The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has every reason to be elated over the national party status it obtained. It is remarkable for a party, formed as recently as in 2012, to achieve this milestone. It is already in power in Delhi and Punjab and it enjoys state party status in four states. The new status allows it to use the broom symbol in every election it contests, get an office in Lutyen's Delhi and avail of other facilities in raising resources and seeking votes. Naturally, the party is hopeful of making use of the new status to make an impact in the forthcoming elections in Karnataka. Nobody could have imagined that the AAP, which is an offshoot of the Anna Hazare-led campaign for Lok Pal, would come this far so quickly.
There are clearly defined and verifiable criteria for a party to obtain the status of a national party. That no party has questioned the decision of the election commission bears proof that there was nothing questionable about the decision. The worst loser is the Communist Party of India, which had been a national party since 1951. Even when the party split in the wake of the Calcutta thesis and the India-China war, it remained strong in states like Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, not to mention West Bengal and Kerala, where the majority of the cadres sided with the split-away CPI(M). Today, the party has a presence only in Kerala, thanks to being a part of the Left Democratic Front, led by its big-brother. Come to think of it, the CPI was the single largest party after the Congress in the first two Lok Sabhas.
For West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the loss of national status for her Trinamool Congress is a great setback. Though the party has 23 members in the Lok Sabha, they are all from one state. Unfortunately for her, the party could not secure state party status in at least four states. The same thing has happened to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which has a sizeable presence in Maharashtra but could not make the grade in three more states. Of course, all is not lost for these parties, which have the coming Lok Sabha and state elections to prove that they have regained the confidence of the voters to get back their national status.
Dalai Lama’s lapse
Tragedy happens in different ways. In the case of the 14th Dalai Lama, it happened in the form of an inappropriate conduct when he kissed a boy on the mouth and, worse, asked him to suck his tongue. When the incident, caught on camera, went viral on social media, the spiritual leader apologised to the boy and his family while claiming that he often behaved in a playful manner with his young followers. For millions of his admirers and faithful, his behaviour was utterly disgusting. That an octogenarian like him, whom the world looks up to for spiritual guidance, would behave like a pedophile was simply unacceptable. Incidentally, he had once apologised for a crass statement he made that if the next Lama was born female, she would be more beautiful and good to look at.
What is reassuring in the whole episode is that as soon as the issue erupted on social media, the Nobel laureate had the honesty and decency to admit his guilt and apologise. As many others would have done in similar circumstances, he did not claim that the video was doctored or prepared with mala fide intentions. In a moment of bodily weakness, he forgot that he was surrounded by people with cameras focusing on him. If anyone compared him to the Biblical David, whose morality was found wilting, he could not be faulted. But once he sincerely apologised for his acts of omission and commission, the king regained his stature and spent the rest of his life as the Psalmist. The incident is certainly a blot on the Dalai Lama’s career but it is also a reminder that nobody is safe from the prying eyes of modern technology. In the end, one can only behave oneself!
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