Chicago NRIs meet extends support to Arvind Kejriwal's party

Monday, May 20, 2013, 16:39 IST | Place: Washington, DC | Agency: PTI In a resolution at the first convention of AAP USA on May 18, Indian-American supporters of Kejriwal said non-residents have a crucial role to play in the political movement being spearheaded by the anti-graft activist.

A group of Indian-Americans from as many as 20 cities held a meeting in Chicago over the weekend and extended full support to the political movement of change being spearheaded by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by social activist Arvind Kejriwal.

In a resolution at the first convention of AAP USA on May 18, Indian-American supporters of Kejriwal said non-residents have a crucial role to play in the political movement being spearheaded by the anti-graft activist.

"We NRIs (Non-resident Indians) and PIOs (People of Indian origin) look with great interest at this political experiment and extend full support to Aam Aadmi Party that wants to change the culture of politics in India," said the resolution which was introduced before the convention by its member Munish Raizada.

"As a community, we have our own expectations from the government. Thus, it is crucial that political class do justice to our country keeping in mind that India has a long history of glory, richness and civilization and all that needs to reclaimed," the resolution said.

Addressing his supporters through a live video conference, Kejriwal spoke about AAP's role in India's growth and the role that non-resident Indians can play in furthering this cause.

Optimistic about India's future, Kejriwal said he believes AAP could be the catalyst that can bring change in the country by redefining the rules of politics.

He stressed on the importance of decentralization in governance which would empower the "aam aadmi", or the common man.

Two AAP leaders - Kumar Vishaws and Yogendra Yadav - addressed the first convention in Chicago which was attended by Indian-Americans from as many as 20 cities, organisers said.

Yadav said polity has failed to take the key ideals of democracy- "of the people, by the people and for the people" to the grassroots.

As such India needs a new vision that is all inclusive. AAP is committed to begin this transformation to participatory democracy by being truly democratic in its own set-up, taking measures such as eliminating the concept of a high command, ensuring a bottom-up approach in candidate selection, transparency in its finances and appointing an independent ombudsman, he said.

Raizada, a member of organizing committee of AAP USA convention, said such a convention would be an annual event and the next convention would be in New Jersey.

Those who have been abroad just cannot accept the corrupt ways in India.

My grand-children and daughter-in-law have gone to the USA just 5 months ago.

There she finds everything moves like clock-work without any pushing or oiling.

Certain laws and rules and regulations have been made.

Systems have been installed and everyone follows the system.

Nobody tries to short-cut the system like we do in India by passing money under or above the table or using our contacts.

I'll give an example.

My son was interested in getting the children admitted in a prep school into a government where the fees are less and there is a school bus.

Here we select the best candidates for admission or have to pay donation.

In that school, they select the children who are backward or disadvantaged.

Since my grand-children had studied in India for two years, they were much ahead of the children of her age but were not admitted although their lack of speaking power in English should have made them eligible. My son was told that they would put the children on waiting list and would inform my son if vacancy arose.

So my son had them admitted into a co-operative school, where the fees were much higher and there was no bus service.

They have been studying there since April.

Last week a teacher from the earlier school came and informed that vacancies had arisen and if they wanted they could have them admitted.

She said that she had tried to contact them over the phone but their phone was unreachable and so had come personally to inform them.

No donations, no contacts to pull strings were required.

CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS SORT OF THING HAPPENING IN INDIA?

And we consider ourselves a cultured nation having a 5000 year civilization.

We see the result. In USA, after 9/11 there has been only one incident of terrorism- the recent Boston killers - one of whom was killed and another captured alive.

In India. there have been hundreds of incidents.

That is because the law is never allowed to take its course although it is one of the first sentences uttered by our corrupt politician.

The fine line between politicians, policemen and criminals has been totally blurred so that it is difficult to know who is who.