AAP bitter divide: The intellectual and lawyer-activist (Bhushan) takes on the popular leader's (Kejriwal's) serious charges, and how!

Last updated on 20th April 2015

Please note that I am simply an observer of Indian politics who is not aligned with any political party. I am interested in this crisis in AAP from a human interest point of view, as such clash of views among leaders seems to happen in almost every organization, even spiritual organizations (one of which I was an active member of, a few years ago).

I saw the very emotional Arvind Kejriwal speech in Hindi (edited), "Third National Cou(n)cil Meeting Arvind Kejriwal Speech", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efn4QWGk7fA, 45 min 6 secs, published on Mar. 28th 2015, which like a Mark Antony speech in Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar, really touched the emotional chords of the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party/Common Man Party) national council members, resulting in their removing Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the National Council. Note that Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav are founding members and well known leaders of AAP. While I was impressed with some of the points Kejriwal made, I felt quite uneasy with the "resignation blackmail" approach he showed to get his way, and the absence of any video clips of Bhushan or Yadav presenting their points of view. I tended to view it as a dictatorial, but perhaps practical and maybe even well intentioned Kejriwal, seeing it as swallowing the bitter pill of ejecting the rebels, to save the party. However, I did not form a proper view as I wanted to hear the other side, especially their response to the traitor charges made against them.

The whole speech is very emotional. I felt it appropriate to provide the following Hindi transcript and English translation of parts of the speech (I have excluded the serious traitor charges part as I felt that the words used are just too strong for this blog):

Around 0:32 (Hindi) Doston, Delhi ke chunav mein Aam Aadmi Party ki aitihaasik jeet hui hain. Yeh Aap logon ki wajah se hui hai. Delhi ke janta ke wajah se hui hain. Iskelieyein main aapko sabse pehle badhai dena chahata hun. Sattar mein se sadsat seatein, yen koi mamuli baat nahi hain. Bharat ke itihaas mein batate hein ki Sikkim mein shayad ek baar hua tha ke jab chalis se chalis seatein kisi party ko mili thein. Uske baad ye dusra udaharan hai jab sattar mein se sadsat seatein kisi party ko mili hein. Maine pehle bhi bolo yein bahut chunavtipurn bhara hain, bahut darane wala  hain. Kyonki iski matlab janta ne hamare upar itna vishwas kiya itna vishwas kiya hai. Ab hamari bari hain ki hum janta ko woh deliver karke dikhayein.

English translation: Friends, in the Delhi elections the Aam Aadmi Party (Common Man Party) has won a historic victory. This has happened because of you. (It has happened) because of the people of Delhi. For this, I would like, at the outset, to give you congratulations. 67 seats out of 70 - this is not a minor matter. In the history of India, they inform us that perhaps in Sikkim it had happened once that a party got forty seats out of forty. After that, this is the second case/example when a party got 67 seats out of 70. I had said earlier itself that this is very challenging and very scary. As this means that the public has put so much faith in us, so much faith in us. Now it is our turn to deliver to the public (and show delivery).

Aur aap yaad kejiyein LokSabha chunava ke baad party ki kya sthithi thee. Aap logon ne bhi bhukta hoga. Jahan sadak pe nikalte the galiyaan padti thee. Galat to nahi keha rahan hun? Jahan sadak pe nikalte the galiyaan padti thee. Maine khud jhela hain. Ghar se bahar nikalna mushkil ho gaya tha. Jis building mein main, Koushambi mein rehta hun, ek din neche utra, aage badaa toh peche se aawaj suniyein di. Mera security guard ek dusre se aapas mein baat kar rahe thein. Ki bada hero banane chala tha. Pradhan Mantri banane chala tha. Laut ke buddhu ghar ko aaya. Bahut jhela hum logon ne.

English translation: And you please remember the state of affairs of our party after the Lok Sabha elections (debacle). You people may also have endured (taunts). Wherever we went on the road we would hear curses. I am not saying anything wrong (am I)? Wherever we went on the road we would hear curses. I myself have endured (taunts). It was difficult to get out of the house. In the building where I live in Koushambi (a suburb of Delhi or in nearby Gurgaon), one day I got down and was moving forward when I heard some voice(s) behind. My security guard(s) were talking to each other. (They were saying) that, (he) had gone to become a hero. (He) had gone to become the Prime Minister. Now the foolish fellow (buddhu) has come back home. We have endured a lot (of taunts).

Wahan se uthke sadsat seatein jeetna mujhe lagta hain yein (hasi khel nahin hain?). [Applause]. Janata ke vishwas ko dubara jeetna yeh koin choti baat nahin hain. Lekin aap logon ne thaan liya aur aap logon ne karke dikhaya. Iski liyein main badhai deta hun aap logon ko.

