. Unless we Indians join forces to support the anti corruption movement, we are going to gift an extremely corrupt and immoral system to our children.

(Endnote: The world is divided on religion because of this same mistake on our part – our inability to distinguish between goal and means. The concept of god and religion is only a means to a bigger goal – achieving a higher spiritual state. More on that later. Meanwhile you can read a short summary at https://premkamble.com/god2, or read my book God in Two Minutes.)

Also Read:

1. Indians! Wake up to Fight Corruption and Goonda Raj
2. God in Two Minutes my ebook at Amazon.com
3. The Great Indian Apathy
4. Indians! Wake up to Quality
5. My Blog
6. We Indians need to Think outside our Conditioning
7. Thums up to the Delhi Dare DAVIDs – An Appeal to All Indians
8. We the Impotent People of India

We Indians need to “Think outside our Conditioning”

Background

This article was first published in Facebook on 6th February 2015 before the Delhi Assembly elections (https://bit.ly/pkconditioning). Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a small and infant party, was contesting the elections challenging the dirty Indian political system. It was a fight of the Davids against the mighty and criminal Goliaths of the system, attempting the impossible of cleansing the system. Hence the volunteers of AAP have been sarcastically reference as “mad guys”. Moreover, their leader had been referred to as “yeda”, meaning mad, by a ruling minister. This ‘yeda’ group revealed how to think outside your conditioning.

Thinking outside Your Conditioning?

You may have heard of thinking outside the box. But what is “Thinking outside Your Conditioning?”, you may ask. I did not know either, until a group of “mad” guys opened my eyes to “Think out of my Conditioning”.

“To understand what is Thinking outside your conditioning”, they told me, “you need to begin by understanding what is conditioning.”

They showed me a cartoon in today’s Times of India.

(Image Courtesy The Times of India)

“I can’t make head or tail out of this – what’s conditioning and how is this cartoon related to conditioning?”

Elephant Tied to a Stake

“Ok. Let me explain to you a little differently. Have you been to a circus?”, they asked me.

“Yes”, I said.

“Have you seen that after his performance, an elephant is normally tied with a small chain to a very weak stick dug on the ground which the mighty animal can easily pull and break free. But he does not.”

“Why”, I asked.

“Because when he was a baby, he was tied to the same chain and he pulled hard till his legs bled. And he felt severe pain. Now the most powerful animal does not even try to escape as it reminds him of the pain.

He is now conditioned to believe that when the chain is tied to his leg, he has to stay put within the radius of the chain. He may have forgotten that pain, but his subconscious mind still reminds him of the pain and stops him even before he attempts to escape.”

This concept of conditioning was starting to penetrate my hard skull.

But they did not stop there.

“Let us take an example from your own life. You are an Indian, right?”

“Yes, very much so. And a proud Indian too”. I said.

“Let us see how the average Indian mind is conditioned and how it is extremely difficult to change this conditioning.”

Tied With Multiple Chains?

“You mean I too am conditioned?”

“Yes. Whereas the elephant is tied with one chain, you and I are tied with multiple chains”

“And you are going to explain to me how I am conditioned? No way. I am a free thinker. I am not conditioned, blah blah blah…” I protested. “You may please go and explain to someone else”

“Do you have children?”

“Yes I do.”

“Have you ever thought of putting your children into government or municipal school?”

“No. You mean those schools with dirty buildings and kids in dirty soiled uniforms? Are you mad? I KNOW that these schools are not for me and my kids. They are for the poor.”

“Got it. What do you do when you need medical help?”

“I drive down to the doctor or hospital nearby?”

“Private doctor or government?”

Now this was getting on my nerves. “Obviously Private doctor, you fools.”

“Why not to the government hospital or the health centre?”

“Stop irritating me. The govt hospitals and health centres are for the poor, not for me.”

“So when you need medical help, without a second thought, you drive down to the next private hospital or private medical practitioner and spend a fortune. The thought of going to the govt hospital where you could get much cheaper or free treatment does not even cross your mind?”

“Obviously not”.

But have you ever thought, “Why can’t these schools and hospitals be made good enough for me? You pay taxes, do you?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Have you ever demanded that the schools and hospitals be made good enough so you can use them as you have paid taxes? ‘They are not for me’, you say. You have got conditioned to believe that these are only for the poor, not for you”.

“Oh, maybe.”

“For ages, these institutions have been so bad that now you have started living with the thought that you HAVE to go to private school and hospitals. What if I tell you that these schools can be improved so that your child can go to these schools?”

“What? My kid in those govt schools? Never!!” I protested.

“You are resisting because you are as conditioned as the elephant. If I try to tell the elephant that he can actually break the chain and run away, he won’t believe me. He will call me a fool.”

