(Adarsh Shastri spent over 17 years in the corporate sector and has been involved in various social and economic organisations and charitable trusts. He is now running for Parliament from Allahabad as a candidate of the Aam Aadmi Party.)I was born lucky, not because I was born into wealth or power but because I was privileged to share the legacy of India's greatest Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. As I grew older, I was embarrassed when friends would shout out my lineage to the new teacher who I felt would already form an opinion about me.
I have lived a large part of my 40 years in the same manner. If I was considered successful in my corporate career covering over 17 years at companies like Vodafone, Samsung and Apple or at school, my name was always a tag for carrying a preconceived view. The initial general view used to be that I am arrogant because I don't mix around much whereas very few understood that I am innately an introvert or that I had to work harder to prove myself.
Then there were whispers that why does he need to work, surely not for the money? He comes from a political family! I always had to make that extra effort to be recognized for my own worth! But once that happened, I was respected and loved by all. And therefore was born the desire to do something with my life that was out of the ordinary.
Over the last many years, I felt a deep yearning to get involved in a more direct manner with social work and public life in general. I felt that what I was doing was ordinary even though I had been blessed with an extraordinary legacy. I searched and came up with nothing that inspired me, moved me or even motivated me. And then the Anna movement happened, and I, like millions of others, was roused and felt that change is possible and the only thing stopping it is our own imagination. I met Arvind Kejriwal and in him I saw a striking similarity to what I thought Shastriji would have been like: a sense of quiet determination, a steely resolve and the conviction that change is possible if we all want it and want it badly enough! I felt that here is a party where at least the intent is right; the rest will fall in place.
This gave me the courage to sacrifice my corporate career and embark on this journey! There is no greater cause than to serve the country. Go experience it!
Uttar Pradesh, for over the last 30 years, has completely stagnated on all social and economic parametres and the main reason for that has been the lack of political will and the policies of self- preservation practiced by all political parties including the SP, BSP, BJP and the Congress. The people of Uttar Pradesh have now realised that their growth and that of the state can only happen through the progressive, honest and transparent politics of the Aam Aadmi Party.
There is a groundswell of support which is emerging for AAP and which will be visible in the form of a surprising result on the 16th of May.
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