NEW DELHI: In a sharp retort to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s repeated attacks on the AAP at the BJP’s "Parivartan Yatra" in the national capital, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday likened his speech to "abusive language". The AAP chief said: “Abuse us. Take 50 minutes to do so in your next speech if you need to. But take 4 minutes to address the issues we have brought up.”
Dubbing the AAP as an "aapda" (disaster) yet again, Mr Modi asserted that “any responsibility given” to the Kejriwal-led party will be “a punishment” to the people. Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the national capital, the Prime Minister also inaugurated a 13 km stretch of the Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor from Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad to New Ashok Nagar and the Delhi Metro's Phase-IV section linking Janakpuri West with Krishna Park Extension.
While describing the two projects inaugurated by the Prime Minister as milestones for Delhi’s infrastructure, Mr Kejriwal claimed that both are joint ventures between the Central and the city governments. In a veiled dig at the Opposition parties, he said, “These inaugurations are a reply to those who say the AAP only engages in fights.”
As Mr Kejriwal’s remarks underlined the AAP’s focus on development amid its continuing tussle with the Centre, the Congress and the BJP continued to spar over the timing of the inauguration of the new projects. While Congress candidate from the New Delhi constituency Sandeep Dikshit said the event was held before implementing the model code of conduct for the Delhi elections, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla hit back, saying, “The Congress' cynicism and criticism never end.”
Referring to the challenges faced by his party, Mr Kejriwal claimed that the AAP leaders were imprisoned and tortured but maintained their focus on governance. “Over the past 10 years, our tenure has shown how we kept work above everything else,” he said.
Mr Kejriwal also alleged that the Prime Minister devoted the majority of his speech to criticise the Delhi government. “Today, the Prime Minister kept abusing the people of Delhi and the government elected by them. I was listening to it…it felt bad. The promise made by the Prime Minister in 2020… the people of Delhi dehat are still waiting for that to be fulfilled.” He also urged Mr Modi to fulfil the promises made in the BJP’s election manifesto during the last Delhi polls.
“The PM had promised that Sections 81 and 33 of the Delhi Land Reforms Act 1954 will be scrapped. This is something only the Central government can do. Both the Congress and the AAP governments sent proposals to the Centre, but they were ignored,” he alleged.
Mr Kejriwal also demanded the withdrawal of cases filed against farmers in rural Delhi and reiterated the need to repeal these sections of the 1954 Act. Section 81 mandates eviction for land-use violations, restricting rural land to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry or poultry purposes. Section 33 imposes rules on the sale or transfer of such land.
Mr Kejriwal claimed the BJP failed to grant ownership rights to farmers for their allotted lands, despite repeated assurances. “I request the PM to address these promises when he next seeks votes in Delhi. Rural Delhi's people are waiting,” he added.
The AAP chief also accused the Centre of stalling the city’s progress by delaying the notification of the Master Plan of Delhi 2041 and failing to implement the Land Pooling Policy, notified in 2018. “If the Land Pooling Policy had been executed, Delhi would have seen the rise of several sub-cities like Dwarka and temporary colony issues would have been resolved,” he argued.
