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Ashutosh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in January. The former journalist took on former Union minister Kapil Sibal and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in the national election from Chandni Chowk in Delhi.)
Why should Arvind Kejriwal's fund-raising dinners or lunches be in the news? Why should TV news channels cover such an event? Why should TV cameras chase him and why should OB vans be parked for a glimpse of him? Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many reporters and OB vans in the Connaught Place's Inner Circle in Delhi. We were mobbed by jostling cameras when we got there. Everyone wanted to get a byte. We were also pleasantly surprised to see so many traders -who had paid Rs 20,000 per head - turn up for the lunch . We were also pleasantly surprised to see the collection of more than 50 lakhs at the end of the lunch.
Soon after the parliamentary elections, the media had written off AAP and the middle class also seemed to be upset with us. The flow of funds had also dried up. A major concern in the organization was about how to move forward without adequate funds. A party totally dependent on the donations of its supporters and sympathizers was now faced with a situation when days went by with only a few hundred rupees trickling in. It was an extremely worrisome scenario. We all were thinking of some innovative ideas to improve the financial health of the party. Meanwhile, the Delhi Assembly was dissolved thanks to the Supreme Court. And to our surprise, there was a sudden spurt in donations. It was an indication that people have faith in AAP as a party and people want to be stake-holders in cleaning up the corrupt system.
So, when the Mumbai unit of AAP declared that they will collect five crore for the party for the coming elections, it seemed a tough target, but not out of reach. In Mumbai, the fund -raising dinner last week fetched 90 lakh which is a huge amount considering that the party had decided to not take part in the recently-held state elections in Maharashtra. The Delhi lunch did not disappoint us either. Mumbai is the business capital of India whereas Delhi is a bureaucratic city, which explains the relatively smaller collection in the capital.
Fund-raising dinners or lunches are not new to the world of politics, but yes, they are not very popular with Indian political parties and politicians as the coffers of Indian parties and politicians are flooded with black money and unaccounted money. And it is in the interest of these parties not to disclose the source of money as also the name of the individuals and groups who have donated large sums. The BJP and the Congress had refused to disclose the source of 70% to 80% amount of their funds by taking refuge in legalities. Whereas AAP has been bold enough to declare that its funds are open to public scrutiny and anyone can see them with a click of a button on the website.
During the 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, AAP had done the unthinkable. It had announced that it no longer wanted donations as it has reached Rs 20 crore, the amount that was needed by the party to contest elections. AAP refused to entertain further donations for election purposes. 20 crores is peanuts in Indian politics. On average, a local politician ends up spending that sort money in assembly elections to become an MLA or state legislator. Here was a party which was contesting elections in all 70 seats with a paltry sum of 20 crore. With the refusal of further donations, AAP had broken many myths: that elections cannot be fought with white money; that elections can't be fought within the stipulated amount decided by the elections commission in each constituency ; that election expenditures can't be transparent ; that elections can't be won without distribution of money and liqueur amongst the poor.
Elections funding is the main reason for corruption in the Indian political system. AAP has shown that strong candidates like Rakhi Bidlan, Som Dutt Sharma, Prakash Jarwal , Commando Surender etc can win elections against their formidable opponents who have empires worth crores, even while we spend only a few lakhs. Rakhi spent only three lakh last time to win her Delhi seat. Som Dutt returned three lakh out of seven given to him by the party for election expenditure. And it is also amazing and noteworthy that not a single finger could be raised against any of our 27 MLAs for any financial wrong-doing. It shows that clean politics is doable, it just requires moral courage and political will. AAP has done it and others can follow if they are serious about the "clean politics" campaign.
As citizens, we have a huge stake in clean politics and it's our duty to make such fund-raising events a success. We all should come forward to donate liberally because each penny donated is a step forward to make Indian democracy clean, transparent, accountable and vibrant and corruption-free. This is how we can fight graft.
It is in this context that Indian elections need more such fund-raising dinners and lunches, more publicity, more cameras and more OB vans.
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