AAP is a party in a hurry

AAP has gone national. AAP has named 426 candidates all over the nation and even the two prominent national parties are behind AAP with 415 and 414 nominations so far. This must be a record of sorts for a party that is just a year old. Arvind Kejriwal is a man in a hurry. 

The agenda is clear- Defeat corrupt, criminal, communal and dynastic politicians. This is the top priority. AK realizes that the real battle field or 'KurukShetra' and the key battles are being fought at Varanasi and Amethi. If the prime ministerial candidates contesting from these two constituencies can be defeated, the  two prominent national parties will be in a disarray. This will result in a churning that will awaken the nation to the possibility of getting rid of a political system and replace it with 'Swaraj'.

 At the helm of a minority govt. in Delhi, he was being forced into a corner by both BJP and Congress. Political observers said he was like Abhimanyu and may not be able to break free from the 'chakravyuha'. 

Politicians misjudged that AAP will not abdicate power at any cost. Arvind Kejriwal broke free by resigning. His actions have been very quick, decisive and dynamic. Having delivered a crippling blow to a corrupt Govt. at Delhi, he saw that Congress is resigned  to a defeat in the LS polls. the Congress leadership is depressed and confused. They are already in the denial mode. The nation knows that Congress will not win this time. Top Congress politicians are not keen to contest. The allies are deserting the Cong led UPA. Defections have already begun. 

So, AK is already engaging the next opponent and that is Modi. Modi is politically astute and cunning enough to realize that AAP can queer his pitch and that is why he kept quiet and avoided  any reactions to political barbs from AAP. But AK was wise to what was happening and after resigning, he regrouped and launched an offensive against communal politics by provoking BJP. His visit to Gujarat has managed to puncture the false vision of the Gujarat growth model. Modi's silence on the gas issue is proving his nexus with the capitalist corporate honchos. Arvind is repeatedly saying that Modi is catering to the interests of the big moneyed corporates. BJP is unable to respond to his attacks. Arvind has extracted damning information from the official website of the Gujarat govt and the hurried manner in which the said information has been deleted only enhances AAP's claims that the Gujarat growth story is false. 

Even as the corrupt and communal forces are being engaged in a political battle the AAP candidates are arrayed against the dynastic and criminal contestants.
The representative form of democracy has failed totally. It is no longer a democracy by the people, for the people and of the people. Only when the national administration, both at the macro and micro level, is given back to the citizens, can we hope to catch up with and outgrow the so called developed nations.

AK-68 scores again but will the Indian voter wake up in time to save himself now?

The oil ministry decided to raise natural gas prices and got it approved by the cabinet in Jan 2014. Only the formal announcement had to be made. Sure, it was an unpopular decision, what with this being the parliamentary election year. Doubling the rate from 4.2$ to 8.4$ was going to benefit Reliance company owned by Mukesh Ambani. The ruling party would have benefited with whatever kickbacks they could squeeze out of Mukesh Ambani. The profits to  Reliance would amount to 54k crores and the kickbacks would be at least 10% of that.

Before making the formal announcement the UPA govt. informed the Election Commission lest they be accused of violating the election code of conduct. Now, this is where Arvind Kejriwal sensed his chance to scuttle the ulterior motives of the Congress party. Promptly, he dashed off a letter to the EC to place on record his objection. The EC responded by deferring the gas price hike to a later date when the new elected govt. would take charge.

 The public can heave a sigh of relief because the new govt. will definitely review the decision and make a popular decision. But if the Indian voters decide to vote for Narendra Modi, he will quadruple the gas price to 16 $, says Arvind Kejriwal..
Arvind Kejriwal is showing the way and India should embrace participative democracy advocated by AK and adopt Swaraj or self rule. This is another instance where AK-68 has shown his focus is on rooting  out corruption and bringing in Swaraj.
One letter and look at what he has achieved. BJP, as usual, is shell shocked and is reacting rather late by stating that they will review the gas prices, if and when they come to power.

 So, who would you like to see in power, Namo or the Aam Aadmi? The choice is entirely yours.

Jhadu Yatra- Pondicherry

The culmination at the beach

AAP-Pondicherry went on a Jhadu Yatra to cover the 23 constituencies of Pondicherry, on 23 Feb 2014. About a 100 motorcycles and double that number of active volunteers kicked off from the AFT maidan at 0840h. It was amazing how disciplined and well organized the entire rally turned out to be.

