Exhorting the councillors of his party in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to work harder in their wards, the Aam Aadmi Party’s national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the people of Delhi ‘love and respect us only because of our work’.
This was his first meeting with the councillors after his release from jail. He called upon the councillors to engage in the cleanliness work of Delhi with more hard work and dedication.
AAP National General Secretary (Organisation) Dr Sandeep Pathak, AAP Delhi Convenor Shri Gopal Rai, Mayor Dr Shelly Oberoi, Deputy Mayor Aaley Muhammad Iqbal, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in-charge Durgesh Pathak and all AAP councillors in the MCD were present at the meeting.
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Shri Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday held a meeting with senior leaders of the party and all MLAs. He was all praise for the MLAs for remaining united in his absence and doing excellent work to ensure that the people of Delhi did not face any problem in getting electricity, water and medicines.
Addressing the councillors of his party here on Monday, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said they (BJP-led Central government) had sent him to jail thinking that after sending Kejriwal to jail his party would disintegrate, his councillors, MLAs would disintegrate, they would break half the MLAs, half the councillors, they would topple the government in Delhi and MCD. “The result was exactly the opposite. We always used to say that the Aam Aadmi Party is not a party, we all are a family. This was also proved in everyday life by the way we helped each other in happiness and sorrow. But in a way the biggest disaster came when they arrested me. So, two things could have happened. We all would have scattered here and there in despair, but that did not happen,” said the AAP National Convenor.
The Delhi Chief Minister said another thing happened. We faced that crisis together strongly and that crisis made the family (AAP) more united. “The purpose for which they had put me in jail was completely reversed. The kind of emotions and sentimentality that was there among all of you, among our office bearers, councillors, volunteers, MLAs, those emotions united everyone as a family. They tried to break many of our people, tried to poach councillors, MLAs, no one broke away,” he said.
Lauding the councillors for their integrity, the AAP National Convenor said you people have set an example for the entire country. People all over the country are saying that people from other parties break away easily. There are many such people; news is coming from many places that they have left such and such party even before the elections and have gone to the other party (BJP). “Despite their best efforts, our people are neither lured by money nor leave us due to fear of ED. No one can break away our people. For this, I want to congratulate all of you. And the entire country is proud of our leadership, our councillors, our MLAs,” he said.
Invoking the Bhagavad Gita, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said it is written in the Gita, ‘Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya Glanirbhavati Bharat…’ (Whenever Dharma will weaken…). “In a way, Lord Krishna has given confidence to the entire world that there is no need to be disappointed. I am, God is saying this. He is saying that whenever religion on earth weakens and unrighteousness increases, then do not worry _ at that time I appear,” said the AAP supremo.
He continued, “God appears in two ways. Firstly, He manifests Himself in different forms in the form of Lord Shri Ram, Lord Shri Krishna. And secondly, He appears in the form of circumstances. He creates such circumstances that you cannot see God with your own eyes, but suddenly you feel that something is happening, that everything is starting to fall into place.”
Shri Arvind Kejriwal said till three months ago, as some of you just said, it seemed that they (BJP) would have more than 400 seats. No one had any expectations, everyone thought that they would get 400 seats. Suddenly so many big incidents have happened in three months in the country. “Today, people in the country are not betting whether they (BJP) will get over 400 seats, the bet is that whether they will get 250 seats or not. What is this? This is a miracle; this is God’s grace. This is the grace of Hanuman ji, this is the naturalization of Lord Shri Krishna’s assurance to the entire universe in the Gita. You may not realize it, but something is happening all around. When I was arrested, I was feeling that I would have to stay in jail for 6-7 months, I was mentally prepared for that. I had absolutely no expectation that I would come back in the middle. Miracle happened. The judgment given by the Supreme Court on Friday seems as if God has performed a miracle,” he said.
Narrating the incident at his road show in Delhi, the Delhi Chief Minister said, “Just the day before yesterday when I went to a road show, a woman shouted loudly, ‘God has sent you to defeat the BJP, the bail you have got for 21 days is God sent’.”
Exhorting the councillors to work hard for the Lok Sabha elections, Shri Arvind Kejriwal said God does Leela in his own way, but He also does Leela only when you do karma (God’s play comes into force when you perform your duty). “Don’t think that God is acting; you will have to do your work. Without action you will not get results. The results are in His hands, but He is also seeing whether the actions are being performed or not,” he said.
The AAP National Convenor said they (BJP-led Central government) tried their best to harass him (Kejriwal) in various ways inside the jail, sometimes used to insult him. “They did not give me insulin for 15 days. I have been suffering from diabetes for 20 years and have been on insulin for 10 years. I have very high sugar levels, and I take 52 units of insulin daily, which is a lot. When I went to jail, my sugar level was increasing daily, sometimes it was 300, sometimes 325. It was then that I started getting worried because if the sugar level remains this high for a long time, then it gradually starts affecting your organs like kidney and liver, and it can lead to permanent damage. I used to keep requesting the doctors to give me insulin, but they kept delaying. They kept saying that ‘we are monitoring you and we’ll give you insulin when it will be needed.’ I asked them if not now, then when will it be needed? My sugar level has already exceeded 300. Only after you raised your voice, the media raised their voice, then they were forced to give me insulin.”
