The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has brought in a fresh wave of hope, but it is too early to assess its performance, observed social activist Aruna Roy. “AAP’s unique and new strategies have led to their electoral success but water, power and corruption are not the only issues. They need to lay out a broader framework and take a stand on various other issues, especially in rural parts of the country” she said.
Roy was delivering a lecture on ‘Democratic Governance - A Contemporary Discourse’ at University of Hyderabad on Thursday where she was honoured with a degree of doctorate of Literature by the Vice-Chancellor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy.
About the role of social media in politics, she expressed concern that social media can be bought with money.
“The way paid articles can be seen in media during elections time, even social media can also be bought by paying for “likes”. Those using the social media need to have a sense of discretion in the present situation,” she said.
The Right to Information Act (RTI), for which she had campaigned for successfully, “has redistributed power. It has also empowered other campaigns with valid data to form an opinion. It is a transformation act which enables the usage of all constitutional rights,” said the Ramon Magsaysay award-winner.
She also strongly felt that there should be people movements through which issues of injustice and inequality are raised.
