MUMBAI: While the central BJP government under Narendra Modi is making working difficult for AAP government in Delhi, it now seems that not only the Delhi government, but even ordinary AAP workers are facing similar situations in their professional lives.
This issue was raised by some alert readers of Junta Ka Reporter after we highlighted how Narendra Modi might have blocked attempts to nominate Arvind Kejriwal for Nobel Peace Prize. It seems that not just the Delhi Chief Minister, even ordinary AAP supporters are being denied recognition and awards for their hard work due to their political beliefs.
This is the tweet that pointed to the disturbing trend in corporate India:
This is highly possible. My colleague’s hike letter is also blocked by Narendra Modi for pro-AAP FB posts. https://t.co/WCVUdGQoAZ
— Nihar | ନିହାର (@kumarnihar) June 27, 2016
After receiving the above tweet, we talked to many AAP supporters and volunteers and they confirmed that they were being ill treated and not allowed to work or progress in their professional careers by their bosses or colleagues who were BJP supporters.
“I was given 15% increment in 2013, but my salary rise has never been more than 5% ever since I started supporting AAP and Arvind Kejriwal openly. I think my BJP supporting boss tracks my Facebook posts and WhatsApp forwards and he is giving negative remarks in performance appraisals,” said AAP volunteer Sunil Sharma (name changed to protect identity), who works in a marketing company.
“BJP supporters are like Modi only. They can’t tolerate someone doing good work and hard work and they try to take revenge, just like Modi is taking revenge from citizens of Delhi,” Sunil added.
Similar experiences of professional harassment and intimidation were shared by many AAP supporters and volunteers employed in different companies in different parts of the country. Almost all of them are being given a raw deal and their professional careers are being ruined by BJP supporters.
Story of every AAP supporter?
“I was denied an onsite of 6 months in Germany and instead they sent a guy called Rahul Bhil who runs a pro-BJP twitter handle,” Shoheb Siddiqi (name changed again to protect identity), an IT engineer working in Hyderabad disclosed. “My boss is a Modi bhakt and he is out to destroy my career. He even removed me from a team where two good looking girls were there and has put me in a team of fellow bhakts. My life has become hell just because I support Arvind Kejriwal.”
We talked to 47 respondents who identified themselves as AAP supporters or volunteers having a day job, and 41 of them confirmed that they were being discriminated or harassed by seniors or colleagues who were BJP supporters. All of them confirmed that they had not got good salary hikes or promotions or onsite opportunities in the last 4 years, ever since AAP was founded.
Experts believe that this could be just the tip of the iceberg and we could be looking at a human tragedy of gigantic proportions that has not been reported by the media due to various reasons.
“When Arvind Kejriwal talks about how Narendra Modi is not allowing him to work, he is mocked by the BJP supporters and biased media. This is all planned to intimidate AAP supporters – that we will mock you if you talk about harassment and discrimination. But it’s good that people are now speaking up. I congratulate Junta Ka Reporter for raising this very serious issue,” Abhay Chaubey, a neutral analyst who comes regularly on NDTV, argued.
Experts further argue that most BJP-AAP relationships in the corporate world are similar to Modi-Kejriwal relationship in the political world.
“Young liberal guys support AAP and they are in comparatively junior roles compared to old conservative guys who support BJP. So the BJP supporters enjoy higher authority and power in companies like Modi enjoys in the political set up. So the pain and persecution that Kejriwal is going through is also being experienced by his supporters. This is nothing but a human tragedy,” Abhay Chaubey explained.