English translation: From that state to rise and get 67 seats out of 70 - I think this is not a joking matter. [Applause]. It is not a small matter to once again win the confidence of the people. But you people were determined and you people achieved it (and shown it to the public). I congratulate you people for this.

Around 11:51 (Hindi) Mein yeh soch raha tha pechle ded mahine mein jo kuch hua, uska phaayda kisko mila. Kya Kejriwal majbut hua? Kya Aam Aadmi party majbut hui? Kya Prashant Bhushan majbut hue? Ya Yogendra Yadav majbut hue? Isse kya internal democracy aa gayi? Swaraj aa gaya? Hum sab badnaam ho gayein. Mujhe lagata hain jo kuch be ded mahine mein hua doosri partiyon ko lagega, yaar agar isiko inner party democracy kehte hain to tauba tauba is inner party democracy se. Agar isiko Swaraj kehte hain to Bhagavan bhachiyein is swaraj se.

English translation: I was thinking, who got the benefit of whatever happened in the last one and a half months. Did Kejriwal become strong? Did Aam Aadmi Party become strong? Did Prashant Bhushan become strong? Did Yogendra Yadav become strong? What internal democracy has come from this? Did Swaraj (self-rule) come? All of us got a bad name. I think that seeing whatever happened in the last one and a half months, other parties will feel, friend/pal, if this is what is called inner party democracy then God forbid such inner party democracy. If this is what is called Swaraj (self-rule) then God should save us from this Swaraj.

Around 20:35 (Hindi) Main yahaan pe satta lena ke liyein nahi aaya. Maine pehle income tax commissioner ki naukri chodi thei. Maine mukhya mantri pad se istifa diya tha. Agar satta ka laalach hota to koi jarurat nahi thi mukhya mantri pad se istifa dena ke liyein. Hum compromise kyun karenge. Aaj tak is desh ke andar chahe sau log - koi kehta hain main ziddi hun, koi kuch bhi keha sakta hain. Lekin (another political party) walon ne bhi (yet another political party) wale yeh nahi keh sakte ke Kejriwal beimaan hain. [Long applause.] Lekin apne logon ne meri imaandaari ke upar shak kiya. Maine compromise kar liya.

English translation: I did not come here to take charge of the government. I had first quit my job of income tax commissioner. I had resigned from the post of chief minister. If I was greedy for political power then I had no need to resign from the post of chief minister. Why will we compromise? Till today in this country even if hundred people - some say that I am obstinate, they can say anything. But people of (another political party) or people of (yet another political party) cannot say that Kejriwal is dishonest. [Long applause.] But our people have doubted my honesty. (They say that) I have compromised (my principles/honesty).

Around 22:40 (Hindi) Maine apne chache ke ladke ko ticket nahi diya. Maine apne tau ke ladke ko ticket nahi diya. Maine apne rishte daroon ko ticket nahi diya. Maine apne doston ko ticket nahi diya. Maine paise leke ticket nahin diya. Ye jo peche sattar log baithein hain inse koi (meri) rishtedaari thodi hai ji. Yeh to mere sage thodi lagte hain, yeh. Ek ek, ek ek aadmi ko humne jaancha parkha. Kahan gaya ki hame to jeet important hain. Han hum jeetne ke liyein aayein hain. Hum haarne ki liyein nahi aayein. [Applause.] Kuch log bar bar kehte hain ki jeet ya haar important nahin hain. Main us rajniti mein yakeen nahi karta. Sade therasau partiyaan hain Delhi - desh ke undar registered hain. Koi jaanta hain sade therasau partiyoon ko? Aaj Aam Aadmi party ko jaante hain kyonki hum jeete hain. [Applause.] Hum yahan jeetne ki liye aayein hain. Jeetange lekin beimaani karke nahi jeetange. Imaandaari se jeetange. Aur jin jin logon ko haarne ki rajniti karni hain wo harne ki rajniti karen, jin ko jeetne ki rajniti (karni hain wo hamare saath chalein) [applause].

