|
Rakesh Agarwal, Secretary, had plans to launch the movement in
the form it was finally launched. However, in August 2006, Arvind Kejriwal of Parivartan
painted the picture of a new vision which hinged on building a
direct relationship between auto drivers and the passengers
based on trust and understanding, and taking the government out
of the picture. He articulated that if only 2000 out of the
total of 1,00,000 auto drivers were able to win the confidence of
common citizens, we could hold a huge public hearing which will
end with a hike in the fare (to reasonable level) and reduction
in government's role in due course of time. This was a new
thinking, one that carried profound appeal, and we went along
with it. Arvind together with his entire team of 8 volunteers
committed himself almost fully to the project. We decided to
convince drivers to make small sacrifice for a limited period of
time by turning honest, thereby winning the trust of the people.
Over a period of 3 weeks, we were able to convince about 80 of
them. Or so we thought. It turned out that only about 15 to 20
got the message, but the rest continued to run their affairs as
in the past in spite of having signed a pledge of honesty and
professionalism - largely due to their inability to meet their
household expenses with the now reduced income.
This depressed Arvind who saw his commitment for the project
waning. Consequently, he and his team pulled out of it
completely by 7th January, forcing Rakesh to take a fresh look
at the strategy and run it on his own. Rakesh feels that Arvind
not only
lost hopes too soon, but he also has a tendency to give up on
projects midway. There is not a single project he has taken to
completion.
Rakesh called a meeting of half a dozen "good" auto
drivers on 13th January and relaunched the project in its existing shape
on 5th February - the day of the 4th anniversary of the last
price hike.
 |
|
