This is with regard to the article Read the controversial emails by Prashant Bhushan's sister that pushed AAP to breaking point.
This article is extremely misleading and damaging. There are many factually incorrect statements in this article. In addition excerpts have been taken by the author from different emails out of context and out of sequence to deliberately mislead the readers with seemingly malicious intent. These excerpts are from emails written to a small group of six-seven Aam Aadmi Party volunteers in Chicago in the context of taking a decision on which constituency should be adopted by the Chicago chapter. Several options were being discussed and I had let them know about the Lokpal review, which in my view should not be kept hidden from key stakeholders in a party that professes transparency.
Factually incorrect statements are:
1. I discouraged NRIs to donate to the party during Delhi elections. I have never sent any email to the NRI team asking people not to donate. No one in the NRI team has seen any such mail from me. People have spent hours searching their mailboxes and no one has found such a mail.
2. This mail was sent to AAP Global group with 700-800 people.
3. That I was not willing to wait for the Lokpal decision on certain candidates who had been referred to the Lokpal. Clearly in the email trail that a collegue has since shared with your office, I have responded "I think since the review process is going on, there should not be any cause for concern at this point. This is a satisfactory solution for now."
Emails have been pouring into our Global group email forum from our volunteers across the globe expressing outrage at what is widely perceived by our NRI team as a deliberate misrepresentation of facts.
The NRI/Global supporter organisation that I was co-ordinating for the past three years is a very strong organisation that has contributed a great deal to the party and its success in three successive elections. One-third of all the donations to the party and many important back end tasks have been handled by this team including IT, social media, calling campaign, fund raising, national helpline and email response, support to MLAs, even down to booth management and remote booth monitoring on the day of the elections. The NRI/Global supporter team has contributed as enthusiastically in this election as in previous ones and has a played a very important role in the success of the party in the recent Delhi elections.
As someone with years of expertise building high performing organizations in some of the largest companies in the world, I believe an organisation is founded on trust, teamwork, transparency and above all empowerment and we have built the NRI/ Global supporter organisation on these pillars. What we call “straight talk” or “honest conversations” are its hallmark. I will always continue to espouse those values. Different ideas, suggestions, concerns must be allowed expression and cannot be gagged in the guise of ensuring conformity and discipline. ‒ Shalini Gupta, Organisation Development Advisor, Interim Coordinator AAP Global Supporters, Aam Aadmi Party
Ajaz Ashraf replies:
Shalini Gupta claims the email thread from which I quoted were addressed to just six-seven volunteers. It is a bit surprising she doesn’t quite know the precise number of addressees. However, the email thread I was sent was also addressed to aap-chicago-volunteer@googlegroups.com, which has nearly 200 members and is an adjunct of the AAP Global Support Group.
To say she had sent the pertinent email to six-seven volunteers, apart from being factually wrong, is misleading, to say the least. Gupta perhaps has yet to comprehend that the internet has redefined the concept of public domain – the email she sent was forwarded all around, including to several of the party’s leaders in Delhi. There were other controversial emails of hers which were addressed to the AAP Global Support Group.
At no point in the story was it stated that she discouraged volunteers from donating money to AAP’s campaign kitty. What I wrote was: “In the messages, Gupta tacitly discouraged members from donating money to the AAP’s war-chest on the grounds that Kejriwal had fielded corrupt candidates in the Delhi assembly elections.” (emphasis mine). [The strapline of the article was later altered to reflect this wording. ‒ Editor]
The opinion of the Delhi unit was that she did tacitly, not explicitly, discourage volunteers from donating money to AAP. This was because Gupta was holding an official position and her perceived partisan interventions in the email exchanges with volunteers violated the norm of conduct. Till March 4, Gupta was designated as the AAP’s Organisation Development Advisor and Coordinator AAP Global Supporters.
Gupta is the sister of Prashant Bhushan, who along with Yogendra Yadav represent the faction which is locked in squabbles with that of Arvind Kejriwal. Despite holding an official post, her email texts make it palpable with which faction her sympathy lay. Even as the committee of Lokpal was examining the complaints against 12 candidates, she accused Kejriwal of choosing candidates with dubious credentials to win the Delhi assembly elections.
She does not, and obviously cannot, deny her description of contrasting styles of politics the two camps in AAP were pursuing. Instead, she claims she did not (tacitly) discourage volunteers from donating money by citing these lines from the email thread she forwarded to rebut my story: “I think since the review process is going on, there should not be any cause for concern at this point. This is a satisfactory solution for now.” These lines were not in the emails I was forwarded by an NRI AAP volunteer, personally known to me.