English translation: I did not give a ticket to my (younger) uncle's son. I did not give a ticket to my (elder) uncle's son. I did not give a ticket to my relatives. I did not give a ticket to my friends. I did not give tickets for money. These 70 people sitting behind (presumably those who contested the Delhi elections) I do not have any family relations with them. These people are not my kin. We examined each and every person. It has been said that for us, victory is important. Yes, we have come to win. We have not come to lose. [Applause.] Some people say again and again that victory or defeat is not important. I do not believe in such politics. 1350 parties are registered in the country. Does anybody know (all) these 1350 parties? Today they know about Aam Aadmi party because we have won. [Applause.] We have come here to win. We will win but not by dishonesty (using dishonest means). We will win by honesty (using honest means). And those people who want to do the politics of defeat they should do (engage in) politics of defeat. Those who want to do (engage in) politics of victory, (they can walk/come with us). [Applause.]

Around 39:11 (Hindi) Main ek cheej kehna chahata hun. Main Tihar kyon gaya? Court mein khada tha. Judge ne kahan bail le lo. Maine kaha nahiji bail nahi loonga. Judge boli personal bond sign kar lo, accha bail mat lo. Mereko yeh nahi pata tha yeh personal bond kya hota hain. Maine Prashantji ke taraf dekha. Prashantji ni yun kiya (shakes his head sideways to indicate NO). Maina kaha na ji main personal bond (nahin lunga?). Judge ne kaha, "Arrest him and send him to Tihar". Main Tihar chala gayan. Mein yeh kehna chahata hun, Prashantji aap ke ek isharein ke upar mein jail chala gayaan. [Applause.]

English translation: I would like to say one thing. Why did I go to Tihar (jail)? I was standing in court. The judge asked me to take bail. I said that I will not take bail. The judge then said sign a personal bond, (as you) don't (want to) take bail. I did not know what this personal bond is. I looked at Prashantji (the suffix ji indicates respect like sir).  Prashantji did like this (shook his head sideways to indicate No). I said I (will not) take a personal bond. The judge said, "Arrest him and send him to Tihar (jail)". I went to Tihar (jail). I would like to say this - Prashanji, at one gesture of yours I went to jail. [Applause.]

Around 40:58 (Hindi) Is party ko humne janam diya hain. Apni khoon se seencha hain. Apni jaan dao pe lagaayi hain. Pandrah din anshan kiya tha. Diabetes ka marij hun. Yahan pe Dr. Rakesh Parikh bhi baithe hue hain. Woh bhi roye the us din. Teen char din ke baad, koi doctor aisa nahi tha jo yeh keh de ki adthaalis gante se jada yeh jinda rahega. Meri Maa khub royi thi. Meri patni khub royi thi. Jitne doctor wahan khade the - mera ketone ka level chaar ya paanch pahunch gayan tha, joki khatre ke level se bahut upar hota hain. Maut ke muh se main nikalke aayan hun.

English translation: We have given birth to this party. We have nourished it with our blood. We have staked our lives for it. I had fasted (on hunger-strike) for fifteen days. I am a patient of Diabetes. Here we also have Dr. Rakesh Parikh. He also had cried that day. After three or four days there was no doctor who said that (I) will live beyond forty-eight hours. My mother cried a lot. My wife cried a lot. All the doctors there - my Ketone level had come to four or five which is very dangerous. I have come out of the mouth of death.

Is party ko humne apni khoon sein seencha, apni jaan sein seencha hain. Main yeh kehna chahata hun is party ko le lo aap log. Is party ko is tarah se maro math. Iski hatya mat karo is tarah se. Main en se ladne ki liyein nahi aaya. Meri ladiyi bhrashtachaariyon se hain, bahar ke bhrashtachariyon se. Meri ladiyi is desh ki sampradiyik shaktiyon ke khilaaf hain. Main yahaan par Yogendra Yadav aur Prashant Bhushan se ladne ke liyein naha aaya. Aaj main haar manta hun. Aap jeet gayein. Main aaj is ladiyi ko khatm karne aayan hun. Main aur is ladiye me jeena nahi chahata. Aaj aap logon ko chunna padega. Pechle ek saal se jitne national executive ki meeting hui har meeting ke andar ladayi hua hai. Har meeting ke andar virodh hua hai. Jitne PAC ki meeting hoti thi har meeting ke andar cheekha chilli, cheekha chilli. Yeh inner party democracy nahin hain. Yeh Swaraj nahi hain.

English translation: We have nourished this party with our blood, nourished it with our lives. I would like to say that you people take this party. Do not kill this party in this way. Do not murder it in this way. I did not come to fight with these people. My fight is with corrupt people, corrupt people who are outside. My fight is against the communal (communally divisive) forces of this country. I did not come here to fight with Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan. Today I accept defeat. You have won. I have come today to finish this fighting. Now I do not want to live in this fighting. Today you people will have to choose. In the last one year in all the National executive meetings, in each meeting there was fighting. In every meeting there was opposition. In all the PAC (Political Affairs Committee) meetings that would take place there would be shouting and screaming, shouting and screaming. This is not inner party democracy. This is not self-rule.

