AAP National Convenor and Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal took on PM Modi on Wednesday, as he called out the BJP’s malicious witch-hunt against the Aam Aadmi Party. The AAP National Convenor reaffirmed that the party remains unfazed and undeterred towards its mission of public welfare despite all the conspiracies being hatched by the BJP. Terming the cases imposed upon AAP leaders to be ‘completely false’, he argued that the Excise Policy is a mere excuse and PM Modi wants to impede the development of Delhi. It is no coincidence that the nation’s best performing health and education ministers are in jail today, he added. The Delhi CM further assured the citizens of the state that he will not let a single project get affected despite all the hurdles that the BJP puts in AAP’s way and his government will continue serving the people, like it was resolved on day one.
Expressing his anger over the situation, CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal stated that the BJP has been restless since AAP won the Punjab elections and has been trying to settle scores with the party. “The Aam Aadmi Party is a storm. No wall, no mountain in the world is strong enough to stop this storm. No one can stop the idea whose time has come. AAP’s time has come. No one can stop us. AAP will go door-to-door and explain to people how PM Modi has brought back Indira Gandhi’s emergency era with his vendetta politics,” he said.
Over the course of the last one year, two AAP stalwarts, Shri Satyendar Jain and Shri Manish Sisodia were maliciously taken into custody by the central agencies in completely fabricated cases. Shri Satyendar Jain, who held portfolios like Health, Electricity, and Water, was credited with coming up with the Mohalla Clinic Model that was adopted globally; he was arrested by the ED, early last year. While, Shri Manish Sisodia, who was arrested last week by the CBI, is a globally recognised leader who served as Delhi Deputy Chief Minister overseeing 18 departments until yesterday. His Education Revolution has made waves throughout the globe, finding appreciation across national and international media alike. The Aam Aadmi Party has maintained that both these arrests have no substance and were born out of BJP’s vendetta politics, in a bid to stop the ‘Aam Aadmi Revolution’.
Both the ministers tendered their resignation from the Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday, to allow the government to function smoothly in their absence as they take on a legal battle against the false charges. After accepting the resignations yesterday, the AAP National Convenor summoned a meeting of all the MLAs and Councillors of AAP’s Delhi Unit, today. He sought feedback from all the public representatives over the current situation and charted out the future course of action for the party. The MLAs and Councillors apprised the CM that there is a strong wave of anger against the BJP in the people of Delhi since the arrest of Shri Manish Sisodia. They said that locals have received this move negatively and are furious at the BJP’s tactics. The MLAs and Councillors also resolved to fight against the BJP with a renewed vigour, emphasising how the situation has made them more resilient towards this vendetta politics.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal addressed the media on Wednesday evening, after meeting with all of AAP’s MLAs and Councillors. Talking about the arrests of Shri Manish Sisodia and Shri Satyendar Jain, he argued that PM Modi has got both the AAP leaders arrested as part of a larger conspiracy. “Not just the Aam Aadmi Party but the whole country takes pride in the work delivered by both these leaders. They both revolutionised the health and education sectors of Delhi. Satyendar Ji gave a new model of primary health care to the world, through his Mohalla Clinics. Manish Ji transformed government schools to such an extent that the wife of the US President came to see the change herself. They both made the country proud on the highest global arenas, but in return, the Prime Minister sent them to jail.”
Reiterating the party’s stand, he asserted that there has been no scam in the Excise Policy. “In reality, the Prime Minister wants to stop the progress of Delhi. Even the PM knows that the kind of development the AAP is doing, the BJP won’t be able to do even in two lives.” Drawing comparisons with the Delhi Model, he hit out at the failing governments of BJP ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat. “BJP has been in power in these states for decades but they have not been able to fix a single school or hospital. They know that the people are seeing their debacles. So how do they divert attention now? They turn towards impeding the progress of the AAP Government.”
Explaining the accusations against the party, he said, “These people are alleging that Manish Ji took bribes from liquor vendors. In one debate they will say he took 100 crores, in one they said 1000 crores, 10,000 crores in another. They raided the house of Manish Sisodia, they tore apart his mattresses and beddings, broke apart walls, they found nothing. They raided Manish Ji’s Chacha-Tau-Mama-Mausi, every relative they could find, they searched his bank locker, they found nothing. If someone manages to amass 100 crores, you’d find a couple of crores lying here and there. A couple of lacs becomes petty cash. They could not produce even Rs 10,000 from him because he did not take even one rupee worth’s favours from someone.”
The BJP has a fundamental problem with governments who do good for the society, he argued, saying, “It is no coincidence that our government was performing the best on education and healthcare and overnight, our health and education ministers were sent to jail.” Reinforcing his commitment, he assured the people of the country of being completely dedicated towards the cause of public welfare. “Come whatever may, the progress of Delhi won’t get hindered. If we were running on 80, now we will run on 160. We will work with double the speed, double the effort.”
Announcing names of the new ministers who will be inducted into the Delhi Cabinet he said that Ms Atishi and Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj are fantastic professionals and highly educated individuals, who will step into the shoes of both the ministers. “Whatever good work that Sisodia Ji and Jain Sahab were doing will only get impetus with the arrival of these two new ministers.”
He reiterated that the only reason why Shri Manish Sisodia was arrested was because he was doing excellent work in education. “Do you think Modi Ji would have arrested Manish Ji if he was doing subpar work? He wouldn’t. Modi Ji deliberately made an attempt to stop the work being done in the education sector of Delhi by arresting him. The same goes for Satyendar Jain. He would not be arrested had he not developed this Delhi Health Model.”
Shri Arvind Kejriwal also took on BJP’s ‘washing-machine’ politics asking if Shri Manish Sisodia and Shri Satyendar Jain would have been arrested if they joined BJP? “If both of them join the BJP today, you will see them walking free tomorrow itself. All the files, all the cases will be closed.” Corruption has never been an issue for the BJP, he asserted, arguing that the BJP has always and always wanted to only impede development by sending ED-CBI behind the opposition.
The Delhi CM has been in constant touch with the citizens of the state to understand how the people are reacting to this situation. He had also sent representatives to understand the ground situation. “The public is furious, they are outraged, they are agitated seeing political persecution of AAP leaders. The people are willing to enter a fight with the BJP over their vendetta politics,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal also announced the future course of action of the party. It has been decided along with all MLAs and Councillors that the AAP will begin an unprecedented agitation, starting with Jansamvaad, Nukkad Sabhas and door-to-door campaigns in Delhi and across the country. “All of us will go to every household, every doorstep and explain to them how PM Modi has brought back Indira Gandhi’s Emergency Era today. It is a fact that when oppression takes a toll, nature takes its course. History has it, whenever a ruler has wielded oppression, the public has swept them out of power. It is upon the public to wield the broom now, and sweep this mess clean,” he said.
