THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The future of ‘alternative politics’ does not lie in pre-packaged ideologies or “scripted roadmaps” of the transformative political movements of the 20th century.
Its possibilities and potential, on the contrary, have to be identified in present-day developments, academic and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Yogendra Yadav said on Thursday.
He was delivering the 13th N Narendran memorial lecture on ‘The Future of Alternative Politics’ here.
“What appears to be a moment of despair brought about by the BJP’s overwhelming majority and the lack of serious opposition offered by a near-decimated Congress party, in fact, has opened a big window for political re-alignment in the country,” Yadav said.
The first of the three challenges before alternative politics in the 21st century is ideological, demanding a definition for what it takes to be radical in the 21st century, he said.
“The more you walk in the direction of alternative politics, the more you reduce the possibility of winnability and viability. How not to do that is not to repeat the mistakes of transformative politics of the 20th century,” he said and added that no revolution of the 20th century ever followed a script. “One of the important things is to throw the script aside.”
The second challenge is to re-imagine the “organisational vehicle”, he said, stressing that the present form taken by political organisations have become an obstacle to alternative politics.
“The third challenge is to re-imagine politics itself. Political parties have become entities which wake up two months before the elections. Constructive work as part of politics is something that we have to bring in,” he said.
Movements such as the Anna Hazare movement and the Lok Pal Movement extended to the AAP have urged the people to look at politics with hope.
It has unleashed an energy into politics by attracting idealist young men and women, he said.