Aam Aadmi Party receives 31,000 applications for two-month internship programme

NEW DELHI: The country’s youngest political start up is looking to develop its own model of ‘good governance’. And for this, the Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) is seeking the help of some of the brightest young minds in the country.

AAP has announced a two-month internship programme for youngsters to help Arvind Kejriwal shape the party’s vision of good governance. The party says it has already received 31,000 applications for 20 internship positions. "We have shortlisted 100 candidates out of the 31,000 who had applied over the last two weeks. More than half of them (shortlisted) are students from IITs and IIMs. They have been called for interviews. The internship begins next week," said AAP member Gopal Mohan, who is coordinating the programme.

According to Mohan, the interns will have to conduct research on governance and help AAP build its bank of initiatives which would be implemented by the party MLAs.

He, however, did not wish to comment on whether these could also be part of the party manifesto if and when elections are announced in the capital. AAP’s appeal to the students reads, "Become a part of Arvind Kejriwal’s team and help bring clean governance in the country. The work primarily involves research in governance related areas."

Political internship is a concept more popular in western democracies where B-schools accord importance to one’s work experience with a politician or a party. Although bigger parties in India are still relatively closed in their operations, smaller outfits have been opening up to hiring political interns.

So why does AAP need to hire interns when it already has a strong army of youngsters volunteering for it? "We want inputs from people with strong academic background. I believe many IIMs and IITs and also other colleges are offering courses on good governance. We could use the perspective of students who have students and researchers who are familiar with the field," Mohan added.

This isn’t AAP’s first attempt at roping in interns for help. The students had helped AAP design its Delhi election campaign.