Delhi Elections: Raghav Chadha, Aam Aadmi Party candidate from South Delhi Lok Sabha seat, says political start-ups like Aam Aadmi Party provide ample opportunity for youth to join politics and serve the people. In an interview with Financial Express Online’s Krishnanand Tripathi, he talks about his campaign, the prospects of AAP in the ongoing Lok Sabha election and the national ambitions of his party. Edited excerpts:
Q: This is your first election, what is your experience? How has been the campaign so far?
A: Roughly one year ago Mr Kejriwal has appointed me in-charge of South Delhi constituency. For the last one year, I have been working aggressively, I’ve been visiting every nook and corner, every colony in my area and I have established a connect with every voter family in my area.
Q: You are fighting a tough electoral battle, to what extent lack of resources or availability of large number of resources with your opponent affects the election?
A: Well, lack of resources, lack of funds impacts one’s campaign there is no doubt about that. But I personally feel that Aam Aadmi Party’s election, election after election, not merely by the party but by the people. In my constituency, for example, it’s the people of South Delhi who want to defeat Ramesh Bidhuri, it’s not merely Aam Aadmi Party or myself. Therefore people come in, people campaign, people fund the campaign, people fight the election and the people ultimately win. Therefore I want to say that Aam Aadmi Party is certainly a political party which has very little resources. Aam Aadmi Party is a political party that is funded by clean money. But Aam Aadmi Party is also a political party that the people of this country wish to contribute towards with their hard earned money in order to ensure the survival of clean politics in India.
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Q: Whether Aam Aadmi Party has given up on national ambitions? You are fighting in just seven seats in Delhi and Haryana and Punjab. What happened to your national ambitions?
A: Well, again it’s not about the party. It’s about the people. If the people of a particular state want Aam Aadmi Party to come to the state and if they feel a political vacuum then they will ensure that Aam Aadmi Party is there in the state. For example in Haryana, it’s the people of Haryana that have built a robust organisation and now they are going to fight the election. In Punjab, it’s the people of Punjab who have built a robust organisation and now they are going to fight the election. So it’s about the people.
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Q: What is your message to youth of this country? Entry of people like you may mobilise them to join politics.
A: Well, all I can say is that India is a young country. More than 65% of India’s population is below the age of 35. So we the young people of India need to come to the forefront of national politics. I understand that there are lot of barriers, entry barriers into the politics. There are barriers like, you need muscle power, media power, money power, dynasts to survive in this ugly world of politics. But again there are clean political start-ups like Aam Aadmi Party that give opportunity to young people to come to the forefront of politics, it’s like myself. My leader, my political party gave me so much opportunity to me to come to the forefront of politics and serve the people. So one must consider joining the politics, not as a career but as a medium for serving the people.
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