Nevertheless, these lines in her email thread were in response to one Harsh, who wrote, “Responding to the two camp description of Shalini, I believe the first camp (innocent until proven guilty) is (on) a very slippery slope….I believe more in the second camp. It may not bring immediate rewards, but the approach would motivate a new crop of people to join politics…” It’s obvious her description did adversely influence Harsh’s perception – which is precisely the charge leaders of AAP’s Delhi unit level against Gupta.
Gupta may believe she has a right to express her opinion. It’s not for me to argue against her on this count. However, AAP leaders in Delhi insist no party expects or tolerates its office-bearers to speak against it in the public domain. They say she would have been perfectly justified to articulate her opinion had she not been holding an officially designated position.
Leaders of AAP’s Delhi unit, as also volunteers in Chicago, think she should have at least declared that she is the sister of Prashant Bhushan and daughter of Shanti Bhushan and was articulating opinions shared by them in India. It would have enabled others to know that her perspective wasn’t necessarily derived from a position of neutrality. In fact, on March 3, one Jay Chatterjee wrote to her, “Is it true you are the same Shalini Gupta who is the daughter of Shanti Bhushan?”
Her own subjectivity in judging people can be gleaned from the extracts of her emails I quoted in my story, as also from the email thread she forwarded. For instance, Gupta wrote on January 5: “Nitin Tyagi is not in our list that has been sent to Lokpal. However since he was the campaign manager for Rajmohan Gandhi, Navendu (a volunteer) should check with him to ascertain what kind of reputation he has. I had heard a fair number of complaints about him at that time about his handling of volunteers as i was assisting Rajmohan Gandhi’s campaign on the ground during Lok Sabha. I had personally met him only once.”
With only a month to go for the polls, it seemed odd to AAP’s Delhi unit that a person holding a party position should voice doubts against a candidate who was not even on the list of candidates the Lokpal was scrutinising.
Taking into account the many remarks of Shanti Bhushan against AAP, including his endorsement of BJP chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi, Gupta’s emails seemed to have persuaded AAP’s Delhi unit that the Bhushans were publicly expressing opinions detrimental to the party’s poll prospects.
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This article is extremely misleading and damaging. There are many factually incorrect statements in this article. In addition excerpts have been taken by the author from different emails out of context and out of sequence to deliberately mislead the readers with seemingly malicious intent. These excerpts are from emails written to a small group of six-seven Aam Aadmi Party volunteers in Chicago in the context of taking a decision on which constituency should be adopted by the Chicago chapter. Several options were being discussed and I had let them know about the Lokpal review, which in my view should not be kept hidden from key stakeholders in a party that professes transparency.
Factually incorrect statements are:
1. I discouraged NRIs to donate to the party during Delhi elections. I have never sent any email to the NRI team asking people not to donate. No one in the NRI team has seen any such mail from me. People have spent hours searching their mailboxes and no one has found such a mail.
2. This mail was sent to AAP Global group with 700-800 people.
3. That I was not willing to wait for the Lokpal decision on certain candidates who had been referred to the Lokpal. Clearly in the email trail that a collegue has since shared with your office, I have responded "I think since the review process is going on, there should not be any cause for concern at this point. This is a satisfactory solution for now."
Emails have been pouring into our Global group email forum from our volunteers across the globe expressing outrage at what is widely perceived by our NRI team as a deliberate misrepresentation of facts.
The NRI/Global supporter organisation that I was co-ordinating for the past three years is a very strong organisation that has contributed a great deal to the party and its success in three successive elections. One-third of all the donations to the party and many important back end tasks have been handled by this team including IT, social media, calling campaign, fund raising, national helpline and email response, support to MLAs, even down to booth management and remote booth monitoring on the day of the elections. The NRI/Global supporter team has contributed as enthusiastically in this election as in previous ones and has a played a very important role in the success of the party in the recent Delhi elections.
