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Kejriwal vows to make Delhi ‘full state’ at Chhatrasal rally
Addressing a large gathering in north Delhi, Kejriwal reiterated his allegations that the BJP and the LG have stalled development work in the Capital
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and invoked a range of matters — including alleged corruption, exit polls of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, and “failure” of the double engine governments, among other things — in what was his second public meeting since being granted bail in the excise policy case.
Addressing a large gathering at the Chhatrasal Stadium in Model Town, north Delhi, Kejriwal reiterated his allegations that the BJP and the Delhi lieutenant governor have stalled development work in the Capital that the AAP government was trying to get done.
“Double engine governments mean inflation, corruption, and unemployment,” Kejriwal said at the “Janta Ki Adalat”, adding that the exit polls showed that the BJP’s double engine governments will soon collapse in Haryana and J&K. He said that the “first engine” was damaged in June, referring to the BJP’s poor show in many states in the Lok Sabha elections.
“The second engine is going away from one state after another. In Delhi election too, they will sell double engine,” he added.
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The Delhi BJP, meanwhile, responded to Kejriwal’s remarks and called them false, adding that the public did not turn up at the meeting, and it was only the party cadre who attended. “The Janata ki Adalat was a flop show. The Adalat scheduled for 10am could not start on time as not even a hundred people turned up even till noon. After that they [the organisers] panicked and called around 1,500 party cadres through MLAs,” Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said.
During his 35-minute-long speech, Kejriwal held a plastic packet containing six revdis (sweets) and said that each revdi symbolised the six free services provided by his government — electricity, water, bus rides for women, a pilgrimage for the elderly, health care, and education. He announced that the “same packets would be distributed” to the public and urged them to treat it as “prasad”.
“If providing good education to poor and good health care is free revdi? I admit to distributing free revdis to people of Delhi,” he said, adding that “a seventh revdi will soon come in the form of ₹1,000 to every woman every month”.
“If by mistake you vote for the BJP, all your six benefits will vanish,” the former chief minister said and alleged that if the BJP comes to power, subsidies and developmental projects in Delhi will stop. Terming LG VK Saxena’s governance model “LG raaj”, Kejriwal also spoke at length about the spate of crimes in the city as well as the projects which have allegedly been stalled by the BJP and Saxena.
“People are unable to come out of their houses. The police are with the BJP, but they are busy stopping the work of the Delhi government. BJP removed 10,000 bus marshals, 500 data entry operators, 1,000 personnel cleaning sewer, and the salary of home guards..., old age pensions have been pending for five months, and DTC pensioners have not gotten money for eight months. Is this how they want to win Delhi?,” Kejriwal added.
The departments of land, law and order and police fall under the LG’s purview. Kejriwal’s address came a day after the Capital witnessed a day-long, high-octane drama between the AAP and BJP cadres, who traded barbs over the sacking of 10,000 bus marshals and later claimed credit for their reinstatement.
Delhi will go to assembly polls early next year, which is expected to be a neck-and-neck battle between the AAP and the BJP. In this year’s Lok Sabha polls, the AAP drew a blank while the BJP clung on to all seven seats in the Capital. The BJP has retained the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Capital for three terms — 2014, 2019 and 2024.
Kejriwal demanded that the Delhi assembly elections be held along with those in Jharkhand and Maharashtra in November and said the AAP was ready for it. He challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide free electricity in the 22 BJP-ruled states before the Delhi Assembly elections and promised to campaign for the BJP if this demand gets fulfilled.
Referring to the viral image of minister Saurabh Bharadwaj holding onto the feet of the leader of the opposition in the Delhi assembly, Vijender Gupta, the AAP chief said that a minister elected by 20 million people was at the feet of the BJP.
“It was not Bharadwaj but the democracy which was crying at the feet of BJP. The AAP got 62 seats and the BJP got eight seats [in the Delhi assembly]. A government with 62 seats is forced to be at the feet of BJP to get bus marshals reinstated. It is shameful,” he added.
“There is no democracy in Delhi. It’s under LG’s rule. Is this why our freedom fighters fought for Independence? If the people of Delhi want bus marshals, should LG have the power to remove them?” Kejriwal said and vowed to free the city from “LG raaj” and get full statehood for the Capital.
Kejriwal stressed that Delhi needs democracy like the rest of the states. “People of Delhi do not have power to elect a powerful government like other states... I vow that in my lifetime, I will make sure that people of Delhi get their rights,” he added.
Defending the welfare schemes of the AAP government, Kejriwal said that Modi had been referring to the schemes as “free revdis.”
He also alleged that he was denied insulin in Tihar jail during his incarceration. “Amit Shah also suffers from diabetes. How will they feel if his medicine was stopped in jail?” he added.
BJP spokesperson Kapoor said Kejriwal’s previous Janata Adalat Ki failing too had failed to attract the people, after which party workers were summoned. “Today, when Kejriwal spoke like a man pleading for his political survival, he falsely spoke of denial of insulin to him in jail. The stadium was almost empty and attracted no public sympathy,” Kapoor said.
North East Delhi MP and former Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said: “If they set up a public court, they will only seat their workers because they lack the courage to go among the public and answer their questions.”
