A covert avatar!

I voted the first time in 1977. The elections were epochal as the Congress was voted out of power, again for the first time. The euphoria was short lived as the mandate was frittered away by internecine warfare among groups, which had been forced to coalesce together, by shared sufferings, under the emergency rule. A movement for Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) led by Jaya Prakash Narayan (JP) begun in Bihar and spread throughout the country under the banner of Chatra Yuva Sangarsh Vahini, (CYSV) and acted as the catalyst, seeking to usher in change.
A convention of CYSV was held at Ramnathi in Ponda which was patronised among others, by the young leaders of the then powerful Progressive Students Union. The movement dissipated away after the death of JP. For me, Kumar Kalanand Mani from Bihar, whom I had met at the convention, is the only tangible reminder of those days. He married Bharati, a local delegate, and settled down in Madkai. He is behind the Peaceful Society, an NGO still propounding the ideals of JP.
After the death of JP the country returned to its old ways, with corruption and oppression, riding high. Eleven years into the third millennium, a similar movement, India Against Corruption with similar objectives surfaced, led by Anna Hazare. Once again expectations were raised. Lakhs of people joined in. Aam Aadmi Party, led by a hitherto unheard of Arvind Kejriwal emerged from the ashes of the movement. Anna Hazare disassociated himself from the party. Other stalwarts of the party were well known psephologist Yogendra Yadav,and legal luminary Prashant Bushan with a few others
My friend and colleague Gustavo Clovis da Costa was for years a hardcore and loyal Congressman, a sarpanch of Assolna village and Zilla Panchayat Member. He was General Secretary of the Congress for some years, and a front runner for the Velim Assembly Congress ticket. But I would always, tell him that the Congress will never give him the ticket. Election after election I was proved right. A similar prospect awaits Everson Vales another Congressman from Nuvem, and for the same reasons. The Congress was suffering rom the law of diminishing marginal returns and AAP was threatening to take over the space left vacant and Gustavo too had seen through his party. I could see Gustavo was well disposed to the new party and I suggested he go for it as I felt AAP may be the long awaited Messiah. Ever since, he has been a vocal supporter of AAP.
 When I last met him he questioned me, why I was so hostile to AAP, now. Here are the reasons: I quote from a report in the Hindustan Times dated Aug 29, 2018 “Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi Marlena, who on Monday was declared the east Delhi candidate for the Lok Sabha polls scheduled next year, has dropped her “second name”, Marlena, in all party records and campaign materials.
This, a party leader said, was done because the BJP was trying to polarise voters by suggesting that she was a “foreigner and a Christian”.
Atishi said she dropped her second name because she “does not want to waste time in proving her identity.” Supporting her decision to just go by her first name, AAP general secretary Akshay Marathe said “a progressive politician like Atishi who does not use her caste name to ask for votes, is being targeted for using only Atishi without ‘Marlena’.
The party said her parents, Dr Tripta Wahi & Dr Vijay Singh, who were Leftists, gave her the title “Marlena” after combining the surnames of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.” So for the AAP even a Christian sounding name is a liability. Did the AAP not succumb to anti-Christian propaganda, instead of challenging it?
PTI March 29, 2021: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday asked people to read the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita for the remaining days of the lockdown ending on April 14, saying that he is doing the same with his family.
Did the reading ward of COVID? Why did he not suggest that people read their own Holy Books? Why should a CM advise Christians Muslims, Sikhs to read the Gita?
The South Delhi District Magistrate Ankita Chakravarti in an official statement as reported by ANI July 12 confirmed “A demolition drive was conducted today on pillar no 36 and 120 of Chattarpur. The land is an original Gram Sabha land for which the boundary work was done by Irrigation and Flood Control Dept. However, it was encroached by some people by installment (sic) of religious structure …Therefore the BDO tried to undertake the demolition of the illegal structure”.
Thus while Kejriwal accused the DDA of carrying out the demolition, his own administration acknowledging. Why did he tell us a lie in Goa?
And now take the case of Fr Stan Swamy  (84) suffering from Parkinson’s who toiled among the tribals but incarcerated under manufactured charges, died in custody. The Goa AAP urged him to condemn his arrest and the treatment meted out. No statement came out. While every leader in the country has condemned it, why did Kejriwal not do so?
AAP began as a full-fledged band and was expected to rock the country, if not the world. Perhaps, win a Grammy or two. Goans, with their love for music were upbeat. But one by one the band has disintegrated. The country’s finest vocalist Prashant Bushan and the lead guitarist Yogendra Yadav are out. So too, are the rhythm and bass guitarist Sazia Ilmi and Ashutosh. It is now merely a one-man band and strangely with only the drummer hammering away at the drums, mostly off beat. Will the feisty Goans dance to its beat?
The AAP came into existence about 10 years ago. And it has grown so much, that there are today more ex-AAP leaders than there are AAP leaders! Why have those who pioneered the AAP in Goa and mostly from the minority community deserted the party? Have they too seen through the agenda?
The BJP is Hindutva party. The AAP is no better, as under a secular coat it hides a saffron underwear. It is no messiah. It is a covert avatar of the BJP.
(Radharao F Gracias is a senior Trial Court Advocate)