‘Political activism by good citizens only route to good governance’

Apolitical citizen activism has had only a limited impact in addressing local issues and decentralised governance. Is political activism the answer?

Can the entry of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bengaluru Navanirmana Party (BNP) into the Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)’s political arena alter the dynamics of a system controlled thus far by the mainstream parties? Does the transition from civic activism to hardcore politics help push real grassroots issues to the spotlight? In an interaction with I, AAP’s State Convenor Prithvi Reddy and BNP’s General Secretary Srikanth Narasimhan dive deep into the issues in focus. Excerpts.

Apolitical citizen activism has had only a limited impact in addressing local issues linked to utilities and decentralised governance. Do you think political activism is the answer?

Prithvi Reddy: BBMP elections are as local as it gets. This election of BBMP is crucial for Bengaluru as a city as we have several key issues such as Corona, collapsing of roads and infrastructure, lack of water supply and power, absolute mismanagement of BBMP finances leading to an increase in power and property tax rates and additional levies like garbage cess. This election is no longer about citizen activism, but about citizen anger towards issues that affect their day to day life. How long will the citizens keep highlighting the problems of the city, and the elected government turns a blind eye? This is about citizen anger!
You can clean Ulsoor lake but if you don’t stop sewage from entering, it’s a matter of time before the lake gets dirty again. You have to get to the root of the problem and the root is politics.

Srikanth Narasimhan: Having been part of civic & citizen activism over the last few years, I now fully believe that political activism by good citizens is the best and possibly the only route to good governance. By choosing to stay out of politics, the good, competent and honest citizens have enabled the incompetent, corrupt and uninterested people to be elected which has led to total misgovernance of our city. The only way to change it is through good citizens getting into politics and bringing change from inside the system.

MLAs and Ministers wield big control over the corporators, diluting the relevance of even ward committees. How can intervention by smaller parties at the local level challenge this?

PR: This exact control and connivance of MLA and Ministers is what we are here to disrupt. The reason MLAs and ministers have influence over Corporators is because they are partners in loot and serve as collection agents for their political gurus. In AAP, Corporators' only obligation will be towards residents of their ward and city. When they work for the people of his ward, it is in fact the MLA or the minister who needs to feel threatened.

SN: MLAs & Ministers exercise control over the Corporators not because the Indian Constitution or the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act says so. It is because their respective party hierarchies & structures dictate it. I would argue that the only way to break the stranglehold of the MLAs and Ministers over Corporators and Ward Committees is to have good citizens from an independent and city-focused party like BNP, get elected as Corporators.

As new entrants to the BBMP’s electoral system, what challenges and opportunities do you see vis-à-vis the Congress, BJP, JDS?

PR: AAP will be breaking new ground in Karnataka by contesting BBMP elections and our biggest challenge is to convince citizens that we are both serious and capable contenders, pretty much like the challenge the party faced when we first fought the Delhi elections.
The JCB Government of JDS, Congress and BJP have ruled Bangalore since independence. They have taken the Garden city to Garbage city and now to a city that can’t even manage its garbage. The AAP Government in Delhi has shown, even with limited power, how a Government can change schools, hospitals, water, power and other infrastructure.
For the years that JCB Governments have ruled Bengaluru, can any of these parties proudly display any achievement? All of them have deep pockets in fighting the elections and AAP is a start-up that is disrupting this age old ecosystem. Given a chance AAP will show that change is possible.

SN: The biggest challenge is to overcome any cynicism and bring awareness to citizens that ward level elections are definitely winnable against these parties as we need only a few thousand votes to win a ward.
The biggest opportunity is that most of the citizens are sick, tired and fed up with the complete lack of interest and failure of these parties in bringing governance to Bengaluru and are praying for good alternatives with good people, to emerge. BNP is the answer to those prayers!

In what way is your approach to solve grassroots problems different from the mainstream parties?

PR: We are the only alternative as we offer a refreshingly different approach to governance and administration.
AAP has understood what pains the aam admi. First, we will stop the burdening the aam admi by putting a hold on increased taxes or fees. Bengaluru has the potential to collect upto 20,000 crore in property tax, but is collecting about 2000 crores. Without increasing any taxes ,just by collecting what is due, we will have enough money to transform the city.
BBMP Schools and Health centres will become like Delhi Government Schools and Mohalla Clinics. The Karnataka Municipalities Act, has a host of democratic decision making provisions that shall be implemented to increase citizen participation. Door delivery of BBMP related citizen services will be ensured.

