Book traces CM’s journey from IIT to AAP

In a first-of-its-kind book that traces the journey of Arvind Kejriwal from being an IITian to the chief of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), authored by Pran Kurup, was launched in the city on Sunday. After the release of the book, Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party: An Inside Look, Mr Kurup, who is a close friend and batch mate of Kejriwal at IIT, said, “Basically, it looks at a journey that starts from our

IIT days where Arvind and I studied together. The book details our ragging days at IIT, my visit to India, the nature and characteristics of Arvind, and the birth and hard paths of AAP. I have ended my book with a chapter on what I think is the road ahead for AAP and a few words for volunteers, such as housewives, pregnant women and the people working in IT. I tell people that the best years of AAP are still ahead of us and all have worked very hard all these years and it is not time for them to give up and regret 20 years from now. The world is not perfect, Kejriwal is not perfect, nobody is perfect, we just have to strive and do what is best. That is basically the essence of how I have ended the book,” said Mr Kurup.

It took Mr Kurup about six years to write the book. “I had a lot of material lying around. It took six years, and the bulk of the work happened in the last three years,” he said. On the idea behind the book, he said, “After our graduation, we took up our area of activity. I came to the USA for higher education and continued to work, while Arvind took up the social sector. We both were reconnected at the University of California, Berkeley after 10 years of our graduation. After listening to his work in the slums, I was interested in visiting Delhi and know more about this work. To me, it was a moving experience to see his genuine work in the slums of Delhi. I felt I should help him however I can and from then, I have been doing whatever I can and now I am a volunteer at AAP.”

Mr Prithvi Reddy, state convener, AAP, said, “One of the successes of AAP which many people don’t realise was that it was not just volunteers from across the country, but Indians across the world participated in the AAP’s success in India. Pran is one of those volunteers who very actively ran our campaigns from overseas. He was the crucial member in the NRI team. Our success is a movement which brought Indians from across the world together.”

“During the time of our elections, Pran had a heart attack and had a pacemaker put. But even in the hospital, he was talking about the AAP campaign. He has been a dear friend of Arvind’s and he has written this book, so that people can know who Arvind is. It is a must-read for all,” he said.