Delhi: BJP repackaged our clinics as Arogya Mandirs, says AAP

The party took to social media to criticise both the BJP-led government and the police response to the protest

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday responded to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) claim of having built 31 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs as a key achievement during its first 100 days in power, saying these were actually repackaged Mohalla Clinics established under the AAP government.

AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj. (PTI)

The AAP’s Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj said that the Ayushman Arogya Mandir in Chirag Delhi in south Delhi, which the BJP said was built in the last 100 days, is actually a dispensary built by the AAP.

“For the last five years, the BJP made grandiose claims that if they came to power, the central government would give massive funds. But in reality, they’ve just taken old Mohalla Clinics, painted them, renamed them as ‘Ayushman Arogya Mandirs’, and now they are selling that as their achievement. The BJP has no intention of doing any real work. They are merely repainting and repackaging the initiatives done by the AAP. Earlier people used to receive proper medicines in these clinics. Now, under the BJP’s so-called Ayushman Arogya Mandir model, even basic medicines are not available,” said Bharadwaj.

Earlier in the day, the AAP said that a group of women party workers were detained by police outside Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium when they protested against the government for not rolling out the ₹2,500 monthly scheme for women.

In a post on X, the AAP said, “Can women in Delhi no longer even ask for their rights? Chief minister Rekha Gupta, today when the women of Delhi came to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to ask you about their ₹2,500, your Delhi Police responded with brutality. If you never intended to fulfil your promise, why did you make it in the first place? You will not be able to silence the voices of Delhi’s women through the might of your police.”

AAP women’s wing president Sarika Chaudhary said, “The BJP had promised ₹2,500 to Delhi women in its government’s first cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself said during a rally that Delhi’s women would receive ₹2,500. Now the BJP is going back on its word. Not a single woman in Delhi has received the ₹2,500 yet. The BJP has made a fool of the women of Delhi.”

In response, deputy commissioner of police (south) Ankit Chauhan said that 30 women workers of the AAP were detained. “We detained them because they were organising a protest without taking a formal permission for the same. They were removed, taken to a police station, where they were let go,” said Chauhan.

Hitting back at the AAP, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said, “The AAP was an AAPda when in power, and remains an AAPda in opposition. While in power, they deceived the women of Delhi and Punjab in the name of the women’s financial assistance scheme and today they continue to mislead the public. The BJP government will soon begin disbursing the financial assistance to women. The government has already made a provision for ₹5,100 crore for the scheme in the budget.”