SN: BNP has an exclusive focus on Bengaluru and BBMP and hence does not have any distraction, unlike other parties which keep fighting with each other on all state and national level issues. The party will contest only the BBMP election in Bengaluru and will not contest the MLA, MP or any other election, which means that we do not have to spend the enormous amount of time that other parties do, worrying about how to win elections in other states or cities.
BNP will work towards uniting the citizens for the cause of Bengaluru, unlike other parties which polarize the citizens and induce hate through religion, caste, ethnicity etc. BNP will get good, competent, passionate, honest and professional people elected as Corporators who can truly deliver governance towards, unlike the other parties.
BNP will get competent women elected as Corporators in wards reserved for women unlike these parties where their respective husbands run the show, which vitiates the democratic process.
BNP will constitute proper ward committees and involve good citizens in the same, unlike the mainstream parties who never bothered to constitute ward committees and even when the Courts ordered them to, they just filled those up with cronies & relatives.

Without a hold over policy-making at the Assembly level, how can you make an impact at the local level?

PR: At a municipality level it is less about policy and more about implementation. The KMC Act gives enough powers to impact at local level. Area Sabha for example has not been effectively conducted anywhere in Bengaluru. We have enough laws, but the JCB Governments have not shown the will to implement these legislations.
Anybody who tells you that they are unable to provide good roads, garbage management, basic infrastructure and services to the public because of policy issues, is just making an excuse.

SN: Policy-making at the Assembly level has very little relevance or impact on city governance. BBMP spends ₹10,000 crores every year for the maintenance of the city and that has no overlap whatsoever with state level politics or issues. Fixing Bengaluru’s roads, footpaths, drains, streetlights, parks, playgrounds, healthcare, education, trees & lakes is very much possible with the annual ₹10,000 cr budget of BBMP, has no connection with state-level policy-making and that is what BNP will be completely focused on.

Your thoughts on the new BBMP Bill and the restructuring proposals such as a directly elected, empowered Mayor, zonal commissioners, etc.

PR: It is a step in the right direction, but a very small step. It has a few good aspects, such as a directly elected Mayor with a longer term, but largely falls woefully short in implementing the true spirit of decentralisation and delegation of powers. The Council needs to be made truly independent, financially and administratively, from the State Government and bureaucracy. Clearly the intent appears to be only to delay elections giving the excuse of a new bill and not true decentralisation and participative governance.

SN: The new BBMP Bill is just old wine in a new bottle! The Mayor, Corporators and BBMP Council will be truly empowered when the BBMP Commissioner, Zonal Commissioners and other BBMP employees are appointed by and report to the Mayor and the BBMP Council, as opposed to they being appointed by the State Government. The Mayor should have a 5-year term. In addition, only the 198 Corporators should be eligible to vote in the Mayoral election and the MPs, MLAs & MLCs should not have a vote. There are quite a few other changes needed but these are among the most critical.

Money power plays a big role even in the local body polls. Do you stand a chance against the bigger parties with deep pockets?

PR: AAP victories specifically have not depended on money power. We raise money from the public, the ‘aam admi’. This election particularly is an important event for Bengaluru.
If money power was the only determinant for winning elections, we would never have won in Delhi, come second in Punjab and now faring well in many states on the ground level. While money is required for publicity and outreach, this legitimate requirement is a fraction of the money spent by traditional parties as they need to buy votes. We don't need unholy amounts of cash to fight elections. We let our work speak for itself.

SN: Money is important to contest elections but not as much as is being made out! Deep pockets are needed only if we need to buy votes, which BNP will definitely not indulge in. Given that only a few thousand votes are needed to win a Corporator election and given that there are thousands of middle-class and upper middle-class people in each ward who have begun to vote and want change, it will take only a few lakhs of rupees to contest each ward in a clean way. BNP has already gotten commitments of a few tens of lakhs of rupees and will be raising a few crores of rupees to contest elections in all wards in a clean way.

If elected, what are the three big changes you will bring about in Bengaluru?

PR: 1) Transparency and Accountability – BBMP is amongst the most corrupt organizations of all with no accountability. AAP will provide information related to projects and expenses without need to file RTI and ensure corporators are accountable to ward committees.
2) Efficient and honest utilisation of public money – No hike in property taxes or other levies for five years.
3) A Liveable and Loveable Bengaluru – From Garbage to Garden, we will reform every aspect of Bangalore for the Better

SN: BNP makes three promises to Bengalureans. In the wards where BNP Corporators are elected, we promise that
a. Citizens of the ward will be involved in the process of deciding which projects need to be approved and taken up in their ward
b. BNP will bring full transparency on the projects approved and to be executed. BNP has already done that through its BNP Citizen Portal on www.nammabnp.org where it has already put out details of 63,629 BBMP projects approved over the last 5 years
c. BNP will engage with quality contractors with proper contracts and payment terms to ensure that project quality is top notch and that the same work does not have to keep getting repeated every year.