Is it a muffler or a Hermes scarf?

This article was prompted by the recent news article where Arvind Kejriwal and his supporters have stoutly defended his flying first class as it was sponsored by his hosts.

Now all of us know that fortunately or unfortunately AAP seems to be the only party openly displaying funding details to the citizens of our country. However as this consistently leads to a holier-than-thou attitude among their supporters there are a few points to be made here.

1. AAP of all parties seems to be aware of the importance of self-promotion and branding, especially via new media. Today, for good or bad, perception is extremely important, if not everything. When one claims to be an ardent supporter of the common man it is also important to maintain perceptions. Remember Sarojini Naidu's famous statement that it was very expensive to maintain Mahatma Gandhi in poverty?

2. For a person who made a media spectacle by traveling in a crowded local train in Mumbai, this is in a way inexcusable. Even if the sponsors were willing to pay for business class a true espouser could have asked for an economy ticket and then asked the differential to be given as contribution to the party. Here Kejriwal seems to have kept personal comfort ahead of the larger picture. Deja vu? When he decided to quit the Delhi government?

3. Our leadership often comes up with lame excuses to cover up embarrassing disclosures. The claim that the dream is for every middle class Indian to be able to afford business class flying is as lame as the best our leadership have come up with. I am reminded of Swami Vivekananda talking about social reformation. To paraphrase him we should not pull down the upper classes to maintain societal equity, rather we should try to uplift the downtrodden. Kejriwal's justification seems to be a much lamer version of that.

All of this being said, especially today when black money is a hot topic, I truly wish our political class will open their books to outside scrutiny. It is true to an extent that there can be victimization of donors by political opponents. However I am sure most of us believe that more harm is done by not revealing who the donors are. Today we have two foreigners who have come forward to help us tackle the foreign-stashed black money issue. But are we ready to address the domestic black economy? How can we expect cleanliness outside if we do not put our own house in order?