This morning, I was dismayed to find that the Aam Aadmi Party’s sympathisers in Singapore had decided to use Republic Day celebrations at the Indian High Commission to propagate their political views, and to solicit funds. This is unfortunate, especially since it is one event for which the expatriate Indian community leaves aside all differences and comes together.

This is how the game was played. A flyer was sent out asking Indians to attend the Republic Day celebrations. However, as one can clearly see from the picture below, it also asked people to donate generously to AAP, in order to bring in “true democracy in India”. Thus, the flyer was designed to imply that the AAP’s fundraising drive had the official sanction of the Indian High Commission.

When I tweeted my objection to this deceitful gimmick, I got varied responses. Most people were upset, and some even threatened to report the AAP Singapore chapter to the local authorities. However, there were a few who thought it was a great idea that ought to be replicated in other countries. Some even wondered why I considered it a problem in the first place. Here are a few sample tweets:

   

Since I raised an issue, I think it is only fair to address the subsequent queries. First of all, Republic Day is a national event and the Indian High Commission is the property of the Government of India. Its premises or name cannot be misused for political purposes. The attempt to use an important Government function to raise money in sneaky manner is unethical. Should Indians accept this?

Second, Singapore has very strict rules about fund-raising activities. Approvals are required for publicly soliciting funds, especially when they are for political ends (private discussions and donations are a different matter). Thus, the flyer was not only in bad taste, it sought to carry out an act that was illegal.

As a Twitter debate raged in the virtual world, many people from the Indian community in Singapore began to call up the High Commission to lodge their complaints. The High Commission responded with a press release. The excerpts are given below:

After the High Commission’s rebuke and the negative attention generated on the Internet, this is what the AAP representatives tweeted back to me:

As is evident, there is no sign of repentance. Moreover, the original flyer did not imply any separate events (the reader may want to look at the flyer again). An unrelated appeal was clubbed with an official function in a sneaky manner to mislead people. The last tweet is just a face-saving attempt after being caught in the act of politicising a national event. Such unethical behavior is not expected of a party that pushes a holier-than-thou image as its main political plank.