On the eve of the Republic Day, Delhi’s Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal stated that his government is inspired by the concept of ‘Ram Rajya, working on 10 principles that include free ration to the poor and shelter to the homeless through rain baseras; free electricity, water, education, health, bus travel for women and pilgrimage to elderly.
Speaking on the eve of Republic Day celebration held at the Chhatrasal Stadium on Thursday, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said, “We believe in establishing a governance system where everyone has equal rights and opportunities, and everyone lives with love towards each other. Delhi’s governance model has made it the city with lowest inflation in the country, he added.
CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal hoisted the national flag at the Republic Day celebration held at Chhatrasal Stadium on Thursday. The Republic Day celebration began with the singing of the national song “Vande Mataram.” During this, the CM took the salute of the parade, and the entire stadium echoed with cheers of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai.’ At the request of the parade commander, CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal, riding an open jeep, inspected the parade. This included Delhi Police, Delhi Home Guard, Delhi Fire Service, NCC, and teams of children from Delhi government schools, among others.
Delhi’s CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal started his Republic Day address with a congratulatory message and chants of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’, and ‘Vande Mataram’. He stated, “We salute and pay homage to all those freedom fighters whose highest orders of sacrifices and lifetime struggle made our country independent. We salute the brave soldiers who protected our country with their lives for 75 years. We salute all the farmers, workers, industrialists, traders, scientists, women, youth, and all those people who contributed to taking India forward.”
“On 22nd January this year, Shri Ram Lalla was consecrated in Ayodhya, and this is a moment of pride and congratulations to the country and the world. On one hand, we ought to worship Lord Shri ‘Ram Chandra’, on the other we should take inspiration from his life by trying to practice his message in our life. His life is immensely inspirational, a lot of tales from his life teach us lessons of love and sacrifice of the ultimate order. Abiding by just an order from his father, he went to forests. sacrificing his kingdom. In the next morning, his coronation ceremony was to take place and arrangements were already in place. All the people of Ayodhya were happily celebrating that Lord ‘Shri Ram’ would become the king of Ayodhya. On receiving the message from his father Dashrath Ji’s to meet him, Lord Ram went there and saw that Dashrath Ji was in extreme sorrow and mother Kaikeyi was sitting next to him,” the Delhi CM Added.
Recalling the episodes from Lord Shri Ram’s life, CM Shri Arvind mentioned that mother Kaikeyi conveyed to Lord Shri Ram that ‘Maharaj’ (King) had greanted her two wishes: the first being 14 years exile in forests to Lord Shri Ram and the second, Bharat to be made as king of Ayodhya instead of him. The entire Ayodhya was with Lord Shri Ram, and he could have declined the orders. Lord Shri Ram was a godly figure, he didn’t have any attachment with the kingdom. But, Shri Ram conveyed, ‘Raghukul reet sada chali aayi pran jaye par vachan na jaye’ (Traditions and customs of the Raghukul have always been followed; one may lose their life, but their commitment should not waver). Without any distress or hesitation, Lord Shri Ram chose exile in forests, renouncing kingdom, and happily went to the forests for 14 years.
The Chief Minister added, “This teaches us that we must obey the orders of our parents, without any greed. We should not shy away from making sacrifices. Bharat was at his maternal parents’ place, and when he got to know all of this, immediately he followed Shri Ram in the forests. Bharat insisted Lord Ram to come back, but Shri Ram politely declined his requests. In the history of the entire humankind there has not been a more beautiful incident than this, two brothers adamantly insisting to relinquish kingdom for each other. In today’s era, two brothers are fighting each other for land. Bharat returned with his ‘khadau’ (clogs) and started to rule in the name of his khadau. In today’s time, if a father dies his sons start fighting for property, businesses, and land. Both the brothers consider themselves the followers of Lord Shri Ram, and still, they’re fighting in the courts for the property. From the heavens, lord Shri Ram must be sad with the fact that his followers are not following his messages. We have to try to imbibe lord Shri Ram’s preaching in our life.”
CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal stated that lord Shri Ram did not believe in caste, and never discriminated on that basis. ‘Shabari Mata’ was a huge follower of lord Shri Ram. She belonged to the so-called ‘lower caste’ those days. Lord Shri Ram did not go to the palaces of kings to bless the kings, but he went to the broken hut of ‘Shabari mata’. When lord Shri Ram graced her hut, the innocent mother Shabari tasted each ‘ber’ (Indian Jujube) so that lord Shri Ram did not have to taste sour ‘ber’. Lord Shri Ram ate ‘tasted ber’. Upon being asked by Laxman ji about eating already tasted ber lord Shri Ram replied that he has not eaten tastier food than this in his entire life. Lord Shri Ram said that if his ‘Bhakt’ will offer anything with love, he will feel obliged to eat it. Today our society is divided based on caste. Lord Shri Ram returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and ruled Ayodhya. Ayodhya is happy, everyone is happy in Ayodhya, and everywhere there is development. “In history, this has been defined as ‘Ramrajya’. In history, there has not been a more happy, peaceful, and prosperous rule than Ramrajya. The Ramayana has many verses documenting this. “In Ramrajya no one suffers from physical, or spiritual pains, and everyone lives in harmony abiding by their ‘dharma’ (duties),” he added.
“Today we are drawing inspiration from the concept of ‘Ram Rajya’ to run our government. The concept of ‘Ram Rajya’ is enshrined in the ‘Ramayana’, we have formulated it in 10-point principles. First, no one should die due to hunger, and we are ensuring that no one should die because of this. We provide free rations to the poor and construct night shelters for the homeless. I’m not claiming that we have attained 100% of our goals, but we’re trying,” he said.
Shri Kejriwal said the second principle is everyone should receive equal and quality education. “During Lord Ram’s times, every kid was getting an education in ‘Gurukuls’. Kids of kings, workers, beggars, farmers, and traders, every kid used to get an education in gurukuls only,” the Chief Minister added.
CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal conveyed, “Today, in our country a new custom has been propelled, children of the rich go to private schools and children of the poor go to government schools. The government schools don’t provide quality education, and the poor remain poor and the rich become richer. Due to this, children of poor don’t get any future in shape and on the contrary children of affluent become doctors and engineers, making them richer further. In the last 8-9 years we have changed this system in Delhi. Now, children of the poor get the best education in Delhi. They are getting equal education, now rich people are withdrawing their children from private schools and getting them admitted in Delhi’s government schools. The children of rich and poor people are sitting on the same desk, getting quality education. Now children of the poor are becoming doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Taking inspiration from Ramrajya, we are providing equal and quality education to all children in Delhi.”
The Delhi Chief Minister said the 3rd principle under Ramrajya is health facilities for all. “Upon falling ill, everyone should receive equal and quality treatment. Due to the shortage of money, nobody’s treatment in the hospitals should stop. Due to shortage of money, nobody should die. The poor people of the country go to government hospitals for treatment, but there are no facilities in government hospitals. And rich people go to big ‘five-star’ hospitals, the poor don’t have that much money to afford expensive treatment. To facilitate treatment in private hospitals, the poor have to mortgage their land and properties. We have made Delhi’s Government hospitals excellent, set up Mohalla Clinics and polyclinics, and now we’re opening special Mohalla Clinics for women. The entire treatment and medicine have been made free. Now, irrespective of their income status whether rich or poor, everyone receives equal and quality treatment in Delhi. We strive a lot to do but haven’t attained the ideal state. But we’re steadily marching ahead in that direction.”
