So Why did Democrats lose?

A lot of democrats and their supporters seem to be in shock over the shellacking that they got in the senate elections where they lost control of it to republicans. So, the question that naturally arises is why did the democrats lose? Did they completely lose track of the reality? Did they fail to understand the voters' minds? Were the voters stupid not to see the democrats' accomplishments? 

There might not be a single answer to the above questions. But if we are still forced, only one answer comes out. And that is, voter mindset and voting process involves very complicated psychology. And if you can understand it, you can script the perfect story to tell the voters. 

While prediction is very difficult, there is no scarcity of analysis. And there are tons of articles on that. This is also one such article. But I guess this is a rather pedestrian, simplistic view adopting article. 

So, why did the democrats lose? 

If the economy was doing great, why did the democrats lose? If the stock market was breaking records, why did the democrats lose? If the unemployment was down, why did the democrats lose? 

The bottomline is, from a voter's point of view, I don't give a hoot to whether stock market is breaking records or not. I know it definitely benefits the CEOs. What I care for is, is the improvement in economy mapping into my prosperity ? Is it raising my wages? If it is not, I am not impressed. Being thankful for having a job is not enough for the voter to vote for incumbent. Status quo is never a reason. So, if I have a job, I dont care. If I dont have a job, I am bitter. Economic wellbeing must map to personal prosperity. That definitely was not on the discussion table when statistics and unemployment data were presented

I think, people have started getting tired or weary of the wars. While scare tactics like "there is some enemy out there" and "you are at risk" charge up the voters, things like bringing back troops, not starting wars are not taken up as achievements, particularly when the opposing party is also not. They are seen as expected actions. The difference would have definitely been there, if republicans were war mongering and democrats were truce speaking and actively highlighting the costs of wars, monetary as well as emotional.

Then comes immigration. While voters are kind and welcoming, everyone is strongly against illegal immigration. Inspite of that, people seemed  very welcoming about those who illegally entered not on their own but with their parents when they were children. Somehow, democrats could never create a strong story about their immigration initiatives. And to add to the frustration, they seemed to be tagging the legal and illegal immigration together causing a lot of disdain to the skilled legal immigrant communities. They never seemed to be working on this problem with full energy. It seemed like suddenly they would raise the issue and the issue would gradually die down causing severe frustration amongst communities. I wonder if this played a role in losing some significant Asian votes in this election. 

The people in this country have a strong stand on their individual freedom, privacy and space. Somehow, with all the snooping news coming out, it left a bad taste in several minds. And it felt like the Government is being heavily intrusive in personal lives. While the government talked about freedom and abolishing snooping, more revelations that suggested the intrusion that happened, left a bad taste. 

Democrats could not create a strong story on Net neutrality. Instead the net neutrality was painted by opponents as an act of Government overreach which was a dubious point.

Voters hardly care for things like Climate change which are not of immediate consequence to them. 

While the voters might have made a serious mistake, its the democrats who should blame themselves for being butterfooted on several issues and not displaying spine. 

Voters will realize that net neutrality is in their own benefit, climate change is a reality, no kid left behind is in their benefit, education is in their benefit, but the prominent thoughts that might have significantly influenced their minds and subsequent decisions are the thoughts : 

• Republicans can move things forward
• Republicans can bring individual prosperity

I hope they are right. Tea party noises dont paint a rosy picture though

Outraged Again?

Did you know that getting outraged is a habit in India ? Every now and then we become outraged.

We become outraged when a scam gets unearthed.
We become outraged when a blast occurs.
We become outraged when a girl gets raped.
We become outraged when a drunken driver mows down pavement dwellers.
We become outraged when a maniac passes hate speech.
We become outraged when an idiot passess idiotic speech.
We become outraged when the politicians watch porn in the assembly.
We become outraged when the politicians flout all rules and trouble the common man.
We become outraged when media colors the information.

And we continue becoming outraged. Outrage. Outrage. Outrage. An abundance of outrage.

The news media uses that outrage to fuel further outrage.
Then media forgets.
Then we forget.
Then everyone forgets.
Life moves on.

Then it happens again. And we are outraged again.

The cycle repeats.