“If I am like the elephant, then I can call you a fool, right?” I laughed it off, though I had slowly started seeing my blind spots. These govt schools and hospitals were like blind spots for me – they just didn’t exist in my life and in my mind.

“Oh yes, you can call us anything. They have already called us “yeda” (meaning “mad” in marathi), anarchist,  communist and what not. Honourable ex-Home Minister once called our CM ‘yeda’.”

Opening My Eyes

This “yeda” group opened my eyes for the first time.  Yes, why can’t these govt institutes be as good as private ones? Why can’t they serve me too? I never ever thought that way. After all they are made from my money.

I KNOW  that the money that I pay as taxes is good enough to sustain the quality, and I also know that most of the money gets pilfered and never reaches me. But I have never questioned. I have got conditioned to believe that these institutes are not for me. Even the poor have never demanded a better service from the government. They have got conditioned to believe that this is all that you can get from a govt institution – you can’t ask for more.

I have to be slave to the private doctors and educationists (most of whom are political bigwigs) who fleece me. And most educationists openly do that under the table. I realized that I had completely resigned to my fate. I was conditioned and it was my apathy (“nothing will ever change in India”) which prevented me from thinking the way that these ‘yedas’  were thinking.

I realized that THERE WAS AN URGENT NEED FOR A CHANGE. I had to completely change the way I was thinking.

“So you want me to think out of the box?” I asked. “But that is really difficult”.

“No. you need to ‘Think out of Your Conditioning’. And that is more difficult than thinking out of the box”. I could see a sarcastic smile.

“I am starting to get that… “

They had almost opened my eyes to my blind spots. But I was still confused with the cartoon they showed me first.

“But what does that cartoon of the three dogs have to do with conditioning?” I asked.

The Goons Around Me

(Image Courtesy The Times of India)

“You see that dog in the centre with a faint beatific smile?That is you and me. And the two dogs sitting by the side are the goons, who are an omnipresent part of our society and political system.”

“I see.”

“You have grown up being told that these goondas can harm you and your family if you speak up, particularly against the powerful. You have grown up seeing these dogs snarling and you have forgotten to bark. You have lost your freedom of speech. You have been conditioned not to talk, and to keep flashing that beatific smile.”

“That’s scary!” I could see that the two dogs were like my blind spots again. I was always aware of them subconsciously, but I had learnt to ignore them in my daily life.

“And you have been conditioned to believe that the two growling dogs (representing the goondaism in our society) can never go away.”

Gosh! I now clearly see that I have lost my freedom of speech.”

“But you still have the freedom to vote. With your vote, you can get rid of those two dogs”

The Power to Vote

That’s when I realized the power in my hands. I immediately got on to my feet. And my feet refused to take me anywhere else but the voting booth.

On the way to the booth I met some more members of this ”yeda” group. And I discovered more reasons why they qualified to be called “yeda”. Not only do they want you to “think out of your conditioning”, they want to fight the corrupt and the mighty powerful!

Yes, only a “yeda” mind can think of doing that!!!

[Images: Courtesy http://lifesroadsigns.com]

Bacchon ki Kasam

(Background:  The leader of a political party and Prime ministerial candidate Mr Narendra Modi had to declare in his nomination papers, forced by a new rule, that he was married after hiding his marital status for decades.)

I have full sympathies for both Modi and his wife. I can understand the pain that they may have gone through. I understand that it may not have been easy for both of them particularly the lady who braved it all alone but still had all the good will for him. I salute the lady.

As a strong opponent of non-secular parties and non secular thoughts, I could have used the news to malign the person hoping to be the PM. But I do not want to interfere in his personal life. I empathise with them, I can feel the pain and pray that happier days may return to both of them as they reunite. This is a very sacred and beautiful relation and I feel sad when anybody is devoid of its bliss. I feel sad when I even hear news of any separation – I read the separation of Hrithik Roshan with sadness thinking how painful their separation would be after so many years of togetherness and love, particularly as they were childhood friends.

Indians! Wake Up to Fight Corruption and Goonda Raj!

(Background:   This article, reproduced from my Notes in Facebook (http://bit.ly/pkcorr), was written in October, 2012, immediately after Arvind Kejriwal had made allegations of financial bungling against Salman Khursheed, Union Law Minister. This was when Kejriwal was a common man, before he became the chief minister of a state. He had alleged that Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, an NGO run by Khurshid and his wife Louise, was involved in financial bungling of over Rs.71 lakhs. References and links to relevant news items are available at the bottom of the article.)    

We Indians have been Conditioned to Accept Goondaism

When you hear a story of a common man raising his voice against the powerful and corrupt in India, what is the first thing which comes to your mind that can happen to him? Rightly or wrongly, it is retaliation by the political heavyweights using goondaism, not through judiciary. Ask yourself, “Why does your mind immediately think of goondas in such situations?” It is because we Indians have been conditioned over the years to accept goondaism as normal.

