Aam Aadmi Party’s latest controversy is worth noting. Once more, it has exposed
the empty claims to fight corruption made by Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal and
their ilk have been making for over five years now. Before Kapil Sharma’s
accusations, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been accused of corruption from
Delhi to Punjab. During the anti-corruption campaign, Anna Hazare had himself
charged Kejriwal for not divulging the details regarding donations. Before even
that, it had been revealed to all that Kejriwal, as a government employee, had
appropriated 9 lakh rupees of the government. How, when, where and to what
use was the massive fund raised in the course of the movement (through known
and unknown sources, both national and international) put for, is the one
question on everyone’s mind is. Kejriwal in a bid to build his image as chief
minister has used up 5-6 hundred crores, just as PM Narendra Modi has spent 11
billion. The Socialist Party believes that this is a brazen looting of public money
which is generated by the taxpayers and the labour of the working class. The
Socialist Party had requested both the Home Ministry and the Election
Commission of India to investigate the funding sources of the BJP, Congress, and
AAP, but the request was not heeded.
While it endorses transparency in other parties, the moment questions are raised
on its own funding, the AAP has nothing to say. Kejriwal never talks about his own
funding sources. He spent a lot of those funds in Benaras, Goa and Punjab without
the consent of those who gave the funds. Whenever corruption is to be exposed,
he plays the self-styled honest-guy card. Many with vested interests endorse him
blindly. These include many writers and intellectuals. Riding on their support,
Kejriwal gives no account of either the funds or the government money spent on
international travel.
The Socialist Party believe that given the kind of conglomeration AAP has been
right from the days of its inception, it is possible that the someone close to
Kejriwal till yesterday like Kapil Mishra has been bought overby the BJP. But the
question of undeclared funding and the spending of government funds still
remains to be answered.
The Socialist Party yet again wants to bring the truth about the AAP to the
citizens, which is that AAP is an integral part of corporate politics. It is the newest
weapon, after the Congress and BJP, wielded by the corporate establishment to
counter the peoples' resistance to neo-liberalism.
Yogesh Paswan
General Secretary and Spokesperson
Socialist Party (India) Delhi State