“My wife used to come to meet me. It is the right of a prisoner to meet their families. Whoever is a prisoner, be it a terrorist, be it a rapist, be it a murderer, they are allowed to meet their family members twice a week. One day, the jail authority cancelled the meeting with my wife. Then it was published in the newspaper, everyone started making noise about it. My wife, who was supposed to come at 12 noon, was mailed at 8 am in the morning that today’s meeting was cancelled. Only after there was an uproar about this matter, these people wrote another mail to my wife at 11 am saying that you can have the meeting.”
When the Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Bhagwant Mann, came to meet me, their hatred came to the fore again. It is written in the Jail Manual that if the Jail Superintendent wishes and if the prisoner’s behaviour is good, then the meetings with their visitors can be held in a room where they can sit face to face and respectfully have their meeting. I am still the Chief Minister of Delhi, I did not resign, and he is the Chief Minister of Punjab. The DG Police of Punjab, on behalf of Sardar Bhagwant Mann, had written a letter to the jail authority saying that the CM of Punjab is coming to meet the CM of Delhi, please make the arrangements for their meeting in a room. However, they made us sit on two sides of the wire mesh wall, just like we see in the movies. I was sitting on one side of the jail lattice, and Sardar Bhagwant Mann on the other. This was only done to humiliate me. What difference does it make to me? We talked anyway. But their only intention was to insult me, the CM of Delhi stated.
The Chief Minister of Delhi, sharing the ordeals of his days in jail, said that they had installed 2 CCTV cameras in my cell, to see what time I wake up, what time I go to bed, what time I eat food, which TV channels I watch, what time I wake up at night, what time I go to the bathroom. These recordings were played in the offices of 13 officers. These people were continuously monitoring each and everything that I was doing.
“We have also learnt that the jail authority had also given a feed of the same to the Prime Minister’s Office. Shri Modi was monitoring the CCTV camera to keep an eye on my activities. Why? Because he wanted to know if Kejriwal was broken. He wanted to see if depression had set in. I want to tell them that I have the blessings of Lord Shri Hanuman with me. Kejriwal is not going to break like this, they think it is very easy to break Kejriwal. They were taking out their frustration on me. I don’t know what hatred Modi has harboured against me and the Aam Aadmi Party that he is hell-bent on crushing the Aam Aadmi Party. But Shri Narendra Modi is no God, and God is with us in this fight.”
Advising the councillors to continue working hard, the AAP supremo said, “What are they most afraid of today? Of the work we have done so far. Today, if we had not done good work in Delhi, they would have crushed us within a couple of minutes. Today, we have done good work, that is why we are standing here. I used to see in jail how these TV channels used to go to the people and ask them, and the first thing that people said was that Kejriwal has made good schools, he has done good work, he should not have been put in jail. If we had not done any work, what would the public have said? They would have said that he is useless, it is good that he was put in jail. It is because of our work that today we are respected and loved by people. The BJP is afraid of us because of our work. Don’t ever stop working, keep working. The primary job of the MCD in your area is cleanliness, keep doing it, do not leave it under any circumstances, otherwise it would hurt me.”
The National Convenor of the AAP stated that the BJP’s only motive is to destroy us. They had put Manish Sisodia in jail thinking that schools would be shut, but we did not let that happen, Atishi took care of it. They had put Shri Satyendar Jain in jail believing that it would lead to the closure of Mohalla clinics and hospitals, but we did not let that happen. Now they have put Kejriwal in jail, thinking that Delhi will be shut down, but don’t let that happen under any circumstance, no matter for how many years Kejriwal remains in jail.
Talking about the election campaigning of the INDIA alliance, he stated that for the past few days, I have received plenty of invitations from various parties and candidates of the INDIA alliance from all over the country. I will try and go to most of the places in the next 21 days to campaign for the INDIA alliance. I have been receiving invitations from individual candidates as well, from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and so on. I will try and go to as many places as possible and work hard for election campaigning.
Addressing the councillors, he said, “You have to work really hard. It is not the time to sit back but to work hard. I have to go back to jail on 2nd June. I will be watching the results on 4th June from jail. If you work hard and make the INDIA alliance win, then I will come back on the 5th of June. If there is any lack of effort, then let’s see when we will meet.”
Expressing gratitude to the entire party and the councillors, he said, “I am proud that I have found companions like you, people like you to support me in this journey.”
We have to win every booth, we have to work hard day and night: Dr Sandeep Pathak
Addressing the councillors, AAP National General Secretary (Organization) Dr. Sandeep Pathak said that if all of you (councillors) win your booth, then the candidates will automatically win. All of you should connect with the public strongly at the booth level. Everyone is doing good work, but we can do better. Now it is your responsibility to win your booth. Circumstances may be different. There may be small problems. But we all have to work together at each booth and win.
