You cannot kill an idea.

Till now people in India had become used to the fact that criminals became politicians because that gave them power to control the police and so stay out of prison. To hide their corruption they corrupted the police and the CBI so violent crimes, such as rape and murder, went out of control. Certain institutions such as the Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General and the Supreme Court tried to keep them in check but it was like trying to hold back the tide. Politicians resented being held to account for gross misuse of taxpayer money on the excuse of reducing poverty. First create poverty by levying extortionate taxes on all goods and services, then throw handouts at the poor in the form of various social schemes and skim the cream off the top. Anyone demanding accountability was accused of being anti poor and vilified. If people agitated for justice they were severely beaten up. If high taxes and indiscriminate spending caused soaring inflation it was an excuse for more handouts such as the Food Security Bill which aims to distribute wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 a kg to 800 million people, which would be more than the whole of North and South America combined. Until now. Less than a year ago a new party called the Aam Aadmi Party or AAP sprang up in Delhi and decided to contest the assembly elections held a couple of weeks back. Why promise a little here and a little there, they decided to promise everything to everyone. The poor were promised free water, electricity at half price, regularisation of all unauthorised colonies and cheap food. The middle class was promised complete transparency, no corruption, no cars with flashing lights holding up traffic, no free accommodation at taxpayer expense and open government. Young people were seduced with more jobs as prosperity increased. At first the established parties dismissed the AAP as a joke but the AAP went on to win 28 seats out of 70 in Delhi and in the process, inflicted a humiliating defeat on the 3 time Chief Minister of the Congress. Now the parties are refusing any horse trading as in the past. The Congress has introduced the Lok Pal Bill which it had scuppered and the Finance Minister, who had arrogantly dismissed inflation, is talking about controlling it.  Pundits dismiss the AAP as a temporary phenomenon but if it can create the idea of complete intolerance of corruption it will have done its job. We wish it all the best.