The Lok Satta Party public interactions meet with JP

This party has impressed me a lot, particularly their well-informed leader Dr JP, apart from their "no-compromise" attitude against buying votes & other clean party principles.

We had a similar sort of 'revolution' in India's business world with Infosys leading the way. Some such revolution is badly needed in politics & hopefully, Lok Satta can catalyze the way people from all classes begin to recognize the value of such principles amongst various parties.

Dr JP's gesture of coming down to B'lore to interact and console his candidates is very commendable. His admission that this had been a painful journey for him and the warning to his party workers that this is just the start of their journey was indeed very touching.

They have a long way to go. It will be interesting to note how the party holds itself together (in AP these is a bonding force called JP - Mr. Prakash is doing a great job here - I hope he will be successful).

LS as it is today seams like is a party of "Middle class" and not even all of the "Middle class" recognize there is a party with that name. And if you ask about the lower segments of the party - not many would have even heard of "Lok Satta".

There was a person in the audience who asked Dr. JP, how his party is going to reach out to lower segments of the society - in the barrage of questions JP probably missed out on this crucial question. Concentrating on civic issues is only going to get them this far. The party i hope will reach out to people in slums through such initiatives like education, health awareness campaigns. I am sure they will anyways work towards ensuring tht the newly elected representatives do their work (RTIs?). 

@ Ritesh - Dr J P not only talked about how its not enough for us, the middle class, to bother with just our roads, parks, etc, but emphasised on the subject too. Talking of slums, he mentioned that a mosquito carrying the dengue virus does not discriminate between the rich and poor, and in order to ensure that such epidemics do not start, spread and eventually reach you, it's in each and everyone's interest to provide proper kind of housing for the poor.

C'mon, Dr JP is far more evolved a leader compared to just any RWA President. Perhaps you need to read his essays - start by reading his blogs here.

Also, here is a report from Citizen Matters

Ritesh avare'

my maid didnt know, and less than 50% of my colleagues knew about it

I haven't even ventured to tell my house-maid about the party. Till such time as a candidate is standing from her constituency, what's the point telling her about it?

As compared to that, every net-savvy person that I am in some way associated with, has now come to know (and, more than know) about the party through me. And, hopefully, more are getting to know through them.

Many parties have come and gone in the past. So, there's a general cynicism when you hear of a new name in the fray, until such time as you have heard more about it. LokSatta in Karnataka is less than 6 months old. So, though there was general appreciation of the quality of candidates put up, perhaps the perception was that their winnability facor was low, and, that even if they won, with only 5 candidates, they wouldn't be able to make much of a dent in the overall policy initiatives, and therefore, why waste a vote on them. Well, all these things take time, and we certainly didn't expect any miracles. And, very much as you have quoted Dr JP, even "if we force other parties to change because of our actions, our goals are achieved".

And, as for the candidates, perhaps you need to have a talk with Mr Ramakant, the candidate who contested from Vasant Nagar (Katta Jagdish won there, by means more foul than fair - Mr Ramakant got over 1600 votes). There isn't a single house there, particularly of the poorest of the poor, that he hadn't covered in his campaign. He has had very interesting experiences. Perhaps he will be logging them in soon.

Even the others, were very much out on the roads, sweating it out day after day. I doubt I would have been able to match their effort.

Ultimately, however, I do admit, it's grassroot level work that will largely sway the voters. We are looking at various ways of going about it. Your inputs would be most welcome.
 

This is an extremely well written column by Sudheendra Kulkarni.

Indian politics has become totally disgusting & is stooping to levels never reached before. Most parties have discarded their principals long ago & the craving to come & stay in power, or make demands when coalitions have to be formed has reached new highs in an India that is getting more & more divided, politically.

Individuals within parties have scant respect for ideologies or principles & use whatever means to chalk out their 'careers' on the path to power & money, aspiring to become individual power centers, come what may, by using all available unethical means & corruption to further their own private interests, neglecting the country & it's welfare. After all, this is an era when liberalization is offering great opportunities for multiple dealings with private businesses !

Some of the middle & upper middle classes see Lok Satta as a ray of hope, just as the country had hoped for a better India with BJP competing with Congress when they first made political inroads after the Jan Sangh had been written off earlier with their disunity & squabbling within. So far, Lok Satta has doggedly stuck on to their principles, but it is doubtful if they can go on & grow in numbers sufficiently to make inroads since very few care or crave for clean politics. Politics anywhere is never totally free of unethical practices (even in the most evolved democracies) & it is really sad that India is now, perhaps at the bottom.