[Exclusive] Modi Is Lying On Black Money: Manish Sisodia

With Assembly elections likely to be held early next year, the political temperature in Delhi is heating up. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already announced its first list of candidates and the second list is expected anytime. In an exclusive interview to Business Insider’s Manish Kumar, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia dismissed Congress as a “finished party” and said that BJP is faceless in the state. Here are the edited excerpts:

The Delhi Assembly elections are likely to be held in February-March next year. What would be Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) strategy in this election? What would be the key issues on which you will attack the BJP and the Congress?
Congress is a finished party. It has only done kukarm (bad deeds) wherever it got power. People have started hating Congress. It’s not about disliking it. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been trying to fill this gap. But if you talk about Delhi, BJP is too scared in Delhi. I am not saying this as an opponent of the BJP. I am saying this on the basis of facts. If you see the recent elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, none of the states had a viable option to the BJP. Hence, it fought the elections with full confidence. But it Delhi, it had been dilly-dallying on holding the elections. But now they have no option. This is for the first time that it has asked its MPs to come to Delhi and work here. It did not do so in Maharashtra and Haryana elections. This is because BJP is afraid of losing in Delhi. That is why it is deploying its 300 MPs in Delhi.


Will the Jan Lok Pal Bill continue to remain in your agenda? Jan Lokpal, honest governance and strict action against those who indulge in corruption have been our planks and will always be. Hum hain hi isliye. Had any other party worked honestly, we would not have entered in politics. They forced us to join politics. Otherwise, I would have been pursuing my career in journalism.

Corruption has almost become a way of life. You can’t even get a driving license without paying bribe. If you promise to make Delhi like Shanghai, New York or Singapore, it has no meaning for a common man. It is just a political gimmick. For a person who is planning to open a shop, what matters to him is that he does not have to pay bribe for this. Everybody has a certain expectation from this city, and it is very important to meet these expectations. People want such education system where they do not have to run from pillar to post for their children’s admission… they are not compelled to sell their land to pay heavy donations. Nobody talks about these fundamental issues. Instead, parties come up with fancy dreams… Shanghai bana denge, Singapore bana denge. Vision is not Shanghai; vision is living.

The vote share of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swelled from 33% in the last year’s Assembly election to 46% in this year’s Lok Sabha election. On the other hand, AAP's vote share increased to just 33% from 29%. How will you overcome this huge difference?
That was due to the Modi wave. People wanted to elect Narendra Modi. But this time, people are not going to elect Modi.

In case of another hung Assembly even after fresh elections, would you accept or extend support to either BJP or Congress?
We never think haar gaye to kya karenge. We only focus on jeet gaye to kya karenge. This is our philosophy.

I am not talking about losing the election. My question to you is about hung Assembly.
That may be your perception. For us, anything less than 36 seats would mean losing the election.

Will you play the role of a constructive opposition if you don’t manage to win 36 seats?
We don’t think on this line. This is not our philosophy. You are forcing me to think on this line.

Many leaders like Shazia Ilmi, MS Dhir etc. have ditched AAP. How do you think this would impact the party’s prospects? Does it not demoralise workers and volunteers?
Can you name five leaders who were effective in AAP and left the party? (We named four: Shazia Ilmi, MS Dhir, Captain Gopinath and Maulana Qasmi, and this is how he responded) Maulana Qasmi was a member of India Against Corruption. He was caught spying red-handed and was thrown out. I am questioning the media, which is portraying that AAP toot-phoot rahi hai (AAP is disintegrating.) Can anyone from the media name five influential leaders who quit the party? I am throwing an open challenge to all mediapersons. The picture that the media is painting is that AAP mein bhagdad machi hai... leaders are flocking away from the party.

The Narendra Modi government has just completed six months. What is your take on his stint in power so far?
He speaks very well. When he talks, it seems things are going to change. But when it comes to implementation, not even a single inch has moved. Delhi is just under Modi’s nose. In the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), you have to pay bribe to get your work done. Like I said earlier, you can’t get even a driving license without kickback.

Modi started the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan with great fanfare. It was a good initiative which we too supported. But his own party leaders were caught committing fraud in the name of safai. Has he taken any action against them? No. Has he taken any action against the councillors who are not doing their job? No. So, when it comes to delivery, not a single inch has moved forward.

How do you view the Modi government’s efforts with regard to bringing back the black money stashed abroad?
During his election campaign, Modi used to say that there is so much black money that if it comes to the country, every person would get Rs 15-20 lakh. In a stark contradiction to that, when he talks about black money in his ‘Man Ki Baat’ programme, he says that he has no idea how much black money is there. Then why was he lying about giving Rs 15-20 lakh to every person? This is the biggest lie. Or maybe he is lying now under the pressure of black money owners. Either he was lying before the election or he is lying now. Both of his statements cannot be true.

How much impact will Modi’s personality cult have on Assembly elections in Delhi?
Of course, personality cult is a fact. But ultimately, what runs the life of people is governance. A person may speak well or look very good, but he needs to deliver too.

In Maharashtra and Haryana, if the BJP did not have any face, its opposition had corrupt faces… most hated, most rejected faces. The situation is same in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir. But this is not so in Delhi. Here, there is a face and people have an alternative to the BJP.