How long can this go ? This cycle creates a gradual depression in our hearts and we blurt it out "Is Desh ka kuchh nahin ho sakta".

This keeps happening because of the sense of impunity in the minds of the offenders.

The attackers think they can easily attack India in a crowded place and can get away. Poor lives lost.
Rapist thinks he can get away with it.
Politician thinks he can get away it. 

Until....

We put a stop to it. We put an end to it.

We got to do something more concrete than just getting outraged. We have to exercise our vote. But it doesnt just end with vote. We have to be courageous to support the good folks who are willing to take up the battle. We have to use the tools we have to use the law. Until that happens, things will continue to happen and we continue to get outraged.

India and Indians need to teach the culprits a lessons.

One Mulayam Singh Yadav should not be able to get away with remarks that completely undermine the basic fundamental dignity of a woman.

One Azam Khan should not get away by bringing religion in the way of nationalism.

One Swamy cannot utter rubbish to disturb the communal harmony of the country


The country should not just get outraged. It should get outraged to such an extent that their political careers must come to a stop. Can the people do so ? Can they do so through their vote ? Can they give zero votes and throw them and their parties out ? Thats when the outrage will have any value and significance.

We are outraged with the caste politics, religious politics, reservation politics and many other kinds of politics. But what use is that outrage when we do not show the courage to throw out those playing such politics and not give a chance to someone else who doesnt play such politics even if it means they are new.

It is not always important to only look for experience and stability all the time. Then there is nothing different and nothing unconventional. More important is to stand for principles even if it means deviating from the traditional path. If we cannot show the courage to take a new different untested path, we cannot expect new different results.

In such context, how can one expect new results if they keep selecting between the options of traditional politics of Congress and BJP? People have to give an opportunity to the new challengers like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to give the change a chance to show itself. To give the hope a chance to prove itself.

I was talking to a lady who tells me "I am confused about what is AAP doing. I dont know whom to vote. Congress, BJP or AAP"

I said "When something is hopeless we dont expect much. But when we see something positive, we over expect without giving a proper chance. That is what is happening. Are we being over impatient with AAP? We gave 60 years to Congress and BJP. Cant we give 5 years to AAP to show the change they intend to bring in? I think we must."


So, go for it. Go for the change. Embrace it with hope. Dont worry about mistake. By embracing the change you will be teaching everyone a big lesson that nothing in this world is permanent except change.

Until then we will continue to get useless outrage against corruption, criminality and despondency.

Support Clean Candidates: Support AAP's Rachna Dhingra from Bhopal

This is a historic moment in Indian post-independence era. In India politics has not been a very respectable and interesting topic decades. Till now, people had taken it for granted that the politicians are corrupt and the system is neck deep in corruption. That still continues to be the perception. If you are in politics, then you must not be clean. Thats the perception. There has been a sense of despair too. Over the last few decades, corruption has eaten India like a termite. Yes there has been development at the surface level but the discrimination between the rich and the poor has also starkly increased. A country's growth is no evaluated just by the overpasses or highways. But it is also measured by the access to resources to each and every citizen of the country.

Good people who wanted to enter politics either could not enter due to high entry barriers or just could not do anything inspite of the desire, because of the deep rooted corruption in the national as well as state level politics.

But over the last couple of years, things have changed significantly. It was quite an exciting moment to see the entry of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi elections. Initially it was completely written off by the mainstream parties. This is a common treatment an underdog gets it, doesnt it? But, the people of Delhi knew they needed a change. And the effort was put in selflessly and tirelessly and AAP surprised everyone. Unfortunately, it could not get the majority but when challenged to form the government it did not run away but took the challenge head on and achieved several accomplishments in a 49 day governance. Again, because of the lack of complete majority and complete antagonistic approach by BJP and Congress towards AAP, it had to resign because the greed of power was not in the blood of AAP.

But the entry of AAP into the national politics is a very refreshing to the citizens of India who until now did not really have sensible alternative. 

AAP has decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. And that is what makes the 2014 elections historic. For the first time, people of India are getting a credible alternative.

AAP has touched so many hearts that it has inspired some fantastic people to enter into politics and fight the Lok Sabha elections on AAP's plank. This includes the amazing people like Medha Patkar, Meera Sanyal, Rajmohan Gandhi, Rachna Dhingra, Kanchan Chadhury Bhattacharya, V Balakrishnan and many others.