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said the 4th principle under the concept of Ramrajya is to provide 24-hour power supply to all, including poor. Today, electricity is not a luxury, it is a necessity. Even a poor man cannot do without electricity. Before the formation of the AAP government, there used to be power cuts of 7 to 8 hours in Delhi, but not anymore and nearly three-fourth of Delhiites get it for free. “There has been a report in today’s newspapers that in a nationwide survey conducted by the Central Government, Delhi has emerged number one on the power supply front and all the three power distribution companies of Delhi are on top. There is electricity 24 hours a day in Delhi. Earlier there used to be power cut of 8 hours, now electricity is available 24 hours a day and it is free. People get electricity bills, but they get zero electricity bills. About 73% of the people, who are middle class people and poor people, get free electricity,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the 5th principle of Ramrajya is that everyone should have access to drinking water. Before the AAP government came to power, water was so expensive in Delhi that water bills were Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000. “There was no water supply in many areas in Delhi. Today, we are supplying water to large parts of Delhi. However, there are still some areas left and efforts are on to make water available there too,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that giving water to drink has been described as a duty in our scriptures and it is being supplied free of cost to a large section of people in Delhi. “There is a virtue in providing water, one should not make profit from water. Under our government, the poor and people from middle class families have started getting water for free,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the 6th principle is elders should be respected. He said a society, or a family can never progress where elders are not respected. He said the earlier old age pension of Rs 1,000 per month has been increased two and a half times and now, every elderly person gets a pension of Rs 2,500 per month in Delhi. “We have started taking the elderly on pilgrimage. Till date, never in 75 years has any government thought so much about its elders. Till now, we have taken 83,000 of our elders to 12 pilgrimage places, including Rameshwaram, Dwarkadhish, Puri ji, Haridwar-Rishikesh, Ayodhya,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said there is a description in the Ramayana about Shravan Kumar who took his parents on pilgrimage. “We take elderly people on pilgrimage. The Delhi government pays all their travel, accommodation, and food expenses. All they have to do is to bring clothes in their bag from home and they don’t have to carry anything else. They take them in such trains, make them stay in good hotels, and arrange for buses,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said after the consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhdya, many elderly people are wishing to go to Ayodhya ji to have darshan of Shri Ram Lala ji. “So, we will try to take as many trains as possible to Ayodhya,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the 7th principle is that every person should feel safe. “Women’s safety is very important; women should feel safe. We do not have police under us in Delhi but we try to do whatever we can within our means. Today, such a huge network of CCTV cameras has been created in last 7 to 8 years in Delhi, which is not found in any city in the entire world. People feel safe because of CCTV cameras. Criminals fear that if they commit any crime, they will be caught. And today, through CCTV, Delhi Police is being able to solve big crimes. You will be happy to know that in just 7 to 8 years, Delhi has the highest density of CCTV cameras, which is the largest in the world. No other city in the world, including Washington, Tokyo, London and Paris has such a big network of CCTV cameras. We have also tried to ensure that no streetlight goes off at night. An effort has been made to install streetlights in the dark areas. There are still some dark areas where we are getting streetlights installed,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that the 8th principle is the most important principle and that is employment. “Today unemployment has spread so much that children are roaming around with degrees, they do not have employment. And without employment the household expenses cannot be managed,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that unemployment has become the biggest problem facing the country today and to overcome this, Delhi government is providing employment to many people in various ways. He said besides providing government jobs, opportunities for jobs have been created through Mohalla Clinics, doorstep delivery of services to the citizens, schools.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that a job fair was organized where companies as well as youth were invited. “The youth got employment there. A job portal was created, about 10 to 12 lakh jobs were created on that job portal and children got employment there. According to an estimate, in the last 9 years, nearly 12 lakh youth have been provided employment in Delhi through our efforts,” said the chief minister.
He said the AAP government brought about some changes in the education system to tackle the unemployment issue. “Today, children after doing BA, B.Com, B.Sc., LLB keep roaming for jobs. This education system was created by the British to produce clerks. We tried to start the Business Blaster Program (BBP) entrepreneurship classes in the government schools of Delhi. We taught 11th and 12th class children to do business and gave them projects and today you will be surprised to know that 50,000 teams of about 2.5 lakh children are working on them, starting their own businesses. Today, if you ask the children of our government schools, every child will tell you that after completing studies, I will become a job giver, not a job seeker. Every child is full of this feeling,” said Shri Kejriwal.
He said that it has been decided to extend the BBP to the college level from the coming academic session. “This year we will be starting business blaster program in colleges. We will be making provision for the same in the upcoming Budget. The children passing out from college will be inspired to start this project by starting to work on their small business ideas while they are in college, one year before passing out. If a team works on a business idea, it provides employment to at least 8 to 10 more children. If we inculcate this feeling in the children that they have to do business after graduation, he will not seek a job but become an employer, I think the problem of employment in our country will be solved,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that it is good to aspire to become a $5 trillion economy, but that must impact the lives of each and every citizen and not only a few. “It is very good that we should make India a $5 trillion economy, but if out of that 5 trillion, 4 trillion will be with one person and 1 trillion will be with 140 crore people, then the whole country will remain poor. If only one person becomes rich, it will not provide employment to the people and children, it will not bring progress to the country. So, what we have to do is that we have to make the country a $5 trillion economy, but we have to develop it in such a way that those 5 trillion dollars reach 140 crore people and should not remain with one man or two men,” he said.
