AAP to begin MCD Badlaav Campaign from Monday, aim to induct 50 lakh people in Delhi

New Delhi: AAP senior leader and Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia along with Cabinet Minister & State Convenor Gopal Rai launched the massive "MCD Badlaav Campaign" and set the target of conquering the forthcoming MCD elections today. 

At the event, Gopal Rai informed that AAP will begin with a door-to-door membership campaign from tomorrow, which will cover each and every household of Delhi. He said that there’s a target of making 50 lakh people join the party in Delhi under the campaign. He added that one could be working at any level, you could work at the national level but if you don’t work in your area, you will have to answer to the whole party. 

Manish Sisodia said that the Aam Aadmi Party is not a party, it is a movement; every party in the country is trying to copy us. We have to change the politics of this country; many parties have come and gone, but none of these parties have, to this day, have influenced another party through their revolutionary character to follow their ways. He said that when people see AAP workers they ask them about their policies; they can’t do the same with BJP or Congress because they barely do anything.

AAP Senior Leader and Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia along with Cabinet Minister & State Convenor Gopal Rai launched the massive "MCD Badlaav Campaign" and set the target of conquering the forthcoming MCD elections today. The launch event was held at the party headquarters and saw an overwhelming presence of party workers and office bearers of various levels. At the same time, Mandal level teams of the party prepared to launch the campaign in their own area with great strength. 

While launching the campaign, Gopal Rai said, “We have all gathered here today to launch this great campaign to bring a change in the MCD, to make more people a member of the AAP, to make people the soldiers of this change, and to throw the BJP out of the MCD. We have been getting calls continuously, asking why we haven't invited the mandal convenors to this event. To them, I want to say, this is only the symbolic beginning, the actual work will be done in all of Delhi's Mandals under the leadership of the Mandal convenors. I would urge you to go ahead with your campaign with full preparations.”

He added, “The last time we contested the MCD elections, we were contesting for the very first time, we had no experience and we were only learning. What we learnt was that,  if we want Delhi to shine, and if we want it to be more beautiful and healthier, cleanliness is of utmost importance. Which is why we are launching this MCD Badlaav Campaign. As part of this campaign, we have to go to every street, lane, booth, ward, mandal, assembly. We have to go to every corner in Delhi and let people know that just the way they chose Arvind Kejriwal to eradicate corruption from the Delhi Government; the time has now come for the MCD. We can improve everything in Delhi, we can give free water, free electricity, we can install CCTV’s, but when people open their doors to step out but see the garbage strewn across the streets, it sours the mood. We have to take this responsibility, to make Delhi a better capital city. We have to take the lead in this fight for change. We have 3 months left —  December, January and February, because the elections are in March. Which is why, starting tomorrow, we will be setting up day-long membership camps at every booth and mandal in Delhi. At this camp tomorrow, we will do our campaigning and people can come to join the party. For the next two days, at the same booths, our teams will go door-to-door to make people pledge for change in the MCD, make them members of the party and shareholders in this great campaign of change. You have to work 3 days at the same booth and get at least 300 members from each booth, it’s important to remember that.  Our target is to make 50 lakh people members of the Aam Aadmi Party in the coming 3 months.”

He continued, “No one should make the state election work as an excuse. Work for the MCD in the morning, use evenings for membership drive, and then get back to your work through the rest of the day. Every party worker must participate this way in their own division at their level and contribute to the MCD Badlaav Campaign. We will check the membership campaign graph in each division where a post holder resides after the campaign. Every AAP soldier should enthusiastically play their role in this mega campaign without fail.” 

He concluded, “Lastly, many of you are probable candidates for the MCD elections. You are all working tirelessly at your ward level, and must have the desire to cover the entire ward that you belong to. While we encourage you to work at a ward level, mandal level work must be prioritised and thorough. Hence, while strengthening your mandal, you must fulfill all your responsibilities. Hence we will achieve the goal of enrolling 50 lakh members and ensure the success of the MCD Badlaav Campaign. I congratulate all of you in this monumental and successful commencement of a very crucial movement. Inquilab Zindabaad!”

Manish Sisodia said, “It's nice to see the entire family here today. Every time we have gathered here, it has seemed that this place is not big enough. Now we must do something big to get a bigger place. We have on this stage with us here today our State Convenor, dear and respected by all of us, Gopal Bhai Ji. The party's special door-to-door membership campaign will start tomorrow and Gopal Ji has already elaborated in clear and strict words how the campaign is going to be run. Regardless of whether one considers themself a state-level leader or a candidate for national level, district level, or assembly level ticket or candidate everyone has to work on the mandal level to strengthen this campaign.”

