AAP National Convenor and Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann participated in the protest organized by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in its fight to protect federalism in the country.
Kerala MPs and MLAs and leaders of other opposition parties attended the protest rally at the Jantar Mantar.
Speaking on the occasion, Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that the federal structure of the country is the basis of our Constitution and democracy, the BJP sitting at the centre wants to end it. This fight is for all of us to save the federal structure and democracy of the country.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that it is very unfortunate that today the Chief Minister of Kerala had to leave all his work and come from Kerala to Delhi to protest here against the excesses of the Central Government. “This country had to see this day also that the Jantar Mantar, which is a place where the people of this country, fed up with the exploitation of the governments, come here to protest, the chief minister of Kerala has to sit in protest,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said today, almost half of the states have opposition governments, and these opposition governments represents about 70 crore people, half of the country’s population. And at this moment it seems that the Central Government has waged a war against the opposition governments. It’s like India-Pakistan division. “We want to ask the Centre that do you not consider these 70 crore people as your own? Do you not consider the people of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi, Punjab, West Bengal as yours?” he reasoned.
The Delhi CM said that the Constitution of India provides for clear demarcation of power to the Centre and the States. “Education and health are state subjects. It is written in the constitution. You (Centre) do not allow us to do our work. Today, the central government is adopting all the tactics to harass the opposition governments in various ways,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said the Centre is harassing the opposition governments in three ways. Firstly, the central government is not providing the rightful funds to the states. Secondly, to hamper everyday functioning through the interference of Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Thirdly, unleashing the Central probe agencies after the opposition leaders to put them in jail.
Explaining in detail the tactics adopted by the Centre to harass the opposition governments, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said in the first method, they starve the opposition ruled state governments of funds due to them. “We are facing this every day that whatever funds are meant for the state, those funds are not being given to us. If the people of Kerala are not given their rightful funds, then how will the state run, how will the government run? He has not come here to ask for money for his family. He is asking for money for the people of Kerala. Today the Chief Minister of Punjab has come to ask for funds for his three-crore people. I, the Chief Minister of Delhi, have come to demand the rights of my two-crore people of Delhi,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said that it is written in the Constitution that which government will get how much money. “I was in the income tax department, so I know a little more about it. How much fund, which government will get, how much. How will the fund be used? The Finance Commission decides how much money goes to the Centre and how much to the state. Our share will go to the State Government. What is the right of the people of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Punjab, Delhi. If our share is not given to us, then how will we construct roads, how will we provide electricity, how will the state develop? he said.
He said that he got to know that the funds to the tune of Rs 8,400 crore of Kerala are stuck and other opposition ruled states are also facing the same problem. “More than Rs 8000 crore funds of Punjab are also stuck. The Punjab government went to the Supreme Court a few days ago that they are not releasing our money. An amount of Rs 5500 crore for rural development fund is not being released. Now the Supreme Court hearing has been fixed for next week and immediately the Central Government calls that let us sit and talk. Will we go to the Supreme Court for every small matter? The Supreme Court is overburdened with cases. Why don’t they do their work? To get our funds, we have to sit at Jantar Mantar. You will be surprised to know that as against the collection of Rs 2 lakh crore income tax every year from Delhi, we get only Rs 325 crore for Delhi in a year. Even the British would not have looted us as much as these people are looting us,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said their second tactic is to ensure interference through Governors and Lieutenant Governors despite clear-cut mention of the state subjects in the Constitution. “They are harassing the state governments through the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. It is clearly written in the Constitution that these issues are state subject. Despite that, the Governors of these states are interfering every day. The most interesting thing happened in Punjab. Last year, the Punjab government sent a file to the Governor to call the budget session of its assembly. The Governor did not give permission to hold the budget session. Imagine, an elected government, a full state, its Chief Minister and his cabinet pass a resolution and say that we will call a budget session on such and such date and pass the budget of the state for the next year, the Governor did not even give permission for the budget session. Ultimately the Punjab government went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court scolded the Governor a lot. But the problem is that it doesn’t affect them,” said the AAP National Convenor.