T N Ninan: The opportunity for renewal

As the Aam Aadmi Party's first government gets ready to be sworn in later today in Delhi, by way of a year-end thought it is worth reminding ourselves of what we sometimes forget: how regenerative and re-energising an election is. There is a new approach to old issues, fresh ideas get tried and tested, and new faces replace tired ones. At the national level, the elections of 1991, 1998 and 2004 all brought about welcome change. At some point, hubris takes control of those in power, and voters need the chance to bring them down to earth. For those old enough to remember, P V Narasimha Rao was all-powerful in the run-up to the 1996 elections, and reduced to nothing immediately afterwards. The BJP was increasingly arrogant in 2004 as it headed for what it thought was certain victory, but it came a cropper. Today, the Congress has woken up to the thought that it faces a potentially severe judgment for five years of misrule. So who could argue that elections are not a form of catharsis for all concerned?

Whatever one's doubts about whether the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be as successful in administration as it has been at the hustings, its advent is surely overdue. If in doubt, recall three sets of headlines of the last few days: the Maharashtra government rejecting the findings of the inquiry into the Adarsh building scam perhaps because an indicted Union home minister might otherwise have to resign; Karnataka legislators off globetrotting on long junkets that cost crores of rupees; and the Uttar Pradesh government's criminally callous treatment of refugees in makeshift "camps" in and around Muzaffarnagar. All three episodes are worthy of outrage, but how much outrage can citizens muster, and how often must they muster it? Better to try substantive change, in form and content.

The AAP leaders' rejection of outsized government bungalows in privileged parts of town, excessive security and cars with flashing lights may seem self-consciously self-righteous, and will grate on some sensibilities, but they are needed at this juncture to emphasise the forgotten point that those elected to office are servants of the people, not their masters. Still, its holier-than-thou attitude should be discarded at some point as it gets down to business, and the retributive approach must give way to a reformative one - people don't usually like to have moral superiority thrust in their face repeatedly, or see the government launching a witch-hunt instead of focusing on the business of governance.

Meanwhile, unelected officials get the message too, and are more on their toes. If all those in the Delhi government departments that are to get special attention from the AAP (electricity, water and public transport) are nervous, that in itself has delivered a public good. One may disagree with the business of providing free water, but it is unconscionable that a city that gets as much water as Delhi should have a water problem at all. If the many ills of the water supply system get addressed (such as half the water supplied going unmetered), the net outcome could well be positive. Likewise with electricity, if there is a proper audit of the distribution companies, persistent suspicions about being overcharged can be addressed.

This much is clear: after five years of a wasted mandate at the Centre, the country wants change more than continuity. Whoever wins the 2014 parliamentary elections will be the party or grouping that most convincingly offers change, and change of the kind that people can believe in. The Bharatiya Janata Party's Narendra Modi personifies change; the AAP stands for a new approach to governance; and the Congress seeks to offer change through the persona of Rahul Gandhi. Whoever eventually gets the mandate, this much is certain: renewal and regeneration will be in the air midway through 2014.