(Captain GR Gopinath founded Air Deccan and is considered a pioneer in the low-cost airline sector.)Many TV anchors have been asking why I am continuing in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) when I'm disagreeing with them vehemently on many issues. They want to know, if I will resign from the party if I am disappointed and frustrated with it. And one or two overzealous senior members of AAP have questioned my intelligence, asking if I joined the party without reading its manifesto properly.
I have said that I am not thinking of resigning and I'm not frustrated.
I joined AAP because I admired both Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal. The India Against Corruption movement led by Anna was an apolitical movement that gave hope to the country, especially to the disillusioned Indian youth and middle class. It showed that the way out of despair was not through cynical inaction or idle criticism in drawing rooms but through affirmative non-violent action and courageously challenging the elected representatives and holding them accountable.
The AAP was born out of that conviction and inherited Anna's ideals. It gave a platform to transform that aspiration into political action.
Though I've disagreed publicly on many acts and pronouncements of AAP and its leaders, including Kejriwal, I continue in the party as I continue to admire the 'Man Kejriwal' though I continue to disagree with many of the actions or inactions of the party and also the manner in which some in the party have conducted themselves.
I am demanding from my party the same exacting standards of rectitude and accountability which the AAP demanded and expected of other political parties. That's what brought us, the AAP, to power in the first place. We cannot turn around and say the BJP and Congress were worse than us, so how are they justified in attacking AAP.
For example, take the Somnath Bharthi case. The moot point is not if he's really guilty of all that he is accused of. The real issue is that if he's accused of misdemeanours and crossing the line of law and decorum, just as alleged against the cops by the Delhi government, then he should step down till the investigation is complete. That's what Kejriwal demanded of the policemen. When Nitin Gadkari or Salman Khurshid were accused by Kejriwal of alleged illegal activities, AAP demanded an independent enquiry and did not buy the argument that the parties and state governments involved carried out their investigation and found all of them innocent. So, why this change in standards?
I think it is the duty of all of us to express our opinion freely without rancour or personal agenda if one is in disagreement. Kejriwal himself repeatedly exhorted the press and the people of the party to give him feed back if they felt that AAP was not conducting itself in an exemplary manner. So any dissenting view must be taken in the right spirit.
Amartya Sen, one of our great minds, recently shared this at a private function where I met him - he said he admires AAP. They have changed the nature of politics in the country winning purely on a platform of promise to eradicate corruption and that they will be humble if they come to power. The AAP won the election without black money, muscle power and caste backing. He said now that they are in power, it must be accompanied by administrative and systemic reforms to be able to deliver on that promise.
The AAP has put traditional parties and their politics on watch and given hope to the common people that they will not be swayed by money, muscle and caste. That in my opinion is the most important contribution to Indian politics, regardless of how many seats we may win in Lok Sabha elections. So all transgressions and tentative missteps of AAP which I have criticised, along with many admirers and supporters who are not its members, pales into insignificance compared with the Himalayan blunders of traditional parties in recent years.
So I will continue with my membership and allegiance to what AAP stands for, as I continue to admire Kejriwal and some of his close associates. Even Congress at one time had dissenters who were called 'Young Turks'. May be I will qualify as an 'Old Turk'.
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