‘AAP Bachao Andolan’ (Save AAP initiative) launched to restore Aam Aadmi Party

On March 26, 2017 (Sunday), I went to be a part of the event "AAP Bachao Andolan" (Save AAP initiative) held at Jawahar Lal Nehru National Youth Center, DDU Marg in New Delhi. The conference started at 11:30 am, where I met Dr. Munish Raizada and other people, who are working to save the AAP from the corrupt practices.

AAP Bachao Andolan is an extension of No List, No Donation or Chanda Bandh Satyagraha initiative which unveils the issue of financial opacity in AAP. It also speaks volume about the marauding of financial transparency along with political idealism that AAP promised on its culmination. More than 100 AAP volunteers gathered to attend the event.

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Since the launch of the campaign, Dr. Raizada is working with others to restore AAP with its old fundamentals and principles on which it was found. Raizada, who is the former convenor of NRI wing of AAP, is standing with the committed volunteers of AAP's Women's wing to bring transparency in the system.

In the purview of the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Elections, the AAP Bachao Aandolan has put forth the following demands from the leadership of the party:

i) Restore Financial Transparency:

Chanda Bandh Satyagraha convener Dr. Munish Raizada has been demanding the party to make donors' list online. It may be noted that the party has concealed its donors' list since June 2016.

ii) Restore Swaraj within AAP:

Ticket selling: For the upcoming 'Municipal Corporation Elections' in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party has allocated tickets to the new faces or to the members from other parties. This has created distrust among the core volunteers and ardent supporters of the party.

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The party has given tickets to paratroopers and newcomers in the name of 'winnability', but it smacks of a deeper malaise of ticket selling and exchange of money. Also, volunteers have cast aspersions on the nomination process of selection of candidates, saying that it is fake and does not conform to the principle of Swaraj that AAP so dearly vouches for. They are asking if it were not for ticket selling and nepotism, how come the party has ignored the committed party workers who have been toiling hard since last 4 years. Has the party failed to groom leaders even at the ward level (for MCD elections)? asks Raizada.

iii) Restore Internal Lokpal:

AAP's internal Lokpal system has collapsed, thus there is no authentic mechanism for the volunteers for grievance redressal.

While speaking to some of the volunteers to get a glimpse of the depth of the problem, I came to know from Mrs. Suman Kaushik and Mrs. Sabita Mishra about the sycophancy involved in AAP and bribery for buying the tickets worth Rs. 25 to 50 lakhs.

At the end of the press conference, Dr. Raizada reiterated on adopting the path of non-violence for restoring AAP.

– by Sabhyata Badhwar. Twitter: @SabbyDarkhorse