By Ritu Jha-
Philanthropist and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s National Executive member Mayank Gandhi believes corruption has taken place within the political outfit, leading to Delhi Chief Minister and party supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s jail.
The founder of Global Vikas Trust, Gandhi was a speaker at the Meet and Greet event held on Sunday, June 23, at India Community Center in collaboration with TiE Silicon Valley in Milpitas, California.
Asked about his thoughts on Kejriwal’s arrest, he told indica on the sidelines of the event, “I think somewhere it is quite evident that they had done corruption. And which is why the court is also not giving the relief.”
Kejriwal, however, has termed his arrest as the BJP’s ‘political conspiracy’. The AAP leader was arrested in March this year by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) — an Indian agency fighting financial crimes — on charges of money laundering regarding the liquor policy case. He was released for a short period, but has returned to Tihar Jail on June 1.
“There are many more corruption cases that the government is saying they have. I think it might be difficult for them to expedite themselves out of this,” Gandhi told indica. However, the former AAP member believes anything can happen in politics.
“I have looked at some of the papers. The court has looked into the allegations the government has made. When the court is not giving the bail, that means there is something there,” Gandhi said.
The 65-year-old resigned from AAP in 2015. Asked if Kejriwal should continue as the CM of Delhi, Gandhi termed him a ‘master politician’, however, he maintained that the decision lies solely with the AAP leader.
Gandhi, along with Kejriwal and activist Anna Hazare, was one of the prominent faces of the India Against Corruption (IAC) movement. Speaking on the future of AAP, he said, “I think they have lost the goodwill they had, with their own behavior and working style.”
He also spoke about the election results from the Lok Sabha polls, where Narendra Modi’s BJP emerged as the biggest winner, but failed to get a majority, and ended up forming a coalition government with the help of his NDA partners.
“Personally speaking, I am happy this prime minister [Modi] has come back. I am also happy he has come with a very small majority, and we have a strong opposition now… both ways, it’s good for the country,” Gandhi said.
He also spoke about his work of transforming farmers’ lives by making them self-reliant with zero suicide in Waghala village. “India has a great future… and India will become one of the greatest countries in the world economically.
Calling the rolling back of Farmers’ law by the Modi government ‘unfortunate’, Gandhi told indica, “The new farm law was so good for the country and unfortunately protest by a certain section of the farmers derailed it. I think the government mishandled it.”
Talking about his work, Gandhi said that Niti Aayog predicts by 2030, there will 42% gap between supply and demand. So, the farmers are not focused on traditional crops but have multiple type of plantations. This practice enables them to have continuous income without waiting.
“India is now the fifth largest economy and what India needs is agri-revolution and I believe if after IT revolution, agri revolution happens, our lowest sections will transform, and that will change the country and the world will follow us,” Gandhi shared with attendees, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, social workers and community leaders.
“I believe that this model if it is taken well, can lead a large agri-revolution in this country [India]. We intend to people in the government to talk about this and we are working on documentation for that. We also think if you look at a bird’s eye view this country can change,” he said.
“We have seen by planting fruits instead of typical crops, farmers increased their income by ten times. China has 13.95% land under fruit plantation. Even if we increase it to 11%, India’s economy can grow by 32.3 million crores,” he said. “That is 2.2% of agri GDP,” he added.
