The article by Mail Today begins by saying that 'not everyone in the AAP is 'aam'...' The news daily has relied on the reports and findings of the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) in bringing out this article. I am amazed seeing the way this daily has picked and chosen data from a fifty seven page report generated by the ADR without furnishing adequate details, failing to which it, deliberately or otherwise, tends to mislead its readers.
The very phrase 'crorepati MLA' attracts every reader's attention. As soon as we see this phrase our mind decides that this particular MLA is very rich and that there is a great possibility that he has either used a lot of money to contest the elections or, if he is a re-elected MLA, he has made a lot of money during his tenure as a MLA. Both the contentions are valid. But, there is need to think deeper and to read between the lines.
In the past, even I was a victim to this knee-jerk response. To make things clearer, the word crorepati needs to be explained, especially when it pertains to being used as a factor in giving details about an elected representative, where his efficiency, integrity and bonafide is being put under a watch. There are certain nuance issues which need to be kept in mind, which we all know but is worthy of being reminded while such an issue is being discussed. While filing the nomination papers before contesting an election, every candidate is required to furnish, inter alia, the financial details like the annual income, the value of all of the movable and the immovable assets, not just of his/her, but also of his/her spouse's and dependents'. Simply put, if a candidate has a bigger family and has working children (or dependents), his finances will show a higher value. Another factor that adds up to the financial value is the property that a candidate inherits from his father/mother. This is to be noted clearly as a candidate spends nothing at all to procure this asset, as it is only his being born in that family that becomes a reason for his being in possession of such a property. In families where the number of children are less, the value of such assets necessarily are higher. Also, it is to be remembered that the value of the assets appreciate over the years. If land is a component in the asset it is sure of showing a highly inflated value, given the real estate boom in our country. Hence a clear picture can be arrived at only if we are given the data of when and at what price was an asset procured by a candidate.
Having said this, let me re-furnish some of the major findings of the ADR report viz-a-viz the financial assets of the Aam Aadmi Party candidates. The report says that the average asset per MLA in Delhi is Rs. 10.83cr. When party wise average asset is seen, the BJP has the highest with its average MLA having assets worth Rs. 12.49cr, followed by the Congress MLAs with Rs. 10.25cr and the AAP MLAs with only 1.82cr. (The details of only the BJP, AAP & the Congress is being compared by me as they are the three major parties in Delhi this time) Clearly, if only the average asset per MLA in Delhi was given, and the party wise average wasn't, the picture would have been ambiguous.
Another set of figures that the report highlights, is the number of 'crorepati MLAs' in each party and their percentage. 30 out of the 31 MLAs of the BJP (97%), 12 out of the 28 of AAP (43%) and 7 out of the 8 of the Congress (88%) are 'crorepati MLAs'.
ADR has researched and incorporated in its report another set of interesting statistic. This is the chances of winning of 'candidates with low assets', i.e., with less than Rs. 1cr assets, and the chances of winning of the crorepati candidates. Here, the victory of the crorepati candidates from the BJP is 52% and that of 'candidates with low assets' is only 10%. The Congress party fares same with both crorepati candidates and 'candidates with low assets'. The striking feature is that AAP is the only party where the victory of 'candidates with low assets' has been more than that of the victory of crorepati candidates. Only 36% of the crorepati candidates of the AAP were victorious whilst 43% of the 'candidates with low assets' won, clearly indicating that the value of assets of the AAP candidates has not been a factor in their winning viz-a-viz the BJP and the Congress.
An interesting finding of the report upon which my eyes were attracted, but the Mail Today article has failed to mention, is that none of the AAP MLAs find a place in the top ten 'crorepati MLAs'. A more interesting fact is that the ten MLAs with the lowest value of assets is from the AAP, the lowest having asset only worth Rs. 20,800 and the highest of the lowest ten having assets worth Rs. 13lakh. This finding, hwever, has been mentioned by the news daily.
