AAP stands for ‘vikas’, BJP for ‘vinash’: Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi assembly

Taking exception to the chief minister’s remarks, leader of Opposition in assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri urged him to refrain from making trivial comments

Days ahead of the announcement of the general elections, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the AAP’s model of governance represents “vikas” (development) and the BJP’s model represents “vinash” destruction.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the budget session of the Delhi assembly on Saturday. (HT photo)

Kejriwal was speaking in the Delhi assembly during a discussion on the Delhi Budget 2024-25, which was presented by finance minister Atishi on March 4.

Read here: Arvind Kejriwal at core of AAP campaign for upcoming Lok Sabha polls

During his speech, Kejriwal launched a blistering attack on the BJP over multiple ED summons to him in the Delhi excise case, and accused the BJP-led central government for misusing the central investigation agencies against the opposition.

Kejriwal said that for every summons the Enforcement Directorate sends to him, his government will build one school in Delhi.

ED has so far sent eight summons to Kejriwal asking him to appear before the agency in its probe in the money laundering charges related to the case emanating from alleged irregularities in the framing and implementation of the Delhi excise policy. Kejriwal and AAP have termed the summons “illegal”, and the Delhi CM has expressed his willingness to appear before the agency via video conferencing after March 12.

“They (ED) has sent me eight summons, and are going to send the ninth one as if Arvind Kejriwal is the biggest terrorist in the country. The more summons you send, the more schools I will construct. In response to eight summons I will construct eight new schools,” Kejriwal said.

Pitching AAP as a direct challenger to BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Kejriwal said that BJP and AAP came to power around the same time — BJP at the Centre and AAP in Delhi — but both governments had different models of governance.

“AAP model is that of vikas (development) and their (BJP’s) model is of vinash (destruction),” he said. The BJP follows a model of destruction, focused on crushing the opposition political parties by using central agencies such as ED and CBI, the chief minister said.

Kejriwal claimed that while the AAP and other parties work for the betterment of the people, the BJP always try to hamper the opposition governments. They are stamping out opposition parties and are involved in toppling opposition governments, he said.

Continuing his attack on the BJP over the alleged misuse of the central agencies against opposition parties, Kejriwal said, “If Lord Ram existed in this era, they (BJP) would send the ED and the CBI to his home too and asked him at gun point whether he wanted to go to the BJP or jail.”

Taking exception to Kejriwal’s remarks, leader of the Opposition in Delhi assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri urged the chief minister to refrain from making trivial comments, which “reflects poorly on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader’s devotion and faith in Lord Ram”.

Kejriwal also alleged that BJP was bribing legislators to topple opposition governments, reiterating a charge that he has made many times earlier as well, kicking a political row. “MLAs are being bought for ₹25 crore to ₹100 crore, and this is happening in the entire country. In Uttarakhand, people formed a Congress government, under Harish Rawat, they (BJP) bought and broke MLAs, and they toppled the government of Uttarakhand. They toppled the governments of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and Arunachal Pradesh, and now they are going to topple the government of Himachal Pradesh in a few days. And then they say we win, they don’t win, they topple governments,” Kejriwal said in the assembly.

On the BJP’s claim that they are targeting to win 370 seats in the Lok Sabha, Kejriwal said that the BJP does not need the support of the country’s 1.4 billion people to achieve their stated objective.

“They are going to win 370 because there will be no one in Opposition. They are destroying democracy. It is the betrayal of the country and amounts to sedition,” Kejriwal said.

Earlier in February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the National Democratic Alliance will get more than 400 seats, with the BJP winning at least 370 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

Kejriwal appealed to the people to vote for the AAP model in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. AAP MLAs and ministers who participated in the discussions hailed the budget.

On March 4, Atishi presented a ₹76,000 crore budget for the 2024-25 fiscal with the theme of “Ram Rajya”. Among other allocations, the Delhi government announced ₹1,000 per month to all women above 18 years of age under the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana.

After the discussion, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel adjourned the Budget session of Delhi assembly till 11am on March 15. AAP chief whip in the assembly Dilip Pandey said the session has been convened on March 15 to discuss the issues and complaints related to the Delhi Jal Board.

Leader of the opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said the AAP was running the Delhi assembly “arbitrarily and in an unconstitutional manner”.

Read here: BJP following ‘vinash’ model, AAP follows ‘vikas’ model for governance: Kejriwal

“During the budget discussion on Saturday, the opposition was not given a chance to speak. Additionally, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal made objectionable remarks about Lord Shri Ram. The BJP legislature party vehemently oppose this. This year again, the AAP government’s budget is completely directionless. No new scheme was announced in the budget. No new school or college has been opened in Delhi in the last nine years and there is no mention of opening school,colleges in this year’s budget. No new scheme for health services was mentioned in the budget. Public transport in Delhi has completely collapsed but the government is not clear on how many new buses will be added to the DTC fleet to replace the 15-year-old CNG buses. No new water treatment plant, sewage treatment plant or facility to clean the Yamuna was announced. It was also not mentioned whether the government has any plan to save the people of Delhi from deadly pollution or not,” said Bidhuri.

Seven BJP MLAs who were suspended from the state assembly, after the MLAs had interrupted lieutenant governor VK Saxena’s address to the House on the first day of the Budget session on February 15, returned to the assembly on Saturday following the Delhi high court setting aside the indefinite suspension of the seven BJP legislators.

Bidhuri, who has been fielded as the BJP candidate from south Delhi Lok Sabha seat, further said that since the formation of the legislature in Delhi in 1993, Delhi has never witnessed such a “directionless budget”.