The chief minister said in the last 75 years, the development model in our country has been such that a few people are benefiting from all the development in our country, while the rest of the country remains poor. “There is a Trickle-Down Theory in economics, which make some people rich, then those rich people will open a factory, everyone else will work in it, then slowly money will trickle down and it will start reaching the poor. But it never reaches, has not reached in 75 years. The rich became richer, and the poor became poorer… We need such a development model that money goes directly into the hands of the poor. When the money goes directly into the hands of the poor and middle class, then the country will progress. What will a poor person do if he gets money? He will buy food items, buy clothes, buy household items. This will create demand within the economy, clothing factories will be built, food factories will be set up, people will get jobs,” he said.
Supporting his model of giving money directly in the hands of the poor, Shri Kejriwal said after coming to power in Delhi, he increased the minimum wages of workers, which was initially not taken kindly by the manufacturers and traders. However, as things settled down, it brought the desired effect.
“When our government was formed in Delhi, we increased the minimum wage from Rs 9000 per month to Rs 14000 per month and now it is Rs18000 per month. When I raised it to Rs 14,000, many people abused me. At that time many people said that whatever Kejriwal is doing, businesses will be closed, factories will be shut, they will suffer losses. Nothing happened, nobody’s business was closed. But money started coming into the hands of the poor. When money starts coming into the hands of the poor, they spend it. It creates demand and when demand is created, the economy grows,” he explained.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that the 9th principle under the concept of Ramrajya is that inflation will have to be reduced. “Today, inflation has ruined people’s homes, their expenses are increasing. Their income is not increasing, and people are not able to meet their household expenses. Today, being the Chief Minister of Delhi, I want to happily tell the people of Delhi that due to the steps taken by us, as per a survey conducted by the Central Government in the entire country a few days ago, Delhi has the lowest inflation,” he said.
Announcing proudly that Delhi has the lowest inflation rate in the entire country, the Chief Minister said this has been possible only due to various welfare measures taken by the Delhi government. “Inflation rate in Delhi is 2.95%, 5.5% in UP, 6% in Maharashtra, 7% in Haryana, 7% in Gujarat and 6% at the national level. And in Delhi there is three percent inflation, which is half the inflation in the entire country. In Delhi we have made electricity free, water free, giving good education to children for free, treating you free, the cost of medicines is all free, bus travel is free for women. Because of so many things facilitated by the Delhi government, today the inflation rate in Delhi is the lowest. If people’s backs will be broken due to inflation, then we cannot call it Ramrajya. Ramrajya will happen only when people live happily and prosperous,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said the 10th and the last principle under the concept of Ramrajya is equal rights for all. “God has created everyone equal _ whether of this religion or that religion, of this caste or that caste, whether rich or poor, whether young or old. We have to establish such a governance system in which everyone can participate equally in it, get equal opportunities and everyone lives with love and affection among themselves,” he said.
The chief minister said that if we do our duty with sincerity, India will be on top. “On one hand, we have to worship Lord Shri Ram, on the other hand whatever you are doing in your life in your own way must do it honestly. If you are a doctor or a sanitation worker, you must work hard, honestly, patriotically, work for the society and at the same time worship Lord Ram. I have full faith that if we follow the path shown by Lord Ram, then no power can stop India from becoming the number one country in the world. Long live Mother India!” he said.
School children presented a cultural program, enthralling everyone
This year’s Republic Day was unique in terms of the performances presented by the students. All the mesmerizing performances were by the girl students. They presented cultural programs on the eve of Republic Day during the closing ceremony of the 2024 parade in Delhi’s government schools. The girls of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya Hari Nagar Ghanta Ghar showcased a dance performance. The audience was captivated, and later, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya Palam Enclave No.1 students presented the famous Bhangra of Punjab. The girls from Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya Mata Sundari Road mesmerized the audience with the traditional dance of Maharashtra, Gondhal. The children from Bal Bhavan Public School Mayur Vihar Phase-2 gave an enthralling performance highlighting the significance of the national flag and patriotism. The students from Government Girls Senior Secondary School C Block, Sultanpuri, presented a patriotic program that left everyone in awe. Following this, the students of SKV SP Road Nangloi showcased a vibrant Haryanvi folk dance. Lastly, the students from Government Senior Secondary Girls School New Kondli presented an outstanding dance interpreting the motto “Satyameva Jayate.” The program concluded with collective performances by all schools, symbolizing unity. CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal marked the end of the event by releasing balloons into the sky on the eve of Republic Day.
