Bilal Bashir Bhat
For starters, while Parliament members seem to be busy giving a performance in politics, Raghav Chadha has been taking a more active approach and raising pertinent social issues.
Instead of discussing and addressing political questions that have nothing to do with the day-to-day affairs of the common citizens, he is bringing issues such as extortionary high costs of foods at airports, hidden bank charges, rising toll taxes, as well as excessive taxation on the middle class to the table.
Moreover, the young man raises other modern concerns such as gig workers’ exploitation, intense working conditions in the field of fast food delivery services, food adulteration, insufficient paternity leave, and terrible traffic in big cities.
All the aforementioned matters are real struggles of ordinary commuters, parents, taxpayers, and workers. Regrettably, most of the Parliamentarians chooses to ignore these issues. Thus, it makes Raghav Chadha’s attempts worth recognizing and respecting as an example of real work for the welfare of citizens.
At the same time, it’s no secret that big money and corporate interests often pull the strings behind the scenes. Because of this, politicians who speak out against unfair systems or corporate greed often get pushed aside or silenced. When leaders are discouraged from talking about actual public welfare, it’s a massive red flag for our democracy.
This brings us to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). AAP was built on the promise of being different, putting the people first and demanding transparency. But lately, it seems like the party is struggling with its own identity. If AAP is silencing its own people for thinking independently or genuinely speaking up for the public, they have a serious problem. They can’t just brush it off as “party discipline.” If a movement that promised to change the system starts acting exactly like the politicians they replaced, they lose their credibility and their entire purpose.
At the end of the day, a strong democracy isn’t about who yells the loudest. It’s about what they are saying, and whether the people fighting for regular citizens are actually allowed to keep speaking. This is bigger than just one politician or one party. The real question is: does Indian politics still have the space and the integrity to actually listen to ordinary people?
If that space is disappearing, we don’t just have a political problem. Our entire democracy is in trouble.
The Writer Bilal Bashir Bhat, a Kashmir-based journalist, can be reached at bilalbashirbhat@gmail.com