He added, “Gopal Ji said a very nice thing just now, that you could be working at any level, you could work at the national level and for everything that you do there, you will answer there itself. But if you don’t work in your area, you will have to answer to the entire mission. No one should think that they can get away by just marking their attendance and posting a few photos on Facebook. Gopal Ji, Adil Ji, the whole team which is engaged in this mission, don't take them lightly. You cannot just send a few pictures on WhatsApp or post some on Facebook and think people will laud you for doing your Mandal's. When you do actual work at your Mandal, it will be apparent.”

He continued, “All of us here have been running a political movement in the country for the last nine years. We did not form a party. Even today, the Aam Aadmi Party is not a party, it is a movement. There are two tasks in this part of this movement. There is a motive behind everything that we do, from the membership movement we are running to us contesting the MCD elections. There are some dreams and some goals. There are two main things we have to do. We have to change the politics of this country. Many parties have come and gone, the BJP, the Congress, but none of these parties have, to this day, have influenced another party through their revolutionary character to follow their ways. The Aam Aadmi Party is the only party in the nation's history, whose demeanor and way of working are being replicated by all parties, new and old, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.”

He further said, “We had said that we will end VIP culture, and we will end red beacons. On its first day in office itself, this Government, born out of a movement, became the first such government in the country to put an end to the red beacon culture. In 2015, this country saw the formation of a government that ended the red beacon culture. And when the culture of red beacon in the country ended, when it was decided in the country that whether it is MLA, minister, chairman, or MP, or CM, no one will have a red beacon in their car, even the biggest, most powerful party of the country, after being in power for so many years, could not remember that there is a red beacon on their car. Even the BJP, which had been in power in some states, even after coming to power at the center, and remaining in power for close to 2.5 years, never thought of this. It was only when people started talking of Aam Aadmi Party's politics, the movement they had created, how the red beacons had come off of the vehicles of the MLA's, how even the CM didn’t have a red beacon on his car, that Modi Ji remembered he too had a beacon atop his car that he needed to remove. The one thing that all of us revolutionaries have to do, is change the way politics happens and is perceived in this country, and you have already begun the task. When people see one of our party workers, they say you and your party have done amazing work; you did so much for the education facilities and even made electricity free-of-cost. This is what the fight is about. When a BJP worker goes anywhere in the country, what would the people say to them? Congress, which has been in power for the past several decades, if one of their party workers goes anywhere in the country, what questions would people ask them? Would they even have anything to say?”

He added, “Is there a single thing or action that their relatives could praise them for? But when AAP workers go anywhere in the country or even stop on a highway for a cup of tea, people notice the cap, or the flag on the vehicle, or even their demeanor and politely ask if they are from the AAP. They speak of how the education sector has improved, and how the health sector has improved. Our first task was to change the political discourse of the country, and you have accomplished that. You have forced the system to talk about education and the politics of honesty. If they're unable to do it, then it's a different matter altogether. When the Chief Minister announced that we have to contest the elections of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, and Uttarakhand, then the entire government of Uttar Pradesh exclaimed that they have done a lot in the field of education and that we should see. When we saw it, they ran away. We had challenged them to present five schools, or even a single school which they have reformed over the last five years. Meanwhile we presented a thousand such schools in Delhi. Similar was the case in Uttarakhand. In Uttar Pradesh they did not even let us enter the schools. Even the few schools I did get to see in Uttarakhand were in extremely poor condition. When we spoke about schools in Punjab, Channi Sahib dismissed her citing Congress Government’s work in reforming schools. When asked to give proof, to give a list of 250 schools as proposed by them, Delhi delivered while Channi Sahib failed. Even Channi Sahib’s Vidhan Sabha had schools locked, hiding their poor condition from the media, from everyone. Little fixes here and there in buildings are of no use unless you fix the education. In Delhi, it’s not the buildings that shine, it’s the students’ faces, their futures. Someone who irons clothes under the stairs in a Dwarka Apartment building told me our schools fixed his entire family line and that his son is studying aeronautical engineering at IIT Mumbai. Only Delhi's government schools have 40-50 students cleared NEET - all from a single school.”

“Aam Aadmi Party isn’t just a political party, but a movement. A movement for education reform, for women’s rights and safety, for health reforms, to reduce inflation. We will treat everything like a movement - to one, change the political discourse and two, to lead the country in the right direction. The Aam Aadmi Party was not formed for career politicians to exercise power or to win elections, but to realise a dream to transform the country, and forming the government is a means, not an end. The problem with the BJP and Congress is that they treat the ‘kursi’ and the power as the ultimate goal, and have no dream to actually change the country.”

“We have to work to realise our dream to change the country, and to achieve the goal of voting the BJP out of power in order to do that. We have to transform Delhi into a clean capital. Every AAP member must have the drive to make these dreams come true, to make Delhi shine, and for that, to first throw the corrupt, havoc wreaking BJP out of the MCD.”