As someone with years of expertise building high performing organizations in some of the largest companies in the world, I believe an organisation is founded on trust, teamwork, transparency and above all empowerment and we have built the NRI/ Global supporter organisation on these pillars. What we call “straight talk” or “honest conversations” are its hallmark. I will always continue to espouse those values. Different ideas, suggestions, concerns must be allowed expression and cannot be gagged in the guise of ensuring conformity and discipline. ‒ Shalini Gupta, Organisation Development Advisor, Interim Coordinator AAP Global Supporters, Aam Aadmi Party
Ajaz Ashraf replies:
Shalini Gupta claims the email thread from which I quoted were addressed to just six-seven volunteers. It is a bit surprising she doesn’t quite know the precise number of addressees. However, the email thread I was sent was also addressed to aap-chicago-volunteer@googlegroups.com, which has nearly 200 members and is an adjunct of the AAP Global Support Group.
To say she had sent the pertinent email to six-seven volunteers, apart from being factually wrong, is misleading, to say the least. Gupta perhaps has yet to comprehend that the internet has redefined the concept of public domain – the email she sent was forwarded all around, including to several of the party’s leaders in Delhi. There were other controversial emails of hers which were addressed to the AAP Global Support Group.
At no point in the story was it stated that she discouraged volunteers from donating money to AAP’s campaign kitty. What I wrote was: “In the messages, Gupta tacitly discouraged members from donating money to the AAP’s war-chest on the grounds that Kejriwal had fielded corrupt candidates in the Delhi assembly elections.” (emphasis mine). [The strapline of the article was later altered to reflect this wording. ‒ Editor]
The opinion of the Delhi unit was that she did tacitly, not explicitly, discourage volunteers from donating money to AAP. This was because Gupta was holding an official position and her perceived partisan interventions in the email exchanges with volunteers violated the norm of conduct. Till March 4, Gupta was designated as the AAP’s Organisation Development Advisor and Coordinator AAP Global Supporters.
Gupta is the sister of Prashant Bhushan, who along with Yogendra Yadav represent the faction which is locked in squabbles with that of Arvind Kejriwal. Despite holding an official post, her email texts make it palpable with which faction her sympathy lay. Even as the committee of Lokpal was examining the complaints against 12 candidates, she accused Kejriwal of choosing candidates with dubious credentials to win the Delhi assembly elections.
She does not, and obviously cannot, deny her description of contrasting styles of politics the two camps in AAP were pursuing. Instead, she claims she did not (tacitly) discourage volunteers from donating money by citing these lines from the email thread she forwarded to rebut my story: “I think since the review process is going on, there should not be any cause for concern at this point. This is a satisfactory solution for now.” These lines were not in the emails I was forwarded by an NRI AAP volunteer, personally known to me.
Nevertheless, these lines in her email thread were in response to one Harsh, who wrote, “Responding to the two camp description of Shalini, I believe the first camp (innocent until proven guilty) is (on) a very slippery slope….I believe more in the second camp. It may not bring immediate rewards, but the approach would motivate a new crop of people to join politics…” It’s obvious her description did adversely influence Harsh’s perception – which is precisely the charge leaders of AAP’s Delhi unit level against Gupta.
Gupta may believe she has a right to express her opinion. It’s not for me to argue against her on this count. However, AAP leaders in Delhi insist no party expects or tolerates its office-bearers to speak against it in the public domain. They say she would have been perfectly justified to articulate her opinion had she not been holding an officially designated position.
Leaders of AAP’s Delhi unit, as also volunteers in Chicago, think she should have at least declared that she is the sister of Prashant Bhushan and daughter of Shanti Bhushan and was articulating opinions shared by them in India. It would have enabled others to know that her perspective wasn’t necessarily derived from a position of neutrality. In fact, on March 3, one Jay Chatterjee wrote to her, “Is it true you are the same Shalini Gupta who is the daughter of Shanti Bhushan?”
Her own subjectivity in judging people can be gleaned from the extracts of her emails I quoted in my story, as also from the email thread she forwarded. For instance, Gupta wrote on January 5: “Nitin Tyagi is not in our list that has been sent to Lokpal. However since he was the campaign manager for Rajmohan Gandhi, Navendu (a volunteer) should check with him to ascertain what kind of reputation he has. I had heard a fair number of complaints about him at that time about his handling of volunteers as i was assisting Rajmohan Gandhi’s campaign on the ground during Lok Sabha. I had personally met him only once.”
With only a month to go for the polls, it seemed odd to AAP’s Delhi unit that a person holding a party position should voice doubts against a candidate who was not even on the list of candidates the Lokpal was scrutinising.
Taking into account the many remarks of Shanti Bhushan against AAP, including his endorsement of BJP chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi, Gupta’s emails seemed to have persuaded AAP’s Delhi unit that the Bhushans were publicly expressing opinions detrimental to the party’s poll prospects.