Rid India of the socialism, corruption, and religious hatred promoted by existing parties

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What do you mean by new, clean politics?

With rare exceptions, politics in India since independence has been a single-minded pursuit of power for power’s sake, and personal aggrandisement, We don’t see politics as the pursuit of power for its own sake. For us politics is just one part of our unalterable obligations of responsible citizenship, and an ongoing democratic tool for transforming our country and society through proven best principles and policies, so that we ALL benefit as citizens.

A vast majority of Indians who have been forced by the current socialist-imperialist system to give bribes for things like transportation of goods, connections for utilities like electricity, water, gas, telephones, registration and transfers of land, income tax, etc., feel very dirty within themselves. We, as ordinary citizens of India, want systems where no citizen has to compromise his or her self-esteem and respect and integrity in the hands of those employed by us to run our public services and provide public goods.

What will you do to ensure a new kind of clean politics?

In the fight for a cleaner society one of the first steps is to bring in ethical standards into the political process and political parties by BEING the clean party we want as responsible and concerned citizens.

• We require our candidates to conform to the highest standards of ethics and demonstrate a sound understanding of liberal principles;

• It is quite obvious that we cannot be present in every situation and therefore we cannot guarantee that people we selected through a rigorous process will maintain the highest standards when offered huge temptations. We, therefore, need your help to ensure that information on such lapses of integrity are reported to us. Please feel fee to video tape and otherwise record the lapses in integrity of SBP candidates. With your help, we promise to quickly investigate and expel such persons from the party, apart from recommending the suitable action under law.

• We do not enter into opportunistic alliances, with an eye purely on winning elections or staying in power. We will support policies/programmes of different parties on a case-to-case basis, to the extent that they are in line with the liberal ideology. That will be extent of our cooperation with other parties, and no pre-poll alliances will be entertained, nor post-poll coalitions with anyone else. Thus, if a ruling government liberalises the economy further, we will support it on that. However, we will strongly oppose it if it, for example, tries to interfere in the independence of higher education or takes overtly communal measures. This applies to whichever party is in power.

How do I know that the money I give to your party will not be used for personal purposes of party people or candidates?

We are a very small party, with little resources to set up accounting and auditing systems. If you can help design and set up such systems, we need your help. Meanwhile, please tell us what questions you need answered, and we will try to address them. We are confident that with sufficient care, systems can be designed to ensure that not a rupee of your funds is misused.

I have had this bad experience in the past when I supported a particular party, but the moment the party grew strong, people stopped listening to me. Why will this not happen if I support your work?

The party has built and we will continue to build numerous e-mail platforms for open and free discussion on topics related to transparency, democracy, policy, and so on. Through these forums you will be able to interact with the party and raise issues which must be answered to your satisfaction. If this does not happen and the leadership becomes arrogant, aloof, and unresponsive, you SHOULD leave, as indeed most of us would. This is a party of principles and conviction, and if your principles and convictions are compromised at any point, you SHOULD NOT acquiesce. Be our conscience-keeper. And retain the confidence that your conscience is always right.

All other parties survive on black money. Does your party accept black money?

Most of our black money is a product of the socialist system of choking industry and enterprise. Once tariffs and taxes are rationalised and set in conformity with principles of liberal economics, much of the black money will disappear. While, theoretically, we do not believe that much of the existing black money is really "black" (“unethically earned”), we do wish that people do not contribute such black money to us. Instead, we ask them to make contributions in kind, and volunteer services rather than cash. Please ALWAYS pay money by cheque.

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