E-Paper
'Believe me, if BJP…': Himanta's fresh salvo at Kejriwal over Assam-Delhi spat
Both Kejriwal and Sarma have exchanged several virtual verbal volleys in the past three days over the development of Assam and Delhi.
The Twitter spat between Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal continued on Sunday as BJP leader reminded AAP chief of one of his electoral promises. Sarma said that Kejriwal came to power in Delhi by promising to transform the national capital into London but has now started comparing the city with “small towns of Assam and Northeast”.
He further stated that BJP will make a city “the most prosperous city in the world" if the party gets the resources like the national capital.
In March 2017, Kejriwal had promised to transform Delhi into London if his party wins the MCD polls, but he had later clarified that he only meant ‘Delhi would be as clean as London’.
“You came to power with the promise of making Delhi like London and Paris, don't you remember @ArvindKejriwal ji? When he could not do anything, he started comparing #Delhi with small towns of Assam and Northeast! Believe me, if the BJP gets a city and resources like Delhi, the party will make it the most prosperous city in the world,” the Assam CM tweeted in Hindi.
Kejriwal replied, "You didn't answer my question - "When should I come to see your government school?" It doesn't matter if the school is not good. Will fix it it together."
The virtual verbal volleys started after Kejriwal, reacting to a report of closure of some schools in Assam, tweeted that closure is not a solution and there is a need to open more schools across the country. The Assam chief minister lashed out at Kejriwal and asked him to "do his homework" before commenting.
"Dear @ArvindKejriwal Ji-as usual you commented on something without any homework! Since my days as Education Minister till now, please note, the Assam government has established/taken over 8,610 new schools," he had tweeted.
He also asked how many schools did the Delhi government start in the last seven years.
Responding to Sarma's tweet, Kejriwal wrote, "Oh, it seems you took offence. My intention was not to point out your faults. All of us are one country. We have to learn from each other, then only India will become the number one country," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.
"You show me your good work in the field of education. You come to Delhi, I will show you the work in Delhi," he said
Later, in a series of tweets, Sarma posted data related to schools in the northeastern states to point out some of the differences between Delhi and Assam.
"Dear @ArvindKejriwal Ji, Your ignorance is painful. Let me help you. Assam is 50 times bigger than Delhi! Our 44521 govt schools teach 65 lakh students - against your 1000 odd schools. Our army of dedicated teachers number 2 lakh; Midday meal workers 1.18 lakh. Fathom it?" he tweeted.
In another tweet, Sarma said, "And yes, when you're in Assam, which you so desperately wish to, I will take you to our Medical Colleges, 1000 times better than your Mohalla Clinic. Also meet our bright Govt school teachers and students." He added in Hindi "quit bothering about making India no.1, Modiji is doing that".
