How Dr. Munish Kumar Raizada is Redefining Indian Politics with Bharatiya Liberal Party (Part-1)

Dr. Munish Kumar Raizada: My name is Dr. Munish Kumar Raizada, and I am a pediatrician. I completed my MBBS in India from Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Maharashtra, India. After that, I went to the USA in 2002 for my residency in pediatrics, where I completed my residency in general pediatrics at Long Island Jewish Hospital, New Hyde Park, New York City. I did my fellowship at John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois. I completed my fellowship in Neonatal Pediatrics and Perinatal Medicine. After that, I have been practicing as a doctor there since 2008.

Dr. Munish Kumar Raizada: Neonatal-perinatal medicine is not as advanced in India. And when you practice pediatrics, neonatal challenges always fascinate you. To be able to save very premature babies is a big challenge. Many babies die in India because of the lack of resuscitation, resources and technology to save the babies.

It often feels as if not being able to help a premature baby renders your pediatric knowledge futile. That's why I am fascinated by advancements in neonatal-perinatal medicine, which inspired my move to the US.

Dr. Munish Kumar Raizada: After completing my MBBS, even though I did my senior residency and practiced in India, my inclination and focus had always been on political activism. Wherever I saw injustice, I couldn’t stop myself from raising my voice. I have always enjoyed working in underprivileged areas and camps. For instance, right after my marriage, the first thing I did was open a clinic in a slum cluster in Faridabad, known as Sanjay Gandhi Colony, which is an unauthorized settlement.

Naturally, at that time, I didn’t have the resources, and being idealistic, the clinic had to shut down within a few months. Without funds, it’s difficult to sustain a practice.

In addition, when I was working at a hospital, I convinced the owner to start a health-focused newsletter. From the beginning, I had a deep interest in politics because I believed that policies could be improved through political involvement. I’ve always thought that politics can bring about a larger change.

I was also interested in political parties. For instance, when I was in Delhi working at St. Stephen’s Hospital, if any MP was contesting elections, I would get involved in their campaigns. It felt like aligning with them could lead to meaningful contributions.

But, when I moved to the USA, I became more dispassionate about my country. You rise above the petty biases that affect you on a day-to-day basis in India. When you’re in the country, you often get caught up in the typical stereotypes and ingrained biases that play out in your mind. But when you’re miles away, you start viewing India as a whole. You begin to understand India in comparison to where you are, questioning, ‘Why is this missing in India?’, ‘Why is there a lack of these things?’.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived to US was that it is a huge country, three times the size of India. It also faces significant geographical challenges. For instance, the Midwest region in Chicago is extremely cold, yet their systems never collapse.

Their systems are so robust that they can withstand weather challenges and other difficulties. In contrast, in our country, we constantly complain that certain systems cannot work here because the country is too vast or there’s too much crowd. However, I realized that if there’s a political will, everything is possible. The systems that they have established there—why can’t we have them in India?

In brief, I’ve always had the habit of viewing things from a policy perspective. When the Anna movement started, I already had a strong stance against corruption. I always believed that corruption was the biggest hurdle to our country’s progress.

When the Anna movement began, it gave me an opportunity to work on an anti-corruption platform. That’s why I participated in it. The Anna movement, ‘India Against Corruption,’ was truly a global phenomenon. The Indian diaspora worldwide actively participated in it.

I also participated in it from Chicago. Later, I came to India as well. When the political party, Aam Aadmi Party, was formed, I joined it. I felt that we needed to do something meaningful.

Dr. Munish Kumar Raizada: Anna Andolan was a civil society movement, it was not a political party-based movement. When nothing came out of this, some people formed a political party. My mind was that a political party shouldn't be formed. But, pragmatically, I thought, ‘okay, we will create a party and do something better.

The three fundamental principles the Aam Aadmi Party had proposed were financial transparency, bringing inner-party democracy to abolish the high-command culture, and keeping an internal check within the party by having an internal Lokpal. We had decided that we would announce these principles. This is why I felt that, with the Aam Aadmi Party, we could bring vyavastha parivartan (systemic change).

After that, they started fiddling with the very fundamental principle of financial transparency. I was part of the Aam Aadmi Party and was also in the government as an advisor to the Health Minister. I’m talking about 2015, while the party was formed in 2012. I thought, this is not the way. If we fiddle with the basic principles, we won’t be able to build a strong institution. That’s why I fought against it.

Dr. Munish Kumar Raizada: In our minds, there was never an intention to form a political party. We were wholeheartedly activists. When they acted dishonestly and tampered with principles, we went back to Anna ji. We said, "Anna ji, what should be done? The party has hidden the donations, so what will the activists do?" Activists always stand up when there is injustice or when their beliefs are challenged.

When we joined Anna Hazare’s movement, we never questioned his actions. But when the issue of Chanda Satyagrah arose, we felt that this was our limit. Because the party had a donation (funding) system, it raised the question of what defines an activist and what their limitations are. Naturally, activism without resources also has its boundaries. You cannot move forward without money and support.

Later, in 2019, I produced a docu-drama called "Transparency: पारदर्शिता." It was a carefully documented project based on my insider knowledge and fresh memories. I had access to everyone involved and conducted in-depth research with a dedicated team. This resulted in a seven-episode docu-drama that narrated the untold inside stories of the Anna movement and the Aam Aadmi Party.

I realized that over time, people might forget these events. That’s why I conducted research, formed a team, and created this docu-drama.

I did not want to align with any political party because, fundamentally and inevitably, Indian politics is steeped in black money. There is no inner-party democracy; the concept of a "high command" dominates, and political parties are not run in a democratic manner. Electoral reforms have not been implemented. For a party to function properly, it must have inherent democracy and established mechanisms in place. It cannot operate on personal whims, where positions are handed out simply because someone in power favors you. A political party is an organization, and it should be structured as such.

In Western democracies, inner-party democracy is an integral part of their systems. If political parties themselves lack democratic principles, how can they champion democracy at the national level? The truth is that party politics in India inevitably devolves into personality cults. It becomes inherently anti-democratic, with a few individuals commanding absolute authority under a "high command" culture.

Indian politics is riddled with nepotism, dynastic rule, and the pervasive influence of black money. Political funding and campaign expenditures lack transparency, making the system inherently flawed.

This is why I never wanted to align with any political party. Fundamentally, these parties are anti-democratic, absolutely corrupt, and thrive on black money. They fail to embody the very values they claim to represent, and this contradiction is what deters me. Ultimately, the system is what it is—a deeply flawed structure—and I could not see myself being part of it. This is why I believed that a new party should be created, one that could genuinely stand for transparency and democratic principles.

In 2019, Ramesh Guptaji, an NRI, founded the Bharatiya Liberal Party. We had been in touch over the years, and he wanted me to be involved in the party's journey. Eventually, in April 2024, I was elected as the President of the Bharatiya Liberal Party.