Since we were
leveraging all channels to get our message across, I told Arvind, ‘We need a
revamped website and a party newsletter which can be distributed to people of
Delhi.’ Arvind connected me with his architect-friend Satyender Jain and his
website designer.
I met Satyendra
Jain in a restaurant, and he immediately offered to fund the newsletter every
month. However, when he suggested giving me cash, I grew uncomfortable. I spoke
to Arvind, and he suggested that Satyendra Jain could directly pay the printer
of the newsletter every month. That is how AAP
Ki Kranti, the party's newsletter, was born. Simultaneously, I worked on
restructuring the website, so as to make it easy to navigate, and so it became attractive
and effective.
During this
time, Arvind also asked me to take charge of training and monitoring seven of AAP’s
candidates, including Somnath Bharti, Saurabh Bhardwaj and Shazia Ilmi. Working
with both Somnath and Saurabh proved to be an enriching experience.
Somnath was a
lawyer and was passionate about the movement. He had a huge sofachair in his
office on which he’d sit like a king, surrounded by his small team. As soon as
we were introduced to each other, Somnath said, ‘Mayankji, I have a wonderful
strategy for the election.’
‘What is
that?’
Somnath
continued, highly excited, ‘I want to make a computer game!’
I was taken
aback.
He continued,
‘In this game, AAP volunteers will be wearing caps and hiding behind trees . .
. and when the time is right, they’ll come out and shoot the Congress and the BJP.’
I grew
anxious.
‘I will give
this game free of charge to the students, and after they play it, people will
be certain to vote for us.’
I sat in stunned
silence.
Thankfully,
the idea died a natural death.
My brief
interaction with Somanth made it clear that we were still novices making sense
of mainstream politics. But what we did have was enthusiasm. Somnath was
hardworking, sincere, popular in his constituency, and willing to fight for the
party’s core principles—this would hold him, and us, in good stead.
While Somnath
was flamboyant, Saurabh was entirely the opposite. He was a soft-spoken
engineer who had quit his job. To me, he was the ideal candidate, and I was
glad that after his victory he became a minister in the Delhi Government.
We used to interact every day, and I enjoyed guiding him.
As for Shazia,
she was one of the most aggressive and combative candidates. She sought attention
and resources for herself—possibly because she was in a tough constituency. It
was unfortunate that she lost by few votes.
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