Aam Aadmi Party -USA held its first national convention in Chicago on May 18,2013. Here are excerpts of my speech.

My Fellow Countrymen!

I shall start with my personal experience as to how I got involved with Aam Aadmi Party and that in fact may be representative of aspirations of many of people present here.

Next, I shall read the resolution that we propose to pass today at this gathering.

And then I shall introduce our dedicated team of workers and volunteers.

Last week, distributing flyers for this event at Devon (Indian market), one gentle man asked me how much money Arvind Kejriwal  has in Swiss banks. Since I was not ready for this question, I  asked, excuse me! He emphatically repeated the question with a disdain on his face. I said: “zilch”. He walked away without taking the flier from me.

This week, I was sitting in the physician  lounge of the hospital where I work and discussing this upcoming event with one of my colleagues. He said: “All are crooks. All are corrupt. Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta.” Now let me tell you, this physician friend of mine is a well –informed guy about India and Indian politics. He speaks 4 languages effortlessly.

This skepticism and cynicism  that ‘nothing can change’ is a lethal proposition. As someone has rightly said: “The biggest problem in this world is- The Intelligent People Are Full Of Doubts, While The Stupid Ones Are Full Of Confidence!!!”

Do we think the same way about our kids or say our family members.  As we know very well, our kids have varying abilities, skills and aptitudes. All do not have even same IQ. But we work with them steadily over years to help them find their meaningful place in life. Why we do so? Because we are INVESTED in them. Same applies to our nation also.

I am sure everyone of us has contributed back to the country in one way or the another and still continues to do so. In my observation, one of the most easy and important way for NRI is do some charity work back home. This shows that our heart lies in right place! Somehow we do not relate to this fact that why we are here in USA? We come to a country like USA and start following the things that are in place right from Day 1. We stop at a red light even at the midnight when there is not even a single vehicle on the inter-section. Chicago – the famous Windy city- has more inclement and harsher weather than majority of Indian cities. This country has full share of natural calamities happening all around the year in form of heavy snow falls, tornadoes, forest fires, etc. Yet we come and like to live here, even paying up to 40 % taxes on our hard earned income. All because there seems to be System in place. And about India, we are fond of saying: “Koi system nahi hai! Koi system nahi hai!”

Have you seen Japanese coming and settling here? Or French or Germans for that matter? Japan has probably equal population density as of India. So do not blame that India is just too crowded!

Thus one malaise that I see is the apathy to politics. However, remember this saying by Pericles:  “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you. ”

And then, as another philosopher said:

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

 Now, Aam Aadmi party has given us that hope! It has taken out the insecurity of ‘sab crooks hai’  and has given us an opportunity to PARTICIPATE in politics. Jai ho!!