Steering its maiden attempt in the lok Sabha elections beginning in a couple of days, the Aam Aadmi Party, on Thursday, released its manifesto in the national Capital with focus on swaraj and a corruption-free Government.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal who had rubbed Delhi Police the wrong way during his stint as Chief Minister of Delhi also vowed to bring reforms in the police, health, education and the judiciary.
Attacking the Congress and the BJP, Kejriwal also promised to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks. Clearing the party’s stand on FDI, he said the party was not against it “in principle” barring that in the “retail sector.”
Elaborating on the party’s goal of swaraj, Kejriwal said his party would decentralise power, introduce the Jan lokpal Bill and ensure time-bound delivery of services apart from providing good governance. However, the party has softened its stand on swaraj with the former Delhi CM acknowledging that there was a long way to go before that dream could be realised.
“Although it will not be possible to bring swaraj so quickly, but, to a great extent we will bring in decentralization of power. Gram Sabhas and Mohalla Sabhas will be revived and made fully operational. They will have a secretariat of their own and will receive untied funds from the Government,” he said.
Primary health centers and schools will also be brought under the jurisdiction of the Gram Sabhas and Mohalla Sabhas. “All kinds of certificates (birth, death, caste, etc) will be issued by them and development work will be done based on community voting,” he added.
Emphasizing on judicial accountability, he also proposed to double the number of judges in courts across the country in the next five years. “There must be judicial accountability. We must have a fast, efficient and honest justice system. In five years, we will double the number of judges to ensure speedy justice,” he said. The manifesto also speaks of installing CCTV cameras in court rooms and bringing down the age to contest elections to 21 from 25.
Stressing on police reforms, Kejriwal said his party will make “not lodging an FIR an offence.” Besides, he also said: “We will install CCTVs in police stations. There should be cameras in interrogation rooms as well. We have proposed to make separate investigative and law and order wings in the police. The internal accountability of police must be fixed.”
The AAP leader also announced that the four-year undergraduate programme in Delhi University will be withdrawn as demanded by a section of students and teachers. “We will also establish a number of institutes like the IITs and AIIMS. Besides, there will be numerous institutes for vocational studies. Course curriculum should teach students about livelihood. Instead of searching for jobs, they should create jobs. learning entrepreneurship is important,” said Kejriwal.
The AAP leader said his party was “industry friendly” as creation of wealth was essential for overall development of the country but noted that it was against “crony capitalism.” “We are not against industries or business, but we are against crony capitalism. We believe that unless industries don’t flourish we won’t be able to generate jobs,” he said. When asked about FDI in retail, Kejriwal said the party was not in support of it in the retail sector. “We will instead build our own storage chains and focus on reducing corruption. FDI in retail market only results in mass unemployment,” he said. On contractual workers, Kejriwal said: “We are against the system of contract labour because it violates basic human rights.”
On foreign policy, the AAP leader said that his party advocated friendly relations with all countries, but had “zero tolerance” for cross border terrorism. “We will work to reduce political hostilities in our immediate neighbourhood but we will have zero tolerance for cross border terrorism. Border areas should be developed as zones of high economic engagement to create a larger constituency for peace on both sides. We will work to enhance the country’s Defence capacity to deter the border incursions by China, but will also strive for a greater and more balanced trade with the country,” he said.
Kejriwal added that the party will not favor nuclear energy as a Defence strategy as it is too hazardous for human lives. He further went on to say that his party will not only work to reduce foreign dependence in equipment, but will also try to bring transparency in procurement of equipment.
Calling the manifesto a “dynamic” one, Kejriwal said: “Our manifesto has been made after taking in all the suggestions given by the people and it is not a fixed one. We are ready to include more points as more suggestions come up.”
Concluding his address on a witty note, Kejriwal took a swipe at the BJP which went the AAP way in releasing constituency-wise manifestoes for the elections. “We do not have copyright on our manifesto. Any other party is welcome to implement our manifesto or take our points,” Kejriwal said.