Toh main aap se yeh nivedan karne aayan hun ke aaj aapko chunna hain. Yah to aap mujhe chun lejiyein ya (to aap unko chun lejiyein). [Shouting]... Main aapko pashopesh mein bhi nahin daalna chahata. Main bas - aaj aapko - aap ke samne bahut ahem din hai. Aap ya to en ko chun lejiyein ya mujhe chun lejiyein. Agar aap en ko chunte hain to main aap ko pashopesh mein nahi daalna chahata. Main national convener, PAC, NE, aur national council en chaaron se mein istifa [shouting] Pankaj ke paas chood ke ja rahan hun. Aap logon ko tai karna (hain). Main aap logon par chod ke ja rahan hun.

English translation: So I have come to make a request to you that today you have to choose. Either you choose me or (you choose them). [Shouting.]... I do not want to put you into a difficulty/quandary. I just - today you have to - you have a very (ahem=important?) day in front of you. You either choose these persons or you choose me. If you choose these persons then I do not want to put you into difficulty/quandary. I am leaving my (letter) resigning from national convener, PAC, NE and national council, these four (positions), with Pankaj, and going. You people have to decide. I am leaving it on you people and going.

--- end part transcripts ----

The open letter that Bhushan has now written to Kejriwal seems to demolish all the traitor charges made against him and his father (and Yogendra Yadav). Further, I think this Bhushan letter seems to badly expose weaknesses and serious principle-compromising mistakes of Kejriwal. Unless Kejriwal makes an effective counter-response to this explosive Bhushan letter, I think Kejriwal's reputation for clean & honest politics will be severely impacted among the media reading public, and he may not be able to easily rebuild that reputation in future!

Some extracts from the explosive Bhushan open letter to Kerjriwal, http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/open-letter-to-arvind-kejriwal-by-prashant-bhushan-752053

In that meeting I said, "Look, all these kinds of compromises are being made, various ethical corners are being cut and now you are selecting these kind of candidates without proper transparency or scrutiny. If you go with these kinds of candidates, then even if you win, the further compromises that you will have to make, will be such that they will completely destroy the USP of the party, which is of being a clean, transparent party, wedded to alternative politics. And instead of winning by using these kinds of candidates, it would be better to lose the elections by going with clean and honourable candidates". That statement is being twisted around to claim that I said that I wanted the party to lose.

I had said that rather than winning by these kinds of candidates and means, it's better to go with honourable candidates and run the risk of a possible loss. Because winning with these kinds of candidates and means destroys the founding principles of the party in the short run, and will destroy the party itself in the long run.

If I had wanted the party to lose the elections, I would have resigned and gone public with my reasons at that very time. If Yogendra Yadav wanted the party to lose, he would not have convened that meeting and stopped me from going public. Instead, he worked his heart out for this campaign, defended the party on innumerable occasions on TV. And yet you have the temerity to accuse even him, along with me, of working for the defeat of the party!

...

A charge that is made against me is that I did not campaign for the party during this election. I had said that I can't campaign for many of these candidates, and given the manner in which these candidates had been selected, I was willing to campaign only for those candidates about whom I was fairly certain that they were the kind of people who would take the ideology of clean politics forward and work in public interest if they win. I had in fact given a list of five people that I thought were decent. But the party did not send me any programme for addressing public meetings. I therefore went for Pankaj Pushkar's public meetings who had personally invited me.

The other charge made against me is that I stopped people from donating to AAP. When other people asked me whether they should donate etc, I'd said, "Look, you should donate to those candidates who appear to be decent and honest to you". You and your coterie have made the same charge against my sister Shalini Gupta. She also said the same thing that I had said to a closed circle of friends. In fact she strenuously encouraged the Global group to donate to deserving candidates, which is why several candidates got so much funds from NRIs.

Your coterie have also accused my father, my sister and myself of trying to capture the party. Arvind, you know very well that none of us have even wanted any executive positions or tickets for ourselves or any friends or family members. We have only tried to contribute and help in every way that we could to see the party grow into a powerful and credible vehicle for alternative politics in the country. My father, apart from donating more than 2 crores as seed money to the party, has spent an enormous amount of time in giving selfless advice, legal and otherwise to the party. He played a major role in the draft of the Jan Lokpal bill. He worked for the well being of the party with his "tan, man and dhan". Yes, when he felt that you, for various reasons were not the right person to lead the party organisation, he frankly told you so. Apart from the reasons of ethical compromises mentioned above, he also saw that you were violating the constitution and rules of the party repeatedly, not allowing any working structure of the party organisation to be created (other than a coterie), and were not interested in formulating the policies of the party.

