“WE are making an honest and our best attempt to clean up politics of this country but we cannot do it alone.” This is the appeal Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Aravind Kejriwal is making to the Delhi voters. Though AAP is emerging as a force in Delhi elections, it still has lot to answer.
Where are the credible faces?
AAP initiated its journey from India Against Corruption (IAC) movement. The movement led by Anna Hazare was constituted of many credible faces whose intentions were undisputed. All the credible faces like Anna himself, Kiran Bedi, Ekta Parishad leader Rajgopalan, and ‘waterman’ Rajinder Singh and Justice Santosh Hegade were key persons of this movement. Kejriwal is claiming the legacy of the movement but the people who built the movement have deserted him.
The faces still are with Kejriwal are with dubious credentials. Manish Shisodia known for his fund management of cash rich NGOs, Shazia Ilmi who is just a media face, Lawyers Shanti and Prashant Bhushan known for their controversial stand on many national issues cannot provide the credibility. Medha Patkar and Aruna Roy have their own agenda with left leanings and their association with Kejriwal is uncertain.
What is Beyond Lokpal?
Besides Lokpal, AAP still does not have any clear stand on key national issues. On the key issues of inflation, infrastructure development, agricultural production and FDI to Kashmir, China and US, Lokpal is the only answer from AAP.
Why AAP need such Funding?
As anti-corruption activists claim, excessive funding is the root cause of corruption as you have devised the policies in accordance with wishes of your funders. Some activists from India Against Corruption have alleged misappropriation of donation funds by Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal. The group, Jan Manch, alleged that Kejriwal embezzled donation money to the tune of Rs 85 lakh collected during Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption in Delhi. “His motive is to just earn donations from people. He makes false promises to people. When questions are raised then he terms that person an agent of political parties,” alleged Shriom Arjav of Jan Manch. With the complaints on funding HC has also ordered inquiry against the alleged foreign funding. If AAP is fighting on anti-graft plank then why it is trapping itself in the funding mess like any other party.
Pseudo-Secularism
Shahbaz and Tauqeer Replaced Bharat Mata and Vande Mataram
Imitating the Congress line of secularism, Kejriwal termed the Batla house encounter as fake where a brave police officer had laid his life in fight against terrorists. Now he has gone further by meeting the controversial Muslim cleric Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan in Bareilly with a request to campaign for him during the Assembly elections. It is the same Tauqeer who had issued a fatwa and announced a bounty for beheading exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen and a bounty of Rs one crore for killing former US president George W Bush. The exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen lashed out at Kejriwal for seeking support of Tauqeer Raza. “A politician goes to a fundamentalist who declared a price on my head knowing it is illegal and against the Indian Constitution,” she told media. AAP has conspicuously removed Bharat Mata posters and Vande Mataram slogan from its campaign. Voters raise questions on this.
Ambitious Leadership leads to Dissention
AAP seems to be led by a person who considers himself KHAS. A self appointed convener is facing dissention even before encountering the first elections. Within a year of formation, the Aam Aadmi Party witnessed a split in the name of Bhartiya Aam Aadmi Parivar or BAAP. A group of AAP members, disgruntled with ticket distribution ahead of the Assembly elections and protesting against a “lack of transparency” formed this outfit. Simmering discontent in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was seen by the public today when a party member called a press conference in Delhi to demand more organisational democracy but was shouted down by autorickshaw drivers supporting AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal. There is another split now with allegations of dictatorial tendency by Kejriwal. Rakesh Agarwal, an AAP member and also Secretary of an NGO working for autorickshaw drivers in Delhi, had called the press meet to put forward his three-point charter of demands, mainly incorporating democracy and transparency in the party functioning..
Unless we get stand of AAP it can create media hype but the questions like where is AAP and where does it want to go will remain unanswered.
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