‘Schooling, pollution & healthcare is AAP's poll plank'

The Aam Aadmi Party, which had started as a mass movement against corruption, is gearing up for the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, the biggest challenge since its inception in 2013.

AAP leader Atishi Marlena tells Shruthi H M Sastry of DH that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party hopes to come back to power by fighting an issue-based election and countering rhetoric on caste and religion. Excerpts:

The Delhi election is around the corner. What are the areas of focus for AAP’s campaign?

Pollution, school education and healthcare will be our main campaign areas of campaigning. So far the elections have been fought on caste, money and liquor but we want to instead talk about issues that affect everyone.

The Kejriwal App was launched recently to fight propaganda. What has been the response?

The App has received a good response and we have seen 50,000 downloads so far. To counter the big problem of fake news, we have the truth versus propaganda section in the App.

Does the fight against propaganda assume a significant place in your election strategy?

Yes. What else do our opponents have apart from propaganda? If they start talking about the work we have done, there is no comparison.

You faced a vicious smear campaign during the Lok Sabha elections. What has been your learning?

I am among the top 10 most-trolled women politicians in the country. The questions about the character are one of the aspects used to attack a woman. I was asked why my husband wasn't part of my campaigning. If it's a male politician, they wouldn't be asked such a question. We can get bitter about this, but where does that lead us? But as much as there was trash, I also saw a lot of support from across the country.

Last year, Karnataka had sent delegates to study the education reforms in Delhi. What should the state government do to strengthen its schools?

I believe the government should show its commitment by allocating more money to education. The AAP government in Delhi allocates 26% of its budget to education. This is probably the highest allocation across the country.

Some of the measures you introduced in schools saw positive results. What is the road ahead?

The first two years we worked towards getting the basics right. This included putting in place infrastructure, teacher training and basic cleanliness. Now the focus has shifted to the quality of education. We tend to give so much information in schools that the students will never use. We need to think about developing the critical ability among children. We have introduced entrepreneurship as part of the curriculum. We want to introduce "Desh Bhakti curriculum" where students learn the responsibilities of being a citizen of this country. We have a long way to go.