AAP’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal tells Shoaib Shaikh that his party will contest the Goa assembly elections on the corruption plank
Q: Which is the most outstanding agenda that the AAP will take up to win over the Goan voters?
The most important agenda is corruption. The one line that separates us from all other parties is that the AAP is honest and other parties are thoroughly corrupt. In the last two years of government in Delhi, the AAP has shown that it is not only honest, but it can run government honestly; whereas whenever the other parties got a chance they looted the treasury, they looted the government, they looted the public. The AAP has given the most honest candidates. The candidates of other parties are thoroughly dishonest, most of the candidates, with several scams in their background. The AAP has given a CM candidate who is known for his integrity and efficiency when he was in government. On the one hand, you have Elvis Gomes and on the other hand you have Laxmikant Parsekar. Gomes represents honest politics, whereas Parsekar represents dishonest politics. And the most important is that today it is corruption which exists at the root of the most of the problems in Goa. And till now people did not have an option also – BJP is corrupt and Congress is also corrupt. People are desperately looking for a change and they see that change in AAP.
Q: According to you, how deep rooted is corruption in Goa?
There is a dishonest chief minister, dishonest cabinet and a dishonest party ruling Goa. Education is bad because there is corruption, schools are bad because there is corruption, hospitals are bad because there is corruption, medicines are being siphoned off and the projects are overestimated. It has been an Rs 400-crore Mandovi bridge (project), but the cost has almost doubled and the completion is not in sight. Coconut is declared as grass because there is corruption. Tourism is going to dogs because there is corruption and garbage is lying all around Goa because there is corruption. So corruption is at the bottom of most of the problems and it is only the AAP if it comes to power and if it removes corruption from most of these places then schools will improve, hospitals will also improve, coconut will get back its status of a tree, the tourism will also improve, and the new Mandovi bridge, if it is estimated at Rs 400 crore, it will be completed at Rs 300 crore and within time many things will start falling in place.
Q: How do you respond to people who say that it is the mindset of the public which lends its hands to corruption?
In Delhi we have shown that if you have an honest chief minister then you have honest ministers. If you have honest ministers then they find the honest bureaucrats and they put honest secretaries at the top. Then the message goes down that now this government will not tolerate corruption. For instance we constructed a flyover whose sanctioned cost was Rs 325 crore and it was completed for Rs 200 crore by the same set of engineers. Same JE and same AE who used to make money in the previous government have now started working honestly because the message has gone to them that the money does not move to the top and now the government will not tolerate if you indulge in corruption.
Q: How will you manage to fund your ambitious doles and schemes?
In Delhi we have shown that there is no dearth of funds in government. The taxes that you pay are more than sufficient to take care of the people’s needs. If you end corruption then there is huge surplus which is available. When we eliminate corruption there will be lot of money that will be available which we will give back to the people in the form of social security schemes. There is so much of unemployment which has been doubled because of demonetization… we will give unemployment allowance of Rs 5000 per month. Elvis’ team has done the entire planning and calculations on from where will the money come, and they have answers to them. I can assure that the Goa budget which is in shambles today in a few years time will have a surplus budget.
How will you convince the people of Goa that AAP candidates who have come from other parties are clean and non-corrupt?
Whenever we have taken any candidate from any other party we check that person’s background three times before inducting him in the party. First of all there are a few who have come from other parties, but I will vouch for four things. He is not corrupt, he has a good character, does not have a criminal background and he is not communal. But even then, if someone gives us evidence against any of the candidate on these four parameters, then we will take action immediately. We don’t mind leaving the seat vacant.