If It Works
Admittedly, Sabhas is a far-fetched idea – that millions of people will participate in a sometimes digital, sometimes physical platform to try and bring about change, and that this platform can be the motor to drive the revolution. And yet, every idea when it is first articulated sounds implausible. Think of this as version 1.0 of the business plan. Many pivots will be needed as it evolves. The point is to trigger thinking so it can be made better.
If the flywheel starts working, just think of what we get as an audience and a nation:
- A path for genuinely interested and well-meaning people to come into politics
- An opportunity for us to vote in primaries and select the best candidates – who have a real opportunity to win
- A glimpse of what the state and central assemblies can be like – with real discussion and debates on important issues
- New set of ideas on political and economic issues
- High quality daily debates and discussion on topics of national interest – livestreamed
- The Jan Sabhas can showcase the strengths of a new set of people. People very different from the politicians; people united by their passion to change India.
- A real revolution and a new republic, perhaps!
The key question to ask is: how can we begin on this journey? How can Sabhas be piloted? In one constituency or a single state? Can a proof-of-concept be created to validate the idea? These are open questions for everyone to think about.
**
In this series, I have attempted to put forth some ideas on what it would take to get large numbers of people together on a digital platform to lay the foundation for what could become the Indian Revolution to put our nation on a path of economic transformation. The aim is to get us thinking: India’s greatest challenge is its politics, which in turn leads to poor governance. Challenges should attract entrepreneurs – there are problems waiting to be solved.
It is our nation. If we choose to live here, we must aim to make it better. At least some of us need to rise to the occasion. We have a responsibility to make our country better. Too much time has been lost because of the secession of the successful. Technology today gives us an opening to connect hundreds of millions in a way that was previously not possible. Some among us need to rise and lead. Here the riches are not individual, but an India that can become great in a decade. Can we make this Indian Revolution loonshot a reality?
