The first foray of the Swaraj Abhijan, the forum launched by former Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader Yogendra Yadav, into Odisha on Thursday turned out to be a tame affair.
Yadav held a Swaraj Samvad meeting at the lohia Academy here to promote the new political outfit. Just about 120 men, many of them brought from western Odisha, sat in a small meeting hall without really participating in the deliberations.
Even the intellectually stirring speech by the renowned psephologist-turned-politician Yadav failed to enthuse the gathering.
Yadav questioned the high command structure of AAP and its lust for power and decision to limit itself to Delhi and took a dig at the party on suicide of the Rajasthan farmer during at AAP rally in New Delhi. “AAP has turned out be a political alternative instead of the alternative politics that it set out to become,” he said.
And Yadav took a jibe at the BJD while making a reference to its long years of rule and saying someday it has to go down (“Kabhi to jayegi)” and reminding the audience about the `60,000-crore coal scam.
Yadav called for Swaraj-II that would bring about a change in culture, usage of local language, education, policy and transparency and offer a respectable living for everyone.
Yadav said, “Every day, I am asked if we are going to contest elections, if Swaraj Abhiyan is a political party or a social movement. I want to make it very clear that we are in politics. We are trying to change the political landscape of the country and offer alternate politics. And elections are part of politics.”
lingaraj, a friend of Yadav from his college days and State convenor of Swaraj Abhiyan, who had unsuccessfully contested the last elections as an AAP candidate from the Bargarh lok Sabha constituency, said. “We want to tell the people of the hypocrisy of AAP and the reason some of the founder members were shown the door.”