Dear AAP, run for cover, Chetan Bhagat is on the prowl

Thanks to Chetan Bhagat, William Shakespeare can now toss a little in his grave. You might question, why now, since Five Point Someone happened to this world exactly a decade back. Also, there have been severe atrocities inflicted on the English language since, which includes Salman Khan tweeting in it. But Bhagat has come up with a body blow to the late English playwright just today, by concocting a question way more beguiling, way more confounding and layered than ‘To be, or not to be’. “If why, why?” asks Bhagat. Beat that, Hamlet! The banker-turned-writer-turned motivational speaker-turned screenplay writer cold shouldered by Aamir Khan posted the following on Facebook today. [caption id=“attachment_1331547” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Chetan Bhagat. AFP.[/caption] “Need your help. Should I join politics? If why, why and if no, why not? Also, if yes, which party?” Here, we take a moment to admire the sentence craftsmanship in stunned silence. Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party might be facing its fair share of trouble trying justify its concept of direct democracy and has been routinely told off for crowd-sourcing governance decisions, Chetan Bhagat took a step ahead and sought his fans’ advice on the appropriateness of  launching a political career. Though we wish both Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi had asked the same questions and spared us a lot of misery, Bhagat most definitely has taken a new political narrative emerging in our country to a whole new high. Adulation aside, there are a few considerations one needs to make here. While not all end up doing it, the reason one ventures into politics, ideally, is because he/she wants to participate in the process of governance, policy making and policy implementation. Basically, it is to do something millions of other wouldn’t bother to, but would still like to enjoy the perks of. That requires a fair amount of leadership qualities and most importantly decisiveness. How does it help then, if a man asks if he should want to lead the country, or take the first step towards the very long winding road towards that end. Bhagat has 3,898,322 likes on his Facebook page and 13,900 people seemed to have welcomed his suggestion to invite suggestions. Some have wholeheartedly advised him. For example a Snigdha Mohapatra on his Facebook post. “Ya u shud cuz we wnt young politicians nd yes plz keep writing. i luv ur buks nd party CPI oR BJP,” says Snigdha. All those, who like us, had difficulty deciphering that, it’s an ‘yes’ and a go ahead to join the CPI or BJP. Yes, you read right, CPI. Detractors of the Left movement, think again. [caption id=“attachment_1331555” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Comments on Chetan Bhagat’s Facebook post.[/caption] Several exhorted him to join the AAP. And some, were less generous. One Pragya Chaubey commented on his post saying, “With this attitude, please don’t.” Does the AAP have a new thing to worry about after figuring out how to get 700 litres of free water across Delhi.? Time will tell us.