Pics: Brijesh Garodi
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (DV)
Mangalore, Apr 13: Member of Aam Aadmi national executive committee and AAP Lok Sabha candidate from Gurgaon Yogendra Yadav on Sunday April 13 visited the city as part of the party's campaign and said that AAP is here to provide an alternative to Congress and BJP and change the nature of politics.
Addressing a press meet at AAP district office here, he said, "I am in my favourite part of the country which not only has natural beauty but which also celebrates diversity. We are here to change the nature of politics. We get this opportunity for bringing about a systematic change only once in five years. AAP is here to provide an alternative in governance and a bring a change in the kind of politics we see today. That is systematic change."
Attacking both Congress and BJP, he said, "On the one hand there is the UPA-led Congress, which Rahul Gandhi is informally the face of. The UPA in the last 10 years completely discredited performance and created a record in corruption. They faultered in economic growth and growth of people. They played vote bank politics. Secularism of Congress has also been completely discredited. Rahul Gandhi has no credibility.
"On the other hand the BJP-led NDA is clearly led by Narendra Modi. BJP is no alternative because they provide the same kind of politics as Congress. In corruption also BJP is no different from Congress. This is quite evident in Karnataka after BJP reinducted Yeddyurappa and Sriramulu. BJP never offers development. The so-called Gujarat model is not really a model of development - it is a model of selective growth for small portion of the population where less attention is paid on education, healthcare, nutrition, and mortality rate is high. This is also no alternative. BJP or Gujarat model is particularly associated with majoritarianism which supports the idea of majority. This is against the basic foundation of the idea of India," he said.
"Every community, caste and religion has every right - that is what AAP believes in. The country needs an alternative in politics, not subsitution. AAP provides alternative and not subsitution. AAP emerged from the strong movement against corruption. It is also involved in the movement against political corruption and desire for political swaraj. AAP is bringing power back to the country and to the people not only through gram panchyats but also through gram sabhas. It believes in devolution of power through the lowest rank. AAP believes in protection of social justice and secularism. It has fielded 400 candidates throughout the country. Our efficacy is determined by the role we play. We need to change the rules of the game and change the foundation through alternative form of politics," Yadav said.
Reply to a query, Yogendra Yadav said, "Everyone should get equal rights, especially the minorities who suffer from vulnerability, as per Articles 25, 26 and 27 of the Constitution. Even in our manifesto we have emphasized on economic policy and foreign policy. In foreign policy we are against incursion. We believe maintaining friendly relations with other countries.
"We want India to be a multi-polar universe where the country attains growth," he added.
On AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal's battle against Narendra Modi in Varanasi, he said, "AAP workers are putting in all efforts to defeat Modi. It is not a symbolic fight but a serious effort to defeat Modi. AAP workers have been reaching out to all villages and mohallas. We want to be a viable alternative in politics."
Asked how many seats AAP expects to win, he said, "We are not concerned about numbers. We only need to make our presence felt."
AAP Dakhina Kannada candidate M R Vasudeva was present.