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As the Aam Aadmi Party goes through an internal power struggle, senior leader H S Phoolka dismisses the goings-on as normal birth pangs of a political party. Upasna Pandey reports for Rediff.com
The Aam Aadmi Party seems to be struggling to get back into the public discourse for the right reasons. But then there are leaders such as senior advocate and human rights activist H S Phoolka, who remain enthusiastic about the way ahead for the party that has drawn more than its share of negative media coverage over the last few weeks.
Phoolka is confident that the AAP has not suffered any major blow to its image from the ongoing turmoil in Delhi.
“I believe that people in Delhi are more interested in our plans such as registration of sale deed in newly regularised colonies, free water supply and power tariff relief -- rather than the political humdrum.”
Phoolka explains how the storm in Delhi AAP is a result of "agitation, anger and demand of young volunteers and supporters against some senior leaders, who were not working in the party’s interests during the elections".
He believes that the AAP is "maturing into a political party and it is natural for them to come out of the agitational mode to get into the governance mode". Phoolka adds that there is no reason for worry as "the AAP will continue to perform better as a party because the people who were impediments to the progress are not at the helm of affairs anymore".
He is also dismissive of the "authenticity" of the sting operation which kicked up a storm over Delhi Chief Minister leader Arvind Kejriwal’s use of abusive language.
“I don’t buy the genuineness of the audio recording,” he shrugs. “I believe that the party is on a positive agenda and there is no reason to doubt that it is Kejriwal all the way -- in Punjab too.”
Closer home in Punjab, Phoolka led a cycle yatra against VIP culture from Ludhiana to Chandigarh recently, in line with the overall positioning of the party for the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections.
“The yatra was extremely exciting and rejuvenating for everybody who joined in along the way. We have been covering villages on bicycles -- the idea was to highlight the issue of VIP culture in Punjab.”
Phoolka also talks about the fact that in many villages, farmers have switched to cars to even go to their farms.
“It is about bringing in a sense of pride in travelling by the cycle. It was also about protesting against the VIP culture in Punjab, where the chief minister and deputy CM travel by helicopters -- but there are cavalcades of 35-40 cars which travel from Chandigarh to the interiors in Punjab. Even the relatives of ministers have security detail which is quite elaborate,” he adds.
Phoolka points to another objective of getting on the two-wheel march.
“I also believe that my city, Ludhiana, which is home to the bicycle industry, would benefit from the increased preference for cycles by residents in Punjab.”
He is all set for another cycle march, at the call of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot families’ human rights group, on April 11, which will cover 31 kilometres in Delhi, from Tilak Nagar, which has a large presence of these families, up to Jantar Mantar.
The objective is to mark 31 years of the delay in justice for the victims' families, as well as focus on the need to switch to cycling as a non-polluting and cost-effective mode of transport in Delhi.
“The National Democratic Alliance government has done little more than pay lip service for the ’84 riot victims, in terms of placing the charge-sheets against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in the court, disbursal of compensation -- which is delayed -- or even opposing the clean chit given recently to former Union minister Jagdish Tytler, so it calls for urgent attention. The pollution levels in Delhi are alarming so we need to switch to cleaner modes such as cycles, so it will be good to use the cycle to mark our protest,” he added.
Image: AAP leader H S Phoolka leads a bicycle rally in Punjab.