Uttarakhand elections: Free pilgrimage service for senior citizens if AAP voted to power, says Kejriwal

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday promised to introduce a free pilgrimage service for senior citizens in Uttarakhand if AAP was voted to power in the assembly elections next year.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday promised to introduce a free pilgrimage service for senior citizens in Uttarakhand if the party was voted to power in the assembly elections next year.

Delhi chief minister and AAP chief at a road show in Haridwar on Sunday. He promised to introduce a free pilgrimage service if his party was voted to power in the Uttarakhand elections next year. (PTI)

Under the scheme, Hindus will be taken to Ayodhya, Muslims to Ajmer Sharif and Sikhs to Kartarpur Sahib, Kejriwal told reporters during his one-day visit to Haridwar.

“The AAP government in Uttarakhand will provide senior citizens free pilgrimage facilities to Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya for Hindus, Ajmer Sharif for Muslims and Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage for Sikhs residing in the state,” he said.

Uttarakhand is already a religious hub and our party will make it a spiritual capital of the country, he added.

Referring to a similar scheme introduced by his government in Delhi, Kejriwal said: “We introduced a free pilgrimage scheme for the elderly in Delhi under which they are taken in the comfort of AC trains for free to 12 pilgrimage destinations all over the country, including Haridwar, Rishikesh, Vaishno Devi and Puri.”

At least 36,000 people have already availed the scheme under which people are selected every year for pilgrimages, he added.

Besides this, the AAP chief also promised a monthly stipend of ₹5,000 to the unemployed, 80% reservation in jobs for local residents and one lakh jobs within six months of the party coming to power.

“To check hill migration, a separate migration department will be formed in Uttarakhand,” he said.

Kejriwal assured the people of Uttarakhand a huge positive change in development works, time-bound completion of projects and corruption-free governance which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress, he alleged, only promise prior to the polls but fail to fulfill them after forming a government.

Claiming that his party changed Delhi when people gave it a chance, Kejriwal asked for just one opportunity for the AAP to serve Uttarakhand.

“We changed Delhi thoroughly when we were given a chance. Give us just one opportunity in Uttarakhand. You will forget about all political parties,” he said.

Kejriwal also held a meeting with autorickshaw drivers in Haridwar and promised to address their problems as he had done in Delhi, if the AAP forms the government in the state. The auto-rickshaw drivers of Delhi are admirers of the AAP and played a vital role in its victory, he said.

Several local residents and party workers took part in the AAP chief’s roadshow which began from Parshu Ram and ended at the Shankar Ashram intersection.

Hitting out at the AAP chief over his poll announcements, BJP district general secretary Vikas Tiwari said: “They don’t have party cadre in all the 13 districts but making unrealistic claims of contesting in all 70 segments. Will the Delhi chief minister and his deputy (Manish Sisodia) be their faces or crowd pullers in Uttarakhand too?”

“It is BJP which will win 60 plus seats, even Congress is nowhere near, forget the AAP,” he added.

Congress national general secretary Harish Rawat said Kejriwal should first fulfil similar promises he had made to the people of Delhi.

This is Kejriwal’s third visit to the hill state this year.