For two years, the elaborate reports of the 34 policy committees that we had set up, have been gathering dust because you havent found the time or have the inclination to look at those reports and apply your mind to them. You accuse my father of having stated that you were his third choice for CM after Kiran Bedi and Ajay Maken. That was his honest view after seeing all the shorcomings in your character that he had been observing. I had immediately publicly disagreed with his opinion, but in the light of what has transpired subsequently, particularly the stage managed lumpenism that you got unleashed in the NC meeting, I regretfully wonder if he was right.

...

It is true Arvind that I have not contributed as much as you for the party. I have not fasted, nor gone to jail. I have been mostly involved in my various PILs against various scams, [---snip---], Section 66A, Tobacco and Gutka, etc. I have spent the rest of my time giving legal and other advice to the party and fighting its cases in court. I have never been interested in any executive posts and I have seen my role in the party mainly as a person who will try and ensure that it remains true to its founding principles. And it is for this reason that I have raised my voice whenever I have found it to be slipping from its path.

Arvind, this party was founded with a lot of idealism by thousands of people, especially young people, who came out and spent a lot of their time, effort, energy, money, sweat and blood in order to create a vehicle for alternative politics, in order to create a party that would practice clean and transparent politics. But unfortunately, all those principles are being betrayed by you and your coterie, who are currently in control of the party. And it has become a supremo-oriented, high-command culture kind of party.

You feel that you can rectify everything by running the Delhi government well in the 5 years that you have. You think that if you deliver on governance, people will forget what you have done to the party. I wish you well in that endeavour. Even traditional political parties like ---snip--- have done some governance.  But the dream that we started with for clean and principled politics and corruption free governance was much much bigger.  The fear that I have, is that after how you have behaved and the character traits that you have showed, this dream of clean and principled politics that the Aam Aadmi party was founded on may well turn into a nightmare. But still, I wish you well.

Goodbye and good luck,

Prashant

--- end extracts ---

BTW the NDTV web page also carries a note that says "This piece has been edited for brevity and in keeping with our legal guidelines." Some other sites are mentioning more sensational sentences. From http://www.firstpost.com/politics/god-history-will-not-forgive-prashant-bhushan-compares-kejriwal-stalin-stinging-open-letter-2185003.html

Bhushan said "God and history will not forgive what you are doing to the party".

...

"The removal of the Lokpal, us and others who questioned the manner of our removal, reminds one of Stalin's purge of dissenters in the Communist party of Russia. You should read Orwell's Animal Farm to see the parallels between Stalin's Russia and what is happening in our party today. God and history will not forgive what you are doing to the party," Bhushan said.

--- end extracts ---

Ravi: I guess one should expect a fair amount of bias in this letter of Prashant Bhushan. However, the guy is a very articulate lawyer famous for his PILs in the Supreme Court taking on some really big guns of India. So, Kejriwal & co. will have to find fault in the supposed "facts" mentioned in the letter and the logic of the letter. It seems to me that the Kejriwal camp leaders, other than Kejriwal himself, cannot really match the lawyer-intellect of Bhushan. Perhaps Kejriwal may simply ignore Bhushan's open letter or have somebody else respond in an indirect kind-of way. I must also mention here that Kejriwal and team do come across as emotionally committed folks and that perhaps makes up, especially in politics, for lack of top-notch lawyer-intellect kind of skills in their group. I mean, they won the hearts of the electorate by their election campaigns and if they deliver on their promises and provide good governance perhaps the electorate will back them to the hilt.

From a higher perspective, this very open fallout between the top leaders of AAP is very disappointing to many Indians, I guess, who viewed AAP as a breath of fresh principled air in Indian politics. But, maybe the truth being revealed about these inner workings and dealings of AAP may help future AAP type parties to chart a better course in the pretty tricky waters of Indian politics.

And a wild hope is that perhaps this bitter churn does yield amrut (nectar/ambrosia) and that the AAP divide gets healed. I think Arvind Kejriwal + Prashant Bhushan + Yogendra Yadav is a formidable combination of leaders for a political party, and such a combo. may be good for Indian politics as a whole.

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20th April 2015

Here is the stinging and very strong reply from Prashant Bhushan to AAP's show-cause notice, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/AAPs-show-cause-notice-Read-full-text-of-Prashant-Bhushansreply/articleshow/46985933.cms. I tried searching for the full text of the show-cause notice itself but could not get it.