Gupta: Yes, the idea in Delhi was to give people the power and ability to decide on how public money needs to be spent. We started with a concept called mohalla sabha, where the entire National Capital Territory was divided into 300 mohallas. Four to five mohallas in each constituency comprise of 4,000 to 5,000 voters. It is through these interactions, the government decides how public money is to be spent. This is the real way of transferring power to the people.
Even the decision on odd-even plan, whether it was to be continued or not was taken in the mohallas. This is the best way to govern the country.
Gupta: If people have power to release or hold back a contractor’s payment depending on the work done, the quality of work will be much better. If such a decision is taken by some government official sitting in an office, he will clear the payment either by taking a bribe or without checking the quality of work. But, people in their own locality will not accept inferior quality work because their lives would be affected.
Gupta: To implement such a system you need to form the government, without forming the government you cannot do anything.
Gupta: Yes, in fact all the public meetings that are being organised are not traditional political public meetings. Our meetings are more of the interactive type, where we answer questions from the people on the type of governance. We’ve held six or seven public meetings besides going door to door in each village and ward, where we explain what we’re doing in Delhi.
We have come across issues like the fight between traditional fishermen and trawler owners where they are not ready to thrash out the issue. No one is trying to see the advantages of both sides. AAP’s governance is based on interaction across conflicting opinions and to come out with a viable solution.
Gupta: AAP does not pay volunteers and most of our volunteers are working professionals who don't have much time. We ask them what they are good at and if they can put in around 8-10 hours a day. Accordingly, they are given tasks. We are looking for 2-3 volunteers in each booth. That’s when we can say AAP is picking up in Goa.
Gupta: We are looking at contesting in over 30 constituencies in the State. If we get less than 20 candidates we will not contest the elections. Our candidates also have to pass the three 'C' test -- criminal background, character and corruption.
Gupta: Religion is not allowed to be discussed among volunteers, our only focus is governance. RSS leaning people will not come to us because they will not be able to achieve their ends here.
Gupta: I would not say lack of leaders. We need a strong face. We have many leaders like Rajashree (Nagarcekar), Valmiki (Naik) and Oscar (Rebello) among others. However, we have to see how we will work around this.
Gupta: People accept money and vote when they think there is no alternative. If people see a viable alternative, they may accept money, but will vote for the viable alternative.