This is a very proud moment for AAP because people of such stature and clean credentials have decided to represent AAP. And if they win, it will be a huge success for the people of India in throwing out the corrupt and the criminals from Indian politics.

But it will not be possible without your support. AAP is not strong on funds. One religious and steadfast rule of AAP is to raise clean and transparent money that is put up on its website.



Different people have taken up the tasks of supporting different candidates. We believe that small efforts will ultimate make a big difference.

The AAP volunteers and supporters of Austin, College Station, Houston and Dallas have decided to take up the cause of Rachna Dhingra and help her in her campaigning as Lok Sabha AAP candidate from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Rachna Dhingra is a phenomenal individual who after finishing her MBA from University of Michigan decided to return to India and fight for the cause of the victims of the deadly Bhopal Gas Leak that happened in 1984. Since over a decade she has been fighting for their rights.

I am posting this with a personal request to support Rachna's candidature by making a small donation. The amount doesnt matter. Your support matters. Every Rupee or Dollar matters for AAP in this effort to raise grassroots level clean and transparent money.

The direct link to donate to Rachna Dhingra is :

http://my.aamaadmiparty.org/candidate/madhyapradesh/bhopal.html

I hope you will definitely make a small contribution and express your support and solidarity. You have to be an Indian Citizen to be able to donate.

By the way if you feel like donating to some other AAP candidate that you know of, you are ofcourse welcome. The link is https://donate.aamaadmiparty.org/

Kindly spread the message.

Thank you so much.

Woman Power of AAP

The woman power of AAP.  Do watch it.

Phenomenal Candidates in AAP's 6th List for Lok Sabha

Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) 6th List of candidates is out :

http://aamaadmiparty.org/6th-candidate-list-announced-2014-elections

We know, as AAP supporters, that AAP will make mistakes and learn from it. Thats ok with ur.

After looking at some candidates fielded, I am absolutely proud of AAP's intentions, I see in reality that it walks the talk as far fielding the candidates is concerned, sincerely working on fielding many more women candidates, bringing in representations from marginalized communities and bringing in clean candidates.

COUPLE of HIGHLIGHTS that happened:

1. Soni Sori is AAP Candidate from Bastar, Chattisgarh:
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Every time I read her story, my spine shivers. Finally Supreme Court of India came to her rescue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soni_Sori
Its a proud moment for AAP that she agreed to be AAP candidate. She must be having some hope in AAP. And that hope should always be kept alive.

2. Kanchan Chaudhury Bhattacharya is AAP Candidate from Haridwar, Uttarakhand
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Remember Udaan, the Hindi serial that would come in TV when we were kids ? It was based on her life. She was India's First Woman Director General of Police. Again, a proud moment for AAP for these folks to have expressed hope in AAP. I am pretty sure AAP will work hard along with this fantastic folks in creating a better, equal India.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/officer-who-changed-the-face-of-the-police/article3685110.ece

Finally, a couple of days back, one lady said, if given a chance to vote, she will vote for AAP. And this woman went on Hunger Strike in 2000 in protest against killings of civilians in Manipur on a fateful thursday. She continues to be on hunger strike and is force fed by the Police. She is Irom Sharmila. Read about her:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irom_Chanu_Sharmila
Thank you Irom Chanu Sharmila for your hope in AAP. We hope we will never break it.

I hope AAP by bringing in people from different segments will tirelessly be creating a society where no one is marginalized based on economic, caste or religious status.

If you have hope in AAP, let your friends know. Also, you can donate at https://donate.aamaadmiparty.org/

Irrespective of whether AAP wins or not, bringing these people to contest elections is a huge initiative as we keep seeing as high as 40 to 50% corrupt criminal candidates being fielded by parties like Congress and BJP. I hope people of India grab this opportunity to opt for an alternative. Tell your families and Friends to grab this oppotunity. You will be proud you too played a role in exceptional elections in the Indian history since independence.

Yogendra Yadav on Ghoshnapatra answering questions about AAP

Lot of answers to your questions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbiAeRAE-TE