Arvind Kejriwal dares Union home minister Amit Shah to withdraw cases filed on slum demolitions
He also alleged that the BJP will demolish all slums in the national capital if it is voted to power in the February 5 state elections
New Delhi: In an attempt to woo slum voters who have a significant influence on 20 Assembly seats in Delhi, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday challenged Union home minister Amit Shah, saying he will not contest the upcoming elections if the Central government withdraws all cases related to slum demolitions. He also alleged that the BJP will demolish all slums in the national capital if it is voted to power in the February 5 state elections. The BJP dubbed Mr Kejriwal’s claims “baseless” and an attempt to divert attention from the AAP government’s failures.
Mr Kejriwal’s remarks came a day after Mr Shah accused him of building expensive toilets and his “Sheesh Mahal” (Delhi chief minister’s residence) that are “costlier than the entire slums of Delhi.” Calling himself the “protector of slums and slum residents”, the former Delhi CM said that the BJP remembers them only during elections.
About 30-lakh people live in Delhi’s 750 slums, with half of them registered as voters and having a significant influence in 20 Assembly seats. In the 2020 Assembly polls, about 61 per cent of slum dwellers voted for the AAP, helping it win 62 seats. In 2015, about 66 per cent of the poor voted for the AAP, which won a record 67 out of the 70 seats.
“We saw recently how the BJP leaders spent a night in different slums. Why now? Why didn’t you come here to sleep at night 10 years ago? All this jhuggi tourism is nothing but a drama to get votes. The BJP is a party of rich people. They think of jhuggi people as keeda makoda (insects). Do you think they are spending time here because they love jhuggi residents? No, they are showing love because they want votes from you,” the AAP chief said after visiting slums in the Shakur Basti constituency.
Mr Kejriwal said the BJP will prioritise land over slum-dwellers after the polls, citing how the Delhi lieutenant-governor changed the land use of the Shakur Basti slum area to facilitate demolitions on December 7. He also accused the railways of floating a tender to demolish the railway camp slum last September.
“This railway camp here, people are thinking they will get a house under the Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makan scheme, while the BJP already came up with a detailed plan to clear this area three months ago. If you vote for them and make them win, they will make you homeless in no less than two months,” Mr Kejriwal warned, adding, “They don’t love jhuggi people or care about anyone. They care only about their friends and political ambitions.”
Dismissing Mr Kejriwal’s allegations as baseless, Union minister Hardeep Puri claimed that the AAP government in Delhi had deliberately delayed Central government schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and other slum rehabilitation projects. “Since 2006, it has been the state government’s duty to regulate unauthorised colonies, but the AAP government did not cooperate,” he said.
The minister accused Mr Kejriwal of using misleading claims to divert attention from the AAP’s own governance failures, saying, “In 2017, I sent a letter urging the Delhi government to implement slum rehabilitation projects. Instead, they insisted on conducting a survey first.”
Mr Puri also claimed that senior AAP leaders had shown interest in land acquisition without supporting housing projects for slum dwellers.
Addressing a press conference after visiting Shakur Basti, Mr Kejriwal attacked the Union home minister, saying, “Mr Shah called people from several jhuggis and abused me. The BJP says - jahan jhuggi wahan makan. We also believe in this scheme. But jahan jhuggi wahan kiska makan? Jhuggi walon ke liye? Nahi. jahan jhuggi wahan inke dost ka makan, builders ka makan. Everyone knows who they are.”
The AAP chief said: “Withdraw all the cases you have filed against the people of jhuggis, and submit an affidavit in court that you will give houses to all those people on the same land where they lived earlier… I will not contest the elections. I give you this challenge, accept it. Otherwise, Kejriwal will not go anywhere... we will fight the elections, win and stand for the slum people like a pillar and will not let you demolish their houses.”
Mr Kejriwal also claimed that the BJP had constructed only 4,000 houses for slum residents under the Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makan scheme, while there are 4 lakh slums in Delhi, suggesting that it will take the saffron party at least a thousand years to provide housing for all these people.
“The reality is that they have no intention to construct houses for the poor. They are merely considering replacing slums with houses and commercial buildings for their rich friends,” he added.
Mr Kejriwal said: “If you vote for the BJP, it will be like signing your own suicide note. The BJP has plans to demolish all the jhuggis in Delhi. They will demolish all the slums within a year of forming a government. I was the one chief minister who woke up all the bureaucrats and reached the spot at midnight to stop the demolition process. I had saved several demolitions as the chief minister.”
Reading out the names of slums that have been demolished, the chief former chief minister said, “I failed to save 3-lakh people’s houses. I am not in politics for money; I am here to serve you. Aap nahi toh mai nahi.”
On Saturday, Mr Shah had said: “We said that Ram Mandir will be built in Ayodhya. Arvind Kejriwal used to say that toilets should be built... After a long wait of 500 years, we built Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given houses to more than 3.58 crore poor people in the country. This is Modi Ji's guarantee and every person living in a slum will be given a permanent house. The toilet in his (Mr Kejriwal’s) Sheesh Mahal is more expensive than the slums.