Will Delhi deliver the inspiring disruption that politics desperately needs?

Politics was a great idea when it was born. It’s even greater today, but it desperately needs an inspiring disruption to evolve to the next level.

Politics is an elegant way for collectives to organise life by optimising resources for both, common and individual good.

Like most mature ideas, politics has evolved over centuries. And like most mature ideas, the evolution hasn’t been smooth, it has experienced inflexion points. Disruptions caused by inspiring experiments that questioned unchallenged assumptions helped the idea of politics experience the much needed step-changes.

These experiments have taken place in different parts of the world, often driven by irreverent outsiders. Although the disruptions felt unpleasant, the world has realised that they were the essential breath of fresh air that politics needed to thrive and not degenerate and die as an idea.

Delhi is on the verge of creating history. It could deliver to the world the inspiring disruption Indian politics needs today. A disruption that is in fact, overdue.

To understand the importance of this moment, we need to rise above discussions around the competing political parties and politicians. We need to look at them as mere archetype placeholders in a paradigm.

To assess an idea and its paradigm, two fundamental questions need to be asked: ‘What is its core purpose?’ And ‘What are its core principles?’

For politics of the ideal kind, the answers would be something like this:

Core Purpose 
A vibrant collective of happy, fulfilled individuals.

Core Principles
Equal opportunities and equitable and fair distribution of influence.
Freedom to make choices – as a collective and as individuals.
Trust through transparency.

Given the scale, what today’s democracy has achieved in India is awe-inspiring but is still very suboptimal.

India and Delhi today
Thanks to a confident government that arrived with a conclusive mandate, India is beginning to feel good about itself. The current state feels different from the recent past. But has the paradigm really shifted?

If you look at how influence and value get captured by a minority at the cost of the majority, nothing much seems to have changed. The actors keep changing while the characters remain the same.

Paradigm shifts are triggered when the unchallengeable purpose and principles get challenged and a new more relevant set begins to emerge. That’s disruption. And once people see the new set, they can’t ‘unsee’ it. Maverick pioneers then begin pursuits to realise the shift. 

It isn’t easy, as the citizens of the old paradigm resist it and the custodians fight it. The struggle continues till the critical mass feels the urge for change. This is when the paradigm truly shifts and the new normal arrives. In hindsight, the old normal feels obnoxiously abnormal.

The experiments in Delhi are challenging the seemingly unchallengeable. This challenging needs support of the gutsy citizens. The people and the parties that are challenging the ageing paradigm are just actors.

Delhi has a choice to make. It can either be a follower of the present paradigm and resist the experiments or create history by triggering the inspiring disruption that Indian politics desperately needs today.

Not the party or its leader, it is the experimentation that must succeed. Because more than just the decision on who forms the next government, we need to show the next generation that the seemingly unshakable establishment can be shaken if a group of ordinary people resolve to do it. 

In a world full of cynicism, it will be a story of hope and honest human endeavour.

Ranjan Malik is an Innovation Speaker and Consultant; Partner & Director of Erehwon Innovation Consulting, he can be reached at ranjan.malik@gmail.com