Free power, schools, health care helping lay solid foundation: Delhi CM Kejriwal

In a press conference on Saturday, the AAP national convener also claimed that some political leaders in the country were running a “hate campaign” against him.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governments are, by offering free services like electricity, water and health care, building the foundations of a developed country, the party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday, even as he said that some political leaders in the country were running a “hate campaign” against him.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses the press conference, in New Delhi on Saturday. (ANI Photo)

“To give free education to the country’s children, to give free health care to those in need is not ‘free ki revdi’ [a north Indian sweet]. We are laying the foundation of a developed country, this should have happened 75 years ago. Free ki revdi is when politicians write off thousands of crores of loans to help their friends and broker tenders for a select group of capitalists from foreign governments. Go and ask the children whose future we have transformed whether Kejriwal gives away ‘free ki revdi’ or builds the future of the nation,” Kejriwal said during a digital press briefing on the matter.

Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public gathering said India should do away with the culture of attracting votes by distributing freebies.

“The revdi culture is very dangerous for the development of the country,” Modi said.

Kejriwal on Saturday listed out multiple programmes being run by the Delhi government ranging from free education, health, power, water and transport for women to its free pilgrimage scheme which has been availed by nearly 45,000 senior citizens and good samaritan scheme, which he said has saved about 13,000 road accident victims so far.

He said despite its free schemes, the Delhi government’s budget continues be in surplus ever since the AAP took over in 2015.

The 2021 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India’s report on state finances, for the financial year ending March 2020, presented in the Delhi assembly earlier this month, said that the Capital’s revenue surplus in 2019-20 was ₹7,499 crore, indicating that revenue receipts of the government were sufficient to meet the revenue expenditure. The revenue surplus stood at 0.88% of GSDP (gross state domestic product) in 2019-20 against 0.81% in 2018-19.

The chief minister said that such schemes and policies are laying the foundation of a developed country, something that “should have happened 75 years ago”.

“I am educated. I’ve studied engineering, accounting and law. My educational degree is not fake,” Kejriwal said.

After implementing in Delhi and Punjab, the AAP has announced it will provide free power to the people in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh ahead of the Assembly polls in the two states.

“There are some leaders out there who are running a hate campaign against me. I am being subjected to the foulest of abuse,” he said.

Responding to his arguments, leader of opposition in the Delhi assembly and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said Kejriwal is “misleading people”.

“The PM did not name anyone while saying that the trend of distributing freebies is fatal, but he said it in the context that such a trend is fatal for the economy of the country and many countries of the world are ruined due to this. Kejriwal is taking credit for providing free education and health facilities in Delhi, but the fact is that free education is provided in government schools and government hospitals across the country. Not only this, but the central government also provides education loans and subsidies for higher education. As far as health is concerned, the people of Delhi have not forgotten how health services crumbled during the Covid-19 pandemic, until the Centre intervened and helped out,” Bidhuri said.