Most of our films on underworld depict how a whistle blower hero and the family get tortured, his mother is killed, sister gets raped and the family is destroyed. But in the end, our hero takes revenge and removes all traces of the bad guys. What do you think is the ‘moral-of-the-story’ of such films? “Good always wins over evil”, right? Not really!

The real message which these films have drilled down very firmly in all Indian minds is that if you go against these power brokers, you and your family are finished. While the sufferings of the hero and his family depicted in the films look very real, the way the hero finally wins through super human heroics is most unrealistic and impractical. So the clever Indian mind get the message loud and clear – “Do not ever interfere with the goondas”. These films have created a deep seated fear of the underworld. They have conditioned the Indian to accept goondaism as a way of life and never to raise his voice for any wrongdoing.

We Indians have been conditioned to accept goondaism as a part of our life. Moreover, the fear of goonda elements has been drilled deeply into the Indian psyche. Our films have nicely conditioned us to firmly believe that if you act against these power brokers, goonda elements will finish you and your family. The real life stories that we hear about whistle blowers like Satyendra Dubey, IIT-Kanpur engineer, and S Manjunath of IIM Lucknow only help to reinforce our fear of  goondaism.

Goondaism – Direct Result of Corruption

Corruption and goondaism go hand in hand. Where there is corruption, there cannot be justice. Where there is no justice, goondas are engaged to provide “your own form of justice”. The corrupt and the goonda elements have a very symbiotic relationship.

Put your hand on your heart, close your eyes and ask yourself – what is the first thing which comes to your mind when you ever think of raising your voice against a corrupt official? You will realize that it is the  fear of the goonda elements that stops you from acting. We have become very subservient and servile because of this subconscious fear. That’s our strong mental conditioning. So remember that when you fight corruption, you are actually fighting goondaism.

None of us can fight goonda elements alone. They have to be fought collectively by the people of India. You may not feel very strongly about fighting corruption, but you cannot deny that you are suffering because of the Goonda raj. Unfortunately, we are all sleeping.

There are strong arguments mainly from purists who say that each individual has to change to root out corruption, since each one of us is involved. The argument is correct, but impracticable.  You cannot fight corruption alone. just as you cannot fight goonda elements alone. You cannot survive by being different in a system which is corrupt. There is a time when, in saner moments, we need to admit that we cannot continue the way we are going, and together resolve to change. It has to be a collective decision and people’s movement.

We Indians are Conditioned to Live a Life of Fear and Misery

We may not be aware, but we are actually conditioned to living a life of constant subconscious fear and a life of misery because of corruption. Life of fear because we have suppressed our natural selves due to fear of goonda elements and submitted to the tyranny of powerful babu’s and politicians much against our wish. Life of Misery because we have tuned ourselves to live in this world of corruption and bribery which we intrinsically do not like but have accepted as a way of life. In fact we have started getting addicted to this life where you pay a small bribe and get away from small offenses, or get small favours. We think we cannot live without it.

We are being Penny-wise and Pound-foolish

We are actually being penny wise and pound foolish. We think we are saving on some small penalties by giving bribes, but do not realize how badly we are losing huge money and how we have made life miserable for ourselves by accepting corruption as a way of our life. Think of the money you spend on your vehicles because of bad roads, think of the money you spend on fuel for your cars, on taxis, autorickshaws because public transport is not good. Think of the money you pay to private doctors and hospitals because we do not have cheap and good government health services, think of the money you dole out as donations to schools and colleges because the government education is not good. Leave alone the miserable life that you lead because of improper facilities and infrastructure around you.

Arvind Kejriwal & His People’s Movement – Time to Wake up

We have seen the angry response of all politicians against Arvind Kejriwal, particularly Salman Khursheed and Renuka Choudhary on TV (Read ‘Background’ on top of this article). I am sure most of us must have consciously and subconsciously thought that Kejriwal’s life can be in danger.

There are allegations that Kejriwal’s group is doing all this for cheap publicity. I think they are doing all this to awaken us Indians. It is extremely difficult to change any conditioning since it needs mindset change, and this group is trying hard to do just that. Since the war has to be fought collectively by the people of India, they are frantically trying to awaken the people of India by doing what opponents call drama and publicity stunts. But unfortunately, you need more than drama to arouse the reluctant Indians. It is time that we wake up and support them.

I dare anybody if he can risk his and his family’s life to this extent for cheap publicity.

We all know that we will not at all be surprised if all his allegations against the corrupt ministers turn out to be true. We fully well know that such corrupt practices are common in India. Such practices may be on in not just one case, but everywhere where funds are involved. We are not at all surprised.

