(Priya James is a seasoned AAP volunteer living in the USA. She scripted, made and edited 200+ videos for its official and unofficial web pages.)
In a series of blogs, I have written that the current crisis in AAP is not about expelling or keeping Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan. The crisis may have started with these individuals, but it is not about these individuals any more. It is about the "Idea Of AAP", the very foundation of AAP, where we all stood tall and proud till March 1st.
Today thousands of AAP volunteers are standing disappointed and cheated by their leader's immaturity, arrogance and complete lack of accountability. To understand the anguish of an average volunteer, just listen to this audio that went viral in AAP circles. It's the heartbreaking cry of an AAP volunteer. Now the question is why does an AAP volunteer take this crisis to heart?
The irony is, Arvind Kejriwal (and all of us) wanted a powerful, independent Lokpal which has the power to curtail corruption and victimization of honest people. We wanted a bill that ensure justice and fairness to all, irrespective of power, position including the serving Prime Minister. Yet, AAP let Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan to be expelled from the Political Action Committee without a fair investigation, conveniently ignoring party's internal Lokpal, and letting a few leaders to blatantly abuse their power. No matter what the reasons may be, it is indeed hard to digest for an average AAP volunteer just because of its glaring lack of justice and fairness.
Volunteers who questioned on the fairness and justice are discredited immediately and labelled anti-AAP, pro-Bhushan, anti-Kejriwal, AVAM or BJP agents. Many volunteers who filed RTI are still waiting for a response. Volunteers have been clamoring for the official NC list... absolute no response. On top of all these, there is a deliberate effort to make this crisis into a fight between individuals while it clearly is not. This eagerness to make it into a factional fight is quite unnerving because clearly it shows real issues are being hidden behind false rumors of removal of Kejriwal from Convener position.
We joined AAP with a hope that we can clean up Indian politics, a political party which is funded with clean money, transparent and democratic. Today, that hope, is at a juncture where values and principles are compromised, volunteer voice silenced, dissent voice muted, leaders abusing their own colleagues, national platforms being misused. It is easy to ignore logorrhea of some leaders, but it is hard to ignore Kejriwal's silence. His silence shouts his approval of all these dirty political games. His continued silence also shows he is leading the way to traditional politics.
"Let each one of us including all our leaders understand that if we think, act and play petty during this historic era of hope, the history and people of India will never forgive us and we are bound to be dumped into the garbage of history". - Dharamvira Dv Gandhi
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