Tech to Transform
“Stop using your phones and laptops as toys and use them to start a revolution.” – Van Jones
To bring about political change, we need to leverage technology. Here is an excerpt from a column I had written in September 2018 (edited lightly for the current context):
Technology has changed how we live, work, buy, sell, communicate and entertain. Internet and mobile technology is what we have used for the past 25 years. And now we can use technology to help us break the chains that bind us.
Just consider the example of Ola.
Earlier, the taxi drivers were hostage to the car owners and fleet owners. Now, with Ola, the drivers have control over their work and their lives.
The same technology has done much more for the passengers. Competition has kept prices low and ensured continuous improvements in services. There is complete transparency in pricing. Passengers also have the ability to give instant feedback on the driver.
In short, it’s a win-win change – for the drivers and the passengers. That is the power of platform technology.
We need to do the same in politics. We need to use platform technology to break free from the chains that the political parties have used to bind us.
Just like Ola connects drivers with passengers, we need a platform that will connect us with those who want to contest elections as independents.
For those among you wanting to contest – this is a new way to enter public life, without the need for money power or political godfathers. All you need is the support of the people.
We, the voters, will choose from among ourselves who will represent us. We will do that through internal elections we organise using our mobile phones and the tech platform.
It will be our choice, and the people we choose will be accountable to us, not to the leaders of political parties.
The people we rate, review and finally choose through our internal elections will contest the general elections as independent candidates who will be answerable to the people of the constituency, not to political bosses.
By electing these independent members of parliament, Lok Sabha will mean what its name says — an assembly of independent people.
Over the years, India has become a dictatorship with total power concentrated in one or two people at the top.
With the tech platform and with a Lok Sabha of Independent MPs who are not puppets in the hands of the political party bosses, we will finally be able to implement true democracy — the rule of the people, by the people, for the people.
In the general elections if we all vote for the candidate we have ourselves chosen through internal elections via the Dhan Vapasi platform, our independent candidate is sure to win. Our mission therefore is to get 543 independent candidates elected to the Lok Sabha. Your mission is to get your independent candidate to win in your constituency.
These are not pipe dreams. If enough of us decide and come together, we can make it happen.
Many of us have lived the better part of our lives. Our parents suffered under onerous rules which limited opportunities. A small window of opportunities was opened in 1991 by Narasimha Rao, and then Vajpayee during 1998-2004. That has been slowly closing for many years – so slowly that we have failed to notice. We owe it to our children to see the writing on the wall. And do something about it. Because if one day in the future they question our inaction, what will we answer them? Why did we destroy their future with our silence? Why did we not do something when we could?
Each of us has to invoke our inner Vishnu. Together and united, we can be Vishnu’s Kalki Avatar. We can destroy the modern day Asuras who have created our dismal plight. We have the power to end the Kalyug of slavery, ignorance and poverty, and put India on an irreversible path to freedom, knowledge and prosperity.
Are we ready? Because this time we are not only faced with the internal evils that our politicians have unleashed on us through the powers they hold in government, but also because of the external threat we face in the form of Xi Jinping’s aggressive and determined China.
Tomorrow: Part 10
