Environmental activist CR Neelakandan is shaping AAP in Kerala
CR Neelakandan was very active in student politics when he was studying engineering during 1980s. After finishing his degree, Mr Neelakandan joined Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) as a scientist but his services did not last long. He was thrown out of the organization because of his communist connections which he established while working with the Students’ Federation of India. He fought a legal fight with the organization but decided to leave BARC and joined India’s first and largest electronics corporation Keltron.
Environmental Activism: He is also very active in environmental movements since the emergency period. He joined the movement to save Silent Valley, an evergreen tropical forest in the Palakkad district of Kerala. It was the first developmental conflict in India and being an engineer, Mr Neelakandan knew alternative ways of energy production and wanted to save forests. Since then he is continuously fighting for environmental concerns in Kerala such as issues related to national highway protection, rail corridor, river protection, sand mining, gas pipeline etc. He also worked with activists like Medha Patkar, Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan etc.
Fight Against Corruption: While fighting for environmental causes, Mr Neelakandan was also very active politically. His political career started during the emergency period when he spent a week in jail. A strong desire to participate in active politics made him join the Left leaning party, Communist Party of India (Marxist). Around the year 2000, party priorities started changing when environmental and developmental issues were not taken seriously and support for social welfare started declining. Corruption was the reason behind all these changes. He started fighting against corruption and decided to leave the party in 2006 because of party's corruption scandals. He wrote books regarding this negative turn in events and also won awards. Later he continued his fight as an independent candidate. Around 2010 he was influenced by the Anti Corruption Movement led by Anna Hazare. Without any second thought, he joined the movement and supported the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) after its formation.
Engagements with AAP: Mr Neelakandan supported AAP by writing books, articles and representing it in the media. He also campaigned for AAP during 2014 parliamentary elections in Kerala. In 2015, Mr Neelakandan officially joined AAP and he is now helping to shape AAP’s organizational structure in Kerala as a state convener. He also held the position of AAP state spokesperson in the past. Recent electoral defeats of AAP did not discourage Neelakandan who believe that we shouldn't shy away from fighting elections. Whether we win or lose, every election will keep us growing from one constituency or state to another.
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| CR Neelakandan during an election campaign in Kerala |
State of Kerala: Kerala, a state with the highest literacy rate in India has better health and education services. While inviting everyone to visit beautiful Kerala, Mr Neelakandan also mentioned about the changes Kerala is going through. Kerala was the first to elect communist party via votes rather than bullets. When the health and education policies were shaping up in Kerala, most of the services were free for their residents. But with time, these services have shifted towards private sectors and becoming costly everyday. Left to right political polarization, illegal trade, corruption in public money, misuse of natural resources and decline in social services are further pushing Kerala away from the ranking of best states.
AAP Focus in Kerala: Aam Aadmi Party can have really good chances in Kerala. It just needs to focus on the disadvantages Kerala is facing. With limited administrative powers in Delhi, AAP has shown its potential to the rest of India in just 3 years. Delhi govt health and education models will hit hard the highly privatized models in Kerala. Declining natural resources and polluted rivers are creating huge crisis of drinking water across Kerala. Due to mismanagement, air is also getting polluted. A proper governance can bring Kerala back to its original stage and AAP has the potential to do so. Convincing people to vote for AAP will not be challenging as Keralites have already witnessed, used and understood the importance of health, education, environment and social services. The pro-poor agenda of communist parties is dying and now people have started thinking about alternatives. A section of people who are not getting proper salary in Kerala will be happy to vote for AAP and bring the discussion of equal pay on the table.
Duality of Media in Kerala: Many readers in different parts of India think that the media in Kerala gives enough exposure to AAP. But the truth is when it comes to AAP, no opportunity is left to defame the party. Double standards of media were exposed when Mr. Neelakandan was represented as an independent commentator instead of representing AAP. Media houses didn’t correct the mistake of not representing AAP even when asked so by Mr. Neelakandan himself.
AAP Organization in Kerala: At present, there exist an observer and a committee in each assembly constituency of Kerala. With Mr Neelakandan as the state convener and a state secretary, party members are planning to change the observer system to executive positions such as presidents and vice-presidents. Observer system might have worked in Punjab but each state has its local demographical needs and the party should adopt relevant changes. Executive positions will modify AAP’s perception as an organization among Keralites.
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| Kerala state convener (CR Neelakandan) with AAP spokesperson Ashutosh, state observer Somnath Bharti and other members from Kerala |
While shaping AAP organization in Kerala, Mr Neelakandan will continue his fight for environment and against corruption. Not every activist can be a good politician but Neelakandan believes that change comes from participation. An organization can be built overnight but convincing people to vote for it will take time. Delhi was exceptional for many reasons. It can’t be replicated in other states as they have their local political dynamics but the Delhi governance model can be transferred from one state to another.
Watch full AAP Ka Radio video of CR Neelakandan
Watch full AAP Ka Radio video of CR Neelakandan
AAP USA chapter organizes a weekly conference call (AAP Ka Radio) every Sunday at noon 12:00PM EST. More details about the call and the guest can be found at @aapchat (https://twitter.com/aapchat).
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