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
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