oppn parties AAP is Not Different From Other Parties

News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
AAP is Not Different From Other Parties

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2017-05-09 12:29:10

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
It is very easy to treat the current upheaval in the Aam Aadmi Party as its internal problem or, as put forward by AAP, as a conspiracy by the BJP to malign the party. But given the nature of the allegation, it assumes a bigger dimension. Since the now suspended Kapil Sharma has said on record that he was an eyewitness to the payment of Rs 2 crore in cash by Satyendra Jain to Arvind Kejriwal, the question now becomes one of propriety and possible corruption.

Although it will still be one man’s word against another’s, it shows how political parties function in India. As one has always maintained, there is always a point man in every district unit in every party who is tasked with collecting funds. This person is often given a target. If it the ruling party, the target is huge. AAP being the ruling party in Delhi and having set its sight on Punjab and Goa in the recent past, it was in urgent need of funds. What Satyendra Jain gave to Kejriwal must have been the collection for party funds. It will be very difficult to tie it up with personal corruption on part of Kejriwal.

Kapil Sharma’s version gets watered down because initially he had claimed to have alerted the anti-corruption bureau of Delhi police about the payment, which has subsequently been denied by the ACB. But since Sharma has now approached the CBI with ‘evidence,’ one has to wait and watch to see the outcome.

But one thing is clear in all this. The Aam Aadmi Party and its chief honcho, Arvind Kejriwal, are no different from any other political party or leader in India, despite claiming to be the torchbearers of the anti-corruption movement. They thought that they would replace muscle power with intellectual muscle and get the money through donations. But the youngsters who joined them in the initial euphoria became disillusioned with Kejriwal’s attitude and the donations did not add up. So AAP has also started collecting money the same way other parties are doing – by either exhorting it from businesses or taking it in exchange of granting favours.