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said the third tactic that the BJP-ruled Centre has adopted is unleash the probe agency on the opposition leader and incarcerate him until he is proved innocent. “The law in this country was that if you committed any crime, it was investigated and then a case was prosecuted. In the trial it was decided who was guilty and who was innocent and the one who was guilty was punished and went to jail. After the trial was over the man used to go to jail. But now, the person is arrested, put in jail and then it is decided what case is to be filed against him. Then they make the case against that persons and after making the case, the person remains in jail until the trial is completed and he is proven innocent. In our country, it takes 15-15 years for the cases to be completed, so anyone will be detained for 15 years. They have brought the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) in which is it is written that until the man’s trial is completed, and he is proved innocent, he will not come out of jail. This is very dangerous,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said recently, they arrested Jharkhand sitting Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the charges are yet to be framed but he has been incarcerated. “Nothing has been proved against him yet, no case has been filed against him yet. The trial has not even started yet, the investigation is ongoing. But if it takes 15 years for his case to be completed then Hemant Soren will remain in jail for 15 years. Like this, tomorrow they will arrest me too and put me in jail. Arrest Vijayan ji and Stalin Saheb and put them in jail. They will arrest anyone and put them in jail and topple their government. After putting Hemant Soren in jail, they kept trying to break his party for 48 hours, but JMM MLAs did not break in front of them. In this way, by sending anyone to jail, they will topple his government and form their own government. What is going on in the country?
The Delhi chief minister said that these people are saying that Kejriwal is corrupt. “I have made electricity free in Delhi. The most expensive electricity in the entire country is available in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. I want to ask whether the one who makes electricity free is a thief or the one who makes electricity expensive is a thief. In Delhi, I made treatment free for both rich and poor in government hospitals, but these people destroyed the government hospitals in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. The public should decide whether the one who provides free treatment to people is a thief or the one who makes treatment expensive is a thief,” he said.
Shri Arvind Kejriwal cautioned the BJP that the tide may turn, and the shoe will be on the other foot. “This country is not just ours, this country belongs to 140 crore people. I want to tell the BJP people that the cycle of time keeps turning, time is very powerful. Don’t be arrogant. God forbid that tomorrow when the wheel of time turns, you will be here and we will be there, then these same laws may go against you,” he said.
Punjab’s Governor declared government’s budget session illegal, and we had to go to Supreme Court: Bhagwant Mann
On this occasion, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said that Punjab is an agricultural state. We provide the country with 182 lakh metric tons of rice every year. These people have blocked our Rural Development Fund (RDF) of ₹5500 crores. For this, we are making rounds of the Supreme Court. Our Governor declared the session of the House illegal. After that, we had to close our session in the middle and go to the Supreme Court. There, they agreed in the first hearing that the session of the House is valid. We can start the session.
The Punjab CM mentioned that out of 117 assembly seats in Punjab, 92 MLAs belong to the Aam Aadmi Party, while only two belong to the BJP. The BJP is not even in the opposition in Punjab, but the Governor there issues some letter every day. Governors of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh never write such letters to the CM, it’s only happening in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, etc. The Supreme Court had said while hearing our case that the Governor cannot stall any case, the elected government will rule here. Later, in the case of Kerala, the court also referred to the Punjab case. In the Chandigarh mayoral election scandal, the Supreme Court also ruled in our favor. If they can do such a scam in a mayoral election, what will they do in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections?
Central government has stopped Punjab’s funds of GST, NHM, RDF, and many other schemes: Bhagwant Mann
CM Bhagwant Mann said that Punjab is demanding its rights, asking for its MSP. Most people from Punjab join the army. They did not allow three magnificent tableau showcasing Punjab’s sacrifices and culture to participate in the Republic Day parade. Punjabis live all over the world, but they are not allowing Mohali and Amritsar airports to become international. We haven’t come here to beg, we have come to demand our rightful money. These people have stopped the money of our GST, NHM, RDF, and other schemes. We pursue a policy of development. We talk about schools, hospitals, clinics, and infrastructure.
