Amit Shah cites graft charges, temple, Pakistan in rally for South Delhi candidate

Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched a scathing attack on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, citing corruption cases. AAP accused Shah of false promises.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday launched an all-out attack on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener has a long list of pending corruption cases against him, with the probe into the Delhi excise policy 2021-22 being only the tip of the iceberg.

Union home minister Amit Shah in Sangam Vihar in Delhi on Monday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

The AAP hit back, accusing Shah of making multiple jumlas (false promises) to voters.

Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally at Sangam Vihar, which falls under the South Delhi parliamentary constituency, Shah called Kejriwal “shameless”, pointing to the fact that the AAP convener refused to resign as CM despite being jailed in connection with the excise policy case.

“(Former Bihar CM) Lalu Yadav and (former Tamil Nadu CM) Jayalalithaa went to jail after being arrested, but he (Kejriwal) is the only politician who did not resign from the CM post. He has pasted himself on to the CM seat with glue, but will come unstuck after the BJP wins all seven seats in Delhi,” Shah said.

Attacking Kejriwal over the controversy surrounding the chief minister’s official residence, Shah said, “He was not satisfied with one bungalow, so made a ₹125 crore Sheesh Mahal (glass palace) for himself. I dare him to show his Sheesh Mahal to 100 doctors, professors each from Lok sabha constituencies. Even billionaires don’t have such bungalows.”

Accusing Kejriwal of multiple flip-flops, he said, “On odd days, he speaks about corruption, but on even days he makes alliances with corrupt people. On odd days, he says he is the maalik of Delhi, but on even days he dreams about becoming maalik of the country. He seeks resignations from others on odd days, but does not resign himself even in jail on even days.”

The Union minister mentioned Pakistan and Kashmir on multiple occasions during his 29-minute speech. He credited the BJP-led central government for “removing Article 370 from Kashmir”, saying the Congress advised the government against removing Article 370, warning that “rivers of blood” will flow in the Valley, but no one has had the courage to throw even a pebble.

“Earlier stone-pelting would occur on this side but now strikes are happening on other side. Earlier tourists were not allowed to come here but now even flour availability is a crisis over there... This change is due to Modi ji,” he said.

Shah also said that India will take back Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). “PoK is ours. Congress and INDI alliance leaders say that we should not talk about PoK as Pakistan has atom bombs, but we want to tell them that PoK is ours and we will take it back,” he said.

He also briefly referred to the ongoing Swati Maliwal controversy in his address. “If I speak about women’s safety, Kejriwal ji might say that I am making personal allegations. Tell me, if a woman Rajya Sabha MP is beaten in CM house, can he keep the women of Delhi safe?” he said.

Shah also attacked the INDIA bloc over the Ram temple issue, noting that Kejriwal, and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were invited for the pran pratishta ceremony of the temple on January 24, but they did not attend.

“Why did they not attend the ceremony? I will tell you — they are afraid of their vote bank. Their vote bank is Rohingya infiltrators. They are afraid of them,” he said.

Hitting back, the AAP in a statement said that the Kejriwal government has fulfilled all its pre-poll promises.

“Unlike the BJP jumlas, Arvind Kejriwal ji has fulfilled all the guarantees, whether it is free electricity, water, education, health care, pilgrimage for the elderly etc and has now guaranteed ₹1,000 to each woman every month,” the statement said.

“Home minister Amit Shah ji has always duped the public with false promises such as ₹15 lakh in the bank account, bullet train, doubling farmer income, 20 million jobs every year, etc. The Modi government is marred by incompetence and mis-governance… The people of Delhi will teach BJP a hard lesson in these elections,” the statement added.