Does any of us have the guts to face such angry response from such powerful people? We are living with the fear of goondaism. That is our conditioning. It is high time that we wake up and whole heartedly support some bold and brave souls who are ready to risk their lives for us. If we still doubt their intentions, we Indians will deserve the corrupt system that we have, we will deserve to live in misery.

I request all of you to share this. You may counter-argue if you do not agree. But do not just sit quiet and let this opportunity pass. The iron is hot, it is now or never. To start with, all I invite you to do is give verbal and moral support by sharing this with as many people as possible. Only when all of us raise a common voice, can things change. And now we have powerful social media where we can raise our voice even without stepping out.

We have already lost one opportunity when the masses had risen to Anna’s voice. Let’s not allow this one to pass.

===================================

Epilogue  (Added in Feb 2014)

A lot of my friends did not believe that we are living a life of fear and misery – that we are living under the constant fear of Goonda elements. You have to dig deep inside your mind to realize this. We have got so used to our surroundings that we do not realize it. It is like the air and oxygen around us which you tend to be oblivious of. Let me explain this with a small story.

The other day I was discussing with a friend living in the same housing complex where I stay. He thought we were living a cosy life far from the clamour and hullabaloo of the city with good amenities for recreation – where was the fear and misery that I have talked about?

I reminded him that our builder who built our residential colony had promised under a legal agreement that he would maintain the complex for 5 years at a given rate. A year after handing over the possession the builder backed out and wanted a higher rate. We pleaded with the builder and then gave up. And we took up the maintenance on ourselves and spent much higher. Why? Because we knew that the builder had political connections with the ruling party and was powerful. We knew he had all the goonda power. Many will deny this, but you have to dig deep inside your mind to realize the real cause, since this is a deep seated fear. We Indians know it very well. Many of you may have suffered much more under the tyranny of the builders. Why did we not knock the doors of justice when we had a legal agreement? We knew very well that you can’t get justice against political bigwigs.

Secondly, our colony does not receive water supply from the authorities – something which is rightfully ours- and we buy water through tankers by paying extra cash. We are afraid to ask for our rights and are ready to grease the palms of the powerful govt officials.Why? Because we know they harbor goondas. Politicians and goondas in India is a very obvious connection that we Indians know about. I know you may find all this very queer to read, because we have stopped talking of the obvious, leave alone writing about it.

Are we happy shelling out much more money than what is required? Do we get the facilities which we deserve? Are we not suffering? And why are we quietly suffering all this? Because of fear of goondas. We are not even aware that we are quietly suffering. We have become very tolerant too. This state of affairs has got so much intertwined in our psyche that we do not even realize it. It was an eye opener for my friend to realize that we are indeed living a life of fear and misery. For me too, honestly, it came as a shocking revelation some years back while dealing with a government body. That is the characteristic of any conditioning. We are completely unaware of  our own conditioning – it is like being in a trance.

Quite a few people still argue and refuse to admit that it was the fear of goondas which stopped us from demanding our rights. Our mind is never ready to accept our own weakness. But like I said, think quietly and dig deep into your mind and you will realize that for years we have been tolerating a lot because of this subconscious fear. We have learnt to get our work done with corrupt officials by talking sweet to them, whereas deep inside, you feel a great repugnance towards them.

That is the great Indian Psychophancy!

Updated: June 2015

Extract from my article “We Indians need to Think outside our Conditioning“:

(Image Courtesy The Times of India)

“You see that dog in the centre with a faint beatific smile?That is you and me. And the two dogs sitting by the side are the goons, who are an omnipresent part of our society and political system. You have grown up being told that there are goondas around who can harm you and your family if you speak up, particularly against the powerful. You have grown up seeing these dogs snarling and you have forgotten to bark. You have lost your freedom of speech. You have been conditioned not to talk, and to keep flashing that beatific smile. And you are conditioned to believe that the two growling dogs (representing the goondaism in our society) can never go away.”

They have become so much part of your life that you have stopped seeing them. They are like the air around you. You need to think “outside your conditioning” to even realize the presence of these dogs, leave alone challenge them.

Written by – Prem Kamble, https://premkamble.com

Also Read:

1. We the Impotent People of India
2. The Great Indian Apathy, https://premkamble.com/apathy
3. Indians! Wake up to Quality, https://premkamble.com/qlty
4. We Indians need to Think outside our Conditioning
5. Thums up to the Delhi Dare DAVIDs – An Appeal to All Indians

References and Links to the Oct 2012 Incident (As stated in ‘Background’ Section)

1. Kejriwal questions Khurshid’s ‘proof’: Highlights,  https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kejriwal-questions-khurshids-proof-highlights-501773, 15 Oct 2012
2. Arvind Kejriwal challenges Salman Khurshid in …, The Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/arvind-kejriwal-challenges-salman-khurshid-in-farrukhabad-asks-voters-not-to-re-elect-him/articleshow/17054699.cms?from=mdr, 2 Nov 2012