When the aam admi takes matters into his own hands

Led by a minivan equipped with a PA system, the entire 150 km circuit was an energetic workout for the active volunteers of the AAP. Armed with banners, flags and the 'jhadu', the cavalcade started off slowly as it went through the busy lanes and picked up speed as it hit the outskirts. There were numerous stops and breaks en route as the pubic was addressed by speakers including Palani, Dr. Rangarajan, Ravi Srinivas and others. At the half way mark the entire contingent had a lunch break and had a sumptuous lunch sponsored by a popular hotelier of Pondicherry. The long and slow ride was tiring but the frequent stops and interactions with the public, were a boost to the enthusiastic bunch of active volunteers of Aam Aadmi Party. The success of the yatra depended on how it ended. After crossing the university gates, Ravi called for a break and it was decided that the yatra should be completed at the beach, under the imposing statue of Mahatma Gandhi. As the motorcycle cavalcade entered the beach road the crowded beach stopped and looked as the volunteers voiced slogans and waved placards and flags. Smiles broke out as everyone recognized the humble AAP topi on the heads of every AAP volunteer.

The people of Pondicherry realize now that Aam Aadmi Party is here to stay.

The news is AAP has completed nominations for 238 LS seats as of yesterday and that includes the lone LS seat of Pondichherry.

The Skating Rink of Pondicherry

Cracked already?

Puddles!

Until recently, visitors to the NCC area in Lawspet would be greeted with the sight of young children skating on the decently laid out roads in front of the NCC office. Parents and coaches would be camping around to see that their wards did not hamper the traffic in anyway. But now Pondicherry can boast of its very own skating rink in the helipad area of Lawspet adjacent to the airport.

But, the skating rink remains anonymous with no inauguration stone to provide information about when and by whom was it built and inaugurated. The children are thrilled and so are the parents and coaches. The skating rink looks very appealing from a distance but when you step inside you can see the faults straight away. There is a crack running through the entire width of the rink and the surface is already coming off at places. Just a five minute drizzle leaves behind puddles of water, even though 8 drain metal meshes are in place. The water does not flow naturally towards these drains.

Puddles despite drain holes?

One does not know whether a drainage system is in place. What will happen when we have rains? Does one have to file an RTI application to get the details? Why?

The first meeting...

10 00 a.m, 09 Feb 2014
Yesterday evening, all members of AAM Admi Party got fresh directions from the AAP chapter at  Pondicherry. Dr Rengarajan and Ravi addressed the meeting and greeted the newcomers. Ravi took the stage and explained the AAP vision to the members before moving on to the main agenda:

• the Lok Sabha elections 
• party member enrolment drive
• selection of conveners and secretaries
• collection of donation.

With the LS elections barely a couple of months away, we need to create a big impact on the minds of the people of Pondicherry, said Ravi. He requested all constituencies to select their convener and secretary and submit the info to the AAM office.

Over the next two months the focus should be on meeting the voters of Pondicherry , create awareness about AAP and enlist the maximum number of people as AAP members.

We intend to meet the voters at least thrice before the polls. To do this work we need the active support of as many volunteers as possible.

Also we need to collect voluntary donations for the AAP activities taking care to issue a receipt for every donation amount.

Having received this message, the party members of Lawspet gathered and discussed.  First of all we accepted Chandru and Arumugam as the convenor and secretary of Lawspet. We decided to have our first meeting today morning at 6 am. Chandru, Selwyn, Mahendran, Arumugam and Udhay got together and decided on our next course of action.
We came up with a few points which are as follows:

1. We need to always carry identity cards and the required permission when we do our door to door campaigns. We request the party to issue us our membership cards and the convener and secretary badges so that we can get started soon.

2. We also felt that party meetings should not be conducted in anyone's residence. So we have requested Ravi if he could allow us to use some space at his place, without disturbing the peace of other family members. He has agreed to oblige us and the next meeting will be conducted in the chosen place.

3.It was decided that prior to beginning our visits to the 13 locations of Lawspet, we should inform the legal cell headed by Radhakrishnan.

4. We also discussed some ideas about how to offer our services to the people of Pondicherry and Lawspet, in particular.
 (a) There are a lot people who need voter's card. Can we guide them and help them to get the voter's card?
 (b) There are some issues regarding the LPG subsidy not reaching the bank accounts of LPG consumers. How can we help resolve this issue?
 (c) Can we help in issues related to ration card issue, change of address and new applications.

Your feed back and comments are eagerly awaited.