JOIN US“I am here to contribute in making Delhi a world class,” says Kiran Bedi, 65, a former Indian Police Service officer, about her purpose of taking a plunge into politics. On the timing of coming into the party, she says: “It is all due to destiny.”
Perhaps, things were destined to shape up this way. There were offers made to me for joining the BJP earlier but I refused. But destiny made be accept the suggestion this time, she says.
“At one stage, Harsh Vardhan ji and other leaders had come to my home to convince me to join the BJP. But I offered them tea and sent them back, without giving a positive answer,” she says.
Explaining her change of heart over the past six months, she says: “Every time I heard (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji speak, I felt that he is a real illustrious leader.”
“Gradually, my thinking started to change over the issue of joining politics,” says the Ramon Magsaysay Award winner and former Team Anna member.
I started seeing similarities between Modiji and myself in terms of leadership qualities, she adds.
“I give lectures in foreign universities on leadership and train future leaders. So, I thought enough of talking on leadership and making presentations on leadership, the time has come for me to put my knowledge on leadership into practice,” she says.
Delhi has suffered a lot over the last one year, it has been instable, it has seen confrontation. There has been no development and the city badly needs some good governance, she says.
“A bankruptcy of governance was seen in the last one year. The bureaucrats did their bit that was not enough. Now, we have to come together for a social revolution, that may require sacrifice,” says Bedi, an ex-student from Indian Institute of Technology and the country’s first woman to join the IPS service in 1972.
I share Modiji’s vision for making Delhi a world class city, she says. Talking about her vision to build a world class city, she says we will build a “surakshit, swatch, swasth” (safe, clean and healthy) Delhi.
“I have worked with civil defence workers and slum dwellers. I can again do it. I need to serve the city to the best of my capabilities till the time my body can take the pressure,” she says, adding that she is here to make Delhi a global city. Her priorities are clear: women security, clean slums and healthy environment, power, water, roads and infrastructure and corruption.