Parliament must have honest, educated people: Medha Patkar's mother

Probably the staunchest supporter of social activist-turned politician Medha Patkar, her 85-year-old mother Indu Khanolkar is following the Aam Aadmi Party candidate’s daily schedule as she campaigns from early in the morning right into the late evening hours. Khanolkar, an active activist on gender issues herself, is hoping to see Patkar win from the Mumbai North East Lok Sabha constituency. [caption id=“attachment_146367” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Medha Patkar’s mother Indu Khanolkar[/caption] “I never thought that Medha will join politics,” says Khanolkar, who retired as a post-master in 1987. “She didn’t discuss with me before she took the decision. The decision was taken by her NGO, National Alliance of People’s Movements, which asked her to go ahead and contest.  I  strongly feel that honest people should go to Parliament to raise the voice of the people,” Khanolkar told Firstpost during an interaction at her home in Chembur in suburban Mumbai. Since her retirement in 1987, Khanolkar has been working with Swadhar, a women’s organization. Khanolkar lives with her son Mahesh, an architect by profession, and his family in Chembur. “AAP is a party with a new ideology, which seems to be a good experiment at present. I am keen to see what happens next. The party reminds me of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement,” she recalled. The Samyukta Maharashtra Movement was founded by prominent activists with a demand for the united state of Maharashtra and Mumbai as its capital in 1960s. The mother of the 60-year-old politician further said that due to her gruelling campaign schedule, Patkar neither eats on time nor gets enough rest. “When Arvind Kejriwal came in the city in last month, I attended the public rally in Vikhroli to see him because he has stirred up politics in the country. I also wanted to listen to Medha’s speech,” she said, adding that she hopes to see corruption eradicated. Khanolkar, who follows politics closely, reading several newspapers and watching the news on TV, remarked that many things in politics have changed in the last few decades. “Today’s politics is very different from our time. Then the politics was based on values and ideologies and now it is only about money. It saddens me a lot,” she said, and added, “Presently, most political leaders have a criminal background and don’t know how to speak on issues. We should send more well-educated and honest people to Parliament.” Referring to MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s public meeting in Pune, Khanolkar said that Raj’s claims about development in Gujarat appear suspicious. “I have also visited Ahmedabad and didn’t see any development there,” she said.