CHICAGO: A Chicago-based Neonatologist and a former co-convener to NRI Cell, Dr. Munish Raizada has taken up the cudgels to make transparent the funding practices of Aam Aadmi Party. He has called upon party workers, volunteers and the public to take a pledge not to donate to AAP until it makes its donations list public.
Dr Raizada announced that a ground Satyagraha on this issue will be started at Rajghat in New Delhi on December 24. An online Stop Donation (Chanda Band Satyagraha) was started on December 4.
Giving the details, Raizada says that after seeking inspiration from Gandhiji at Rajghat, the volunteers and participants of Satyagraha will proceed to New Delhi Assembly area. Over next several days, they will cover the assembly area door to door and through market places and metro stations. They will seek signatures from the public and voters on a pledge form which states: “I take a pledge NOT to donate to Aam Aadmi Party until it makes its donations public.”
Raizada says that the campaign will also seek apology on behalf of the voters of Delhi for the betrayal in the name of transparent funding. He says that we at AAP sought donations from the public with a promise that each penny donated would be put in public domain, but since June 2016, the party has shut down the Donors’ list from its website.
He says that transparent political funding was the raison-d’être of the party, but its refusal to divulge details of donations is a big setback to its ideology. He claims that a few individuals have taken over the party and have blatantly made mockery of its promise of clean politics and transparent funding.
Raizada says that AAP was born out of a movement and it promised to bring vyastha parivartan and an era of honest politics. But, by hiding donations, AAP has damaged its credibility. He says that the idea of Aam Aadmi Party is still very relevant, but the vested interests at the helm of affairs are bent upon destroying the efforts put in by thousands and thousands of selfless volunteers to build up the party.
It may be mentioned that Raizada had written an open letter to Aam Aadmi Party on Nov 26 (Foundation Day) with an appeal to restore the practice of displaying donors’ lists on the official website of the party within a week. Getting no response from the party, Raizada launched a website called www.NoListNoDonation.com with the stated objective that if the party does not show (donors’) list, the public should not donate to the party.
Raizada practices Neonatology in Chicago, but had quit his job to serve the party in India. He was a co-convener of the NRI cell of the party during 2015 and also assisted the health ministry of Delhi Government as a pro-bono advisor. He was suspended from the party on Nov 2015 when he fell out with the leadership over his public criticism of Kejriwal supporting Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar Assembly elections.
Surendra Ullal
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