“Parties come and parties go, but nothing changes in the life of an ordinary person. Our lives – yours and mine – stay the same,” says Atishi, one of Aam Aadmi Party’s most vocal leaders, who is also widely credited for revolutionising education in Delhi.
Joining politics with a view to bringing some change to the lives of ordinary people, Atishi served as an advisor on education to the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government and is now MLA from Kalkaji constituency.
In a free-wheeling conversation with YKA’s Shikha Sharma, Atishi talks about her decision to join politics, what ails it today and why she feels the youth of this country hold the key to reforming it.
Excerpts from the interview:
Shikha: What made you enter politics?
Atishi: When people ask me, why I joined politics, I tell them – I didn’t join politics, I joined a political movement that later converted to a political party. I joined India against Corruption that took social movements to a peak. It forced the Parliament of the country to call a special session to pass the Jan Lokpal Bill. But, we also saw the limitations of a social movement. Because that session of the Parliament was called, but the Jan Lokpal Bill couldn’t be passed. From therein, I guess, people who are now a part of the Aam Aadmi Party started feeling that if we need to bring a change in the system, we will have to enter politics.
S: What, according to you, ails the Indian political system?
A: All our systems have collapsed – be it education, health, basic infrastructure, environment. But why is it happening? If you look at it, these decisions that are the most important ones in our life – where our children will go to school; whether they’ll go to a college; will they get jobs; are we safe in our cities—who takes these decisions for us? These decisions are taken by our politicians. And who are our politicians? I’m not saying all politicians are bad, but 95% of politicians are the worst people in our society. So, if you look at it, we have left the most important decisions of our life, to the worst people in our society. And that is the reason our country faces so many challenges.
S: If you could fix one issue in Indian politics today, what would it be?
A: The biggest thing that needs to be improved is the accountability of the system. It’s not that our schools can’t work well, or our colleges can’t operate, it’s just that these systems have become so bad that people who work there feel there is no need to work in them. And it’s also not that all governments aren’t spending money on education. And it’s not that all schools have a problem—schools have well-qualified teachers, the necessary infrastructure— but despite having well-qualified teachers, all the infrastructure, these schools aren’t providing a good education. So if we just improve the accountability of this system, we’ll see a huge difference in how things work.
S: AAP claims to be a corruption-free party. Yet, we see, the parties political leaders supporting those accused of corruption at the state level. Why?
A: Why are we willing to stand with other parties? If you look at it, the Congress was always corrupt, but it’s not that the BJP is any less corrupt. But apart from that, institutions of democracy have been laid siege to. Today, almost no news channel is willing to say anything against the existing government. So, today, apart from being corrupt, BJP has occupied all democratic institutions of our country. This is dangerous for all of us. So, at this point in time, we need to save our country’s democracy. And that’s why, right now, many parties need to come together.
S: Why should Young India join Indian politics?
A: Interestingly, if you look at it, the youth of this country is thinking about education, about jobs, and it’s for this reason that the young are also disillusioned with politics today. Because it’s not interested in the daru- dharam- jaat paat wali rajneeti (alcohol-religion- caste-politics). Where the young really need to bring a change though is if they are interested in seeing the status of education improve, or jobs being created, or the economy growing, they will have to start thinking beyond their own salary package or monthly EMIs for house or car.
They will have to understand that until they join politics at some level, neither education will improve, nor will college admissions change, or job prospects. To change this nation, the young of this country have to join politics. Else, when we read the paper in the morning or watch the news at night, we will only say cynically, “desh ka kuch nai hoga, desh kabhi nai badlega!” (Nothing can happen in this country, nothing can change here!)