The power of Common Man
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: December 30, 2013 -

In one of her writings under the title, "Time for Progressives to Grow", Frances Moore Lappé , the author of 18 books including the three-million copy selling "Diet for a Small Planet" and co-founder of three organizations that explore the roots of hunger, poverty and environmental crises, as well as solutions now emerging worldwide through what she calls Living Democracy, once observed, "We've lived so long under the spell of hierarchy – from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses – that only recently have we awakened to see not only that 'regular' citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed.

The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high."

We have quoted this entire passage to drive home the point that the term 'Common Man' which has been made popular by the great cartoonist RK Laxman, does not exist in his daily cartoon strip, 'You Said It' in The Times of India, alone any more. Today, the 'Common Man' of India is no more 'the silent spectator of marching time', for they have found their voices, thanks to an uncommon-common man known as Arvind Kejriwal.

Living in a severely cynical time, we may be accused of heaving praises so generously on a man whose calibre and credibility in the world of politics is yet to be tested.

But, keeping aside the question of whether or not the Aam Aadmi Party-leader, who succeeded in unseating Congress from power in Delhi and sent a shockwave among other established political parties, would be able to keep all the promises made to the people in the run up to the Assembly elections since he has been elevated to the hot chair of Chief Minister of Delhi now, one thing that none of us could deny is the stirring that anti-corruption campaigner AAP leader and newly sworn-in Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has caused in the hearts and minds of every common man and woman in the country today.

Living in a society where nothing but money and muscle power have always spoken and have their way, the common man and woman in India have almost reconciled that corruption is a part and parcel of their daily existence and forgotten the real power that lies within their close-fisted hands for changing a rotten system and the world at large.

But Kejriwal has made them realise that being a common man or woman is no small deal and they are the ones who could and should bring the much needed change in the society.

In other words, the common man has been empowered politically, the lack of which had been at the root cause of the vice that we called corruption.

Now, it should be up to the newly empowered common men and women of the country to decide for themselves in what kind of society they want to live not for a day or two, or for a year or five years, but for all times to come, generation after generation.