OPEN LETTER TO MR ARVIND KEJRIWAL

Congratulations for winning the Trust Vote in Delhi Legislative Assembly. While you will be busy administering the state of Delhi as the Chief Minister, AAM AAdmi Party will be chalking out the strategy for the national ambition of the AAP . Ms Meera Sanyal ( of RBS) and Mr V Balakrishnan (of Infosys) have already expressed their intention to join AAP. The list will be getting longer and longer with the pasasge of time. Good luck and my best wishes.

But what it means for this country ? As the history tells us , the regional parties (the likes of SP , BSP, RJD, BJD,DMK, AIDMK etc which have been there for the last 20-30 years) have not been able to provide the basic amenities of Bijli,Sadak, Pani (BSP) in their respective states, not to speak of education and basic health facilities.Surprisingly;, their leaders have prime ministerial ambitions, and keep on changing their seats from state Assemblies to Parliament and vice -versa.Not only this , these parties have succeeded in demanding their pound of flesh in supporting the alliances at the Centre. One of the parties even so abashedly said in public that they have not spent crores of rupees to win elections just for nothing ( while demanding a specific ministry inUPA 2 Cabinet in 2009. On the top of it all, our Prime Minister had legitimised it while espousing the “COALITION DHARMA” in one of his three Press Conferences in ten years.

Arvindji, you came into politics to cleanse the system and change the way politics is done in this country. As a corollary, you have been successful in exposing the myth that only people with muscle and money power can win elections,; as almost all of the 28 MLAs are persons with humble beginnings—–` aam aadmi` in the truest sense. Delhi is a small city state, it can work as a model to be followed in the changed environment. So the AAP cannot afford to lose the momentum it has got in Delhi Elections.

In Delhi, the fight was between two parties and the AAP worked as a catalyst. In the process AAPgot the chance to come to power and show its philosophy, and prove, it works. For this you have to be in `power` for a reasonable time and not commit anything in haste which could result in your model (SWARAJ) not fructifying.

Mr Kejriwal, AAP has a right to have National ambitions, and rightly so. But , as with every right, it has a responsibility towards the Nation. The country has moved ten years backward in the last five years.The reasons are known to all and the consequences are best suffered by the aamaadmi in the shape of inflation in the prices of food and other articles consumed by him. So it is the need of the hour that a stable government is formed at the Centre and the AAM AADMI PARTY has a huge responsibility, and can play a prominent role to ensure that the scenario of Delhi is not replicated on the National canvas in May 2014. What if it does ? Should then AAP go forreferendum or ask questions to the other parties.Why not ask the questions now ?

While striving to get a majority in Lok Sabha, the AAP should prepare itself to face the eventuality where it has to seek support or extend support to BJP or Congress or to any of the alliances. If it has a strategy in place, it can avoid a lot of criticism and dilemma at the critical moment in future. A period of 3-4 months is very short for the big show on national level.

Arvindji, on the 12th of May, 2012, I met you in your office in Kaushambi and handed over an article I had written in April/May 2009. The contents of that article are that much valid today also. In that article, I had suggested a debate on national media channels like NDTV, TIMES NOW, CNN IBN etc., but with my limited reach and resources as an individual I could not achieve it. As I said the situation has not changed since 2009, I feel the debate is absolutely necessary in national interest and expose all political patries when they inter-act with one another and come out with their view and take a stand on specific issues, in front of the people. I know you and your team will be very busy , so I am taking the liberty of suggesting the format and the issues for the debate.’

The rules for the debate should be formed in consultation with the news channel and must include:
A No participant will discuss personalities or past events, the assumption is, there is enough knowledge of the same in public domain and no precious time be wasted on this , the country has to move on.
B No body will interfere while the other person is speaking and
C Every person /party will get equal time to reply,counter question and counter reply.

NOW the Issues:
The parties` representatives should take clear stand on the specific issues and also state their party`s commitment to implement the same in a timebound manner and also commit to vote in favor if a law or a constitutional amendment is required.’ It is difficult to give a comprehensive list of issues as they will crop up coming during the course of debate also, nevertheless,an attempt is made:
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1 A candidate can contest from one seat only, to avoid waste of public money
2 A sitting MLA cannot contest as an MP `s position and vice-versa.
3 A charge- sheeted person should not be allowed to contest for any legislative post.
4 A person with serious criminal charges like rape, murder, extortion , kidnapping etc. should not be allowed to contest
5 To amend the anti defection law to make it more meaningful. If a person leaves the party on the symbol of which he is elected, he should not hold any post or office of profit for a certain period. The idea is if the person or persons change the party they have to cleanse their mental system also
6 There should be labour reforms considering the present realities and the recommendations of the past or future committees should be binding on the governments with only minor changes, if necessary.The idea is the government cannot reject the recommendations of the learned people summarily.
7 Ditto for judicial reforms
8 Ditto for police reforms, the valuable recommedations of the past committees of which are getting dust.
9 The party in power will have a set of advisors ( selected from among intellectuals, industrialists, economists,
educationists,sociologists etc.) to guide not only , on policy matters but also to see that their recommedations . are carried out by the government and also to make names of such persons public.’
10 Views of the various parties for abolishing Income tax ( at least on individuals to start with ), and creating a robust and fool proof system for collection of Indirect taxes to compensate for the income tax deficit. And ‘ implementation of GST by Sept 30,2014 as the ground work for the same is almost there.;

Arvindji, I am sure you can ,with the power you weild, arrange this model as a prelude to the next general elections. In this era of coalition governments India cannot afford to be blackmailed by the regional parties on the issues of international ramifications, as it happened in case of Teesta Water treaty and Sri Lankan Tamil issues. So the regional parties who come on board have a pre- set agenda to govern and we do not become the laughing stock in the comity of nations and still claiming to be the biggest democracy in the world.