Speaking at the TV9 Bharatvarsh Satta Sammelan, Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the BJP of trying to crush his party by weaponising the ED and that NDA would not be able to muster even a simple majority in the upcoming Lok Sabha election

Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal at the WITT Satta Sammelan event
New Delhi: Eleven lakh fifty thousand crore rupees is all that India needs to sort out its problems concerning three key fields – Education, Health and Electricity. Or at least, this is the amount that Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal thinks would be sufficient. Making his opening remark at the TV9 Bharatvarsh Satta Sammelan this evening, Kejriwal stressed that it will require only an additional sum of Rs 5 lakh crore to give quality education to 17 crore children in the existing 10 lakh government schools across the country.
He claimed to have done mathematics in this regard and said that a similar amount (Rs 5 lakh crore) would be enough to give free treatment to the 140 crore people of the country. He clarified that it will be for all the people and an unlimited amount of treatment unlike the BJP model of health insurance (Ayushman Bharat) that gives Rs 5 lakh worth of free treatment to only those who fulfil the prescribed conditions.
Talking about his government’s initiatives to provide free electricity, Kejriwal said that giving 200 units of free electricity to all the people of the country is sustainable and would incur an extra cost of only Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
“The BJP government has waived Rs 11.50 lakh crore loan of its friends in the corporate world. With the same amount, we could have solved the problems of health, education and electricity in this country,” he said adding, that he had done his homework in this regard accurately and was a mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur, so one could trust his calculations.
On NDA’s 400-figure claim
When asked about the progress of the INDIA alliance and its seat-sharing agreement with Congress that concluded recently, Kejriwal expressed disappointment that the differences between the alliance partners were not sorted out earlier. He blamed Congress for this. “Congress is leading the alliance and had it taken initiative a bit earlier, we could have expected much better results”, Kejriwal rued.
Reacting to the BJP’s claim that the NDA will cross 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, Kejriwal said that “it is nonsense” and that the party would not be able to muster even a simple majority.
He further said that a false perception is being created in the country today about economic growth. Kejriwal believes that the central government has failed to provide jobs to the youth or to make any difference in the lives of the common man. “They made similar claims of Shining India a few years ago,” he reminded.
Role of Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Opposition
Facing summons from the ED in the Delhi Excise case and refusing to appear before the investigating agency, Kejriwal alleged that it was a fabricated case and the intention of the ED was not to investigate but to arrest him and crush the AAP. “ED has made thousands of raids and arrested several key leaders of the party. They have been in jail for months. And yet, it has not recovered a single penny. Where is the scam? ED intends to arrest me and crush the Aam Aadmi Party”, alleged Kejriwal adding that, the ED is being weaponised by the BJP government to break opposition parties and leaders. AAP leader said that he would appear before the ED only on the court orders.
Kejriwal has also come up with the new criterion for honesty and corruption among political leaders. “All those who are joining BJP at the fear of ED are corrupt. And all those leaders who are in jail are honest. They have nothing to fear and would sooner or later come out. But the corrupt leaders have surrendered to save themselves,” Kejriwal said.
Obstructing Delhi government
Arvind Kejriwal also alleged that the central government does not want the Delhi government to serve the people of Delhi and keeps obstructing its work on one pretext or another. He further said that the central government was biased against Delhi when it came to the allocation of funds. “Delhi provides Rs 2 lakh crore in taxation to the central pool. But what we get back is only Rs 325 crore. If I demand Rs 20,000 crore, am I wrong?” questioned Kejriwal.
Follow us on