Going back to the sentence with which the Mail Today started their article, that 'not everyone in the AAP is 'aam'...', I would like to pose a question to you, the diligent reader. Who in your eyes is an aam aadmi? Is it that only the poorest of poor is an aam aadmi? Or is it that only the people who are labelled BPL constitute aam aadmi? Essentially, all people are aam aadmis except those who loot the country whether in power or not. An aam aadmi wishes to see India prosper. His/her activities are not anti-people. Having money does not make a person 'khaas' aadmi.
Setting aside this definiton of aam aadmi, for a moment let us consider the daily's contention that all of AAP's MLAs aren't aam. As it is to understand that this daily considers only the financial part of a person to define whether or not he/she is an aad aadmi, I will hence explain in detail the assets of the MLAs, who are not 'aam'.
Veena Anand is AAP's richest MLA with an asset worth of Rs. 15cr. Let me also state that the richest MLA in Delhi is Manjinder Singh Sirsa with an asset worth of Rs. 231cr. Coming to the assets of Veena Anand, she runs a business and has an annual income of Rs. 5.8lakh and her spouse too has an annual income of the same amount. Together they hold cash of Rs. 10lakh, bank deposits and NSS & postal savings whose value now is Rs. 32lakh and 38lakh respectively. They together have bonds and shares worth of Rs. 1.3cr. She has two residential buildings. One of 1800 sq.ft. purchased in 2007 for Rs. 53lakh and is now worth Rs. 2cr. Another house is of 7200 sq.ft. and was purchased in 2011 for Rs. 5cr and is now worth Rs. 8cr. She and her husband also owns a commercial building with an area of 1425 sq. ft. which was purchased for Rs. 7lakh and whose current value is Rs. 45lakh.
The second richest AAP MLA is Bandana Kumari who is self employed and has a total asset value of Rs. 8.9cr and a liability of Rs. 9.7cr. She has an annual income of Rs. 2.6lakh and that of her spouse's is Rs. 6lakh. They together hold cash of Rs. 1.5lakh, bank deposits currently worth Rs. 1.25lakh, close to 20 pavan jewellery worth 4.8lakh and a car worth Rs. 3lakh. She inherited 25 acres of land from her parents and is now worth Rs. 8cr. She owns a 900 sq.ft. house which was purchased in 1998 for Rs. 1.5lakh and is now worth Rs. 45lakh.
The third richest AAP MLA, Satyendra Kumar Jain has been an architect for the past 20 years. He has a combined asset worth of Rs. 8cr. He has an annual income of Rs. 8.5 lakh and his wife, who too is an architect, has an annual income of Rs. 5lakh. They, along with two of their dependents have bank deposits worth Rs. 32lakh and bonds worth Rs. 1cr, NSS and LIC worth Rs. 43lakh and 98 pawan of jewellery worth Rs. 22lakh. He has advanced loans worth Rs. 12lakh. He owns two houses of combined worth of Rs. 2.5cr, but was purchased at Rs. 80lakhs. His wife owns a 900 sq.ft. house worth Rs. 1.5cr.
Now, it would also be pertinent to give details of Arvind Kejriwal's financial assets that amount to Rs. 2cr. He has an annual income of Rs. 2lakh and that of his wife is Rs. 9.8lakh. They both hold cash of Rs. 15,000. He has bank deposits worth Rs. 1lakh and his wife has Rs. 7lakh. They have jewellery worth Rs. 9lakh. He has a 2400 sq.ft building which was purchased in 1998 at Rs. 3.5lakh whose current worth is Rs. 55lakh. He also inherited a 6750 sq.ft. building whose worth is now Rs. 37lakh. And his wife owns a 2244 sq.ft. flat purchased in 2010 for Rs. 61lakh whose current worth is Rs. 1cr.
It is for you, the diligent reader, to decide whether these are aam aadmis or as the daily contends 'not that aam'.
