Change
To change the economic future of Indians, we need to change the political policies and the people in power. India’s politicians and their parties favour, irrespective of their specific ideologies, all agree on one thing: less freedom for those they rule. So, if we want prosperity for Indians, we need to ensure more freedom, which will mean creating a new compact between the rulers and the ruled. This will mean changing minds and channelling votes by uniting the non-aligned and non-voters to create a Lok Sabha of Independents which can implement an agenda for freedom and prosperity. This is the revolution India needs to break from its past; this is the Nayi Disha India and Indians need.
Over the past couple years, I have written extensively about these ideas and how to make Nayi Disha happen. One of the prerequisites for Nayi Disha’s Indian Revolution is to change minds. That needs a content factory with a new narrative, and a distribution pipe to take this message to the people. Without a change in people’s views, there will be no change in the way they vote – they will still keep selecting from the menu of politicians and parties who have no interest in changing the status quo of extraction and exploitation that served the British well for 200 years, and has served the ruling class well since 1947 when instead of new freedom, Indians got continuity of serfdom. All that changed was the skin colour of the rulers.
A new future for India is possible – but only if the people change their minds. Unlike some other countries where wise leaders brought about the changes needed for prosperity, India has been singularly unfortunate with its leaders – each one had an opportunity, but each one failed. That’s the nature of power, and none could resist from their top perch imposing more controls and constraints on the people. India’s perpetually planned poverty has been made by India’s politicians and their parties. Unless the controls are put on those in power, unless the size of the Indian state is shrunk, unless the ability of politicians to discriminate and interfere in the lives of people is removed, permanent and mass flourishing will be elusive.
This is the change Nayi Disha hopes to bring: replace those in power (and their challenger clones) with a new government which in a single term (or two) dismantles the Indian state and its powers to create an irreversible cycle of freedom and prosperity for the people. To succeed, Nayi Disha has to become a decentralised, bottom-up people’s movement. It has to be led by local leaders in every one of India’s neighbourhoods, rather than one omnipotent person at the top who can fall prey to the same trappings of power. This will only happen when new ideas reach the people. That’s where creating the pipe to distribute the ideas is one of the most important building blocks for Nayi Disha.
