A well-known RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar, renowned for 30 years of experience in the arena of social work, has joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday.
On the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti, and with due cognizance of the city-wide lockdown, the Party conducted the induction ceremony via an online platform, in the presence of the AAP State Committee.
Aam Aadmi Party’s Maharashtra Prabhari and AAP National Executive Committee member, Durgesh Pathak, welcomed Vijay Kumbhar to the AAP.
“AAP has already entered Maharashtra State politics through the Gram-panchayat Elections. Now, the contributions of senior RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar will help create a strong base for the party’s presence in the state,” said Durgesh Pathak.
Vijay Kumbhar has been appointed as a State Executive Member and ‘Pradesh Sanghatak’, as announced by Durgesh Pathak.
“He is recognized for his work, which exposed several cases of lobbying between builders and politicians. People like Vijay Kumbhar will serve an indispensable role in the fight against anarchy and corruption in Maharashtra’s Politics,” said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Spokesperson.
“AAP is the only solution for Maharashtra’s feudalistic and ‘Saam-Daam-Dand-Bhed’ politics. The AAP is held to a high standard of expectations by the common people, and Vijay Kumbhar’s entry in a Party will bolster the Party’s energy, enthusiasm and political will” said Ranga Rachure, AAP’s State Convener.
Co-Convener Kishor Mandhyan remarked that Vijay Kumbhar’s experience in political activism shall go a long way in helping us serve the common people’s needs.
Vijay Kumbhar is known for the Supreme Court legal clash against the Former Maharashtra CM Manohar Joshi’s son in the ‘Girish Vyas’ illegal constructions case. He also played a vital role in the expose of Builder D.S. Kulkarni, and the Temple Roj Real Estate Scam. He was a leading force in the establishment of the RTI Act 2005 and has also actively participated, alongside Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal, in India Against Corruption Movement. Vijay Kumbhar was the first citizen of our country to use RTI for the examination of documents in government offices.
He is known for the conception of the Information Rights Library in the Pune Municipal Corporation. This library was named by late senior journalist Prakash Kudale and was inaugurated by Arvind Kejriwal.
With this, he became the first person in our country to demand the public perusal and scrutiny of government documents. In 2014, He started the ‘RTI Katta’, to address the problems faced by common people in the use of RTI.
Every Sunday, this Katta is curated and managed by him, and solutions are presented for pertinent issues faced by civilians in filing RTI applications. He was awarded by Time of India – Pune Mirror’s ‘Pune Hero’ Award, for which online voting was conducted. He has also been felicitated with many other prestigious awards, like the Sajag Nagrik Manch Sanman 2008, and the Navlinkumar Sanmaan.
Through the RTI, he has served relentlessly in many fights against corruption and lawlessness. He has stopped the misuse of public places, the illegal use of home gas cylinders in Pune, and has forced government bodies to improve financial provisions for public toilets in their jurisdiction. Moreover, He has exposed various scams in the provision of school uniforms and educational materials.
Vijay Kumbhar said, “I will not just work towards making the party stronger, but also towards the fight to preserve the due dignity to the citizens of the state. Currently, all the government offices are threatening citizens, by displaying posters of laws that can punish them, along with the duration and conditions for these charges. These posters are illegal and are threatening the owners of this country – the citizens. This is totally unacceptable in a democracy. We, through the Aam Aadmi Party, will remove these posters, and replace them with posters which declare the citizens as the rightful owners of this country, wherein our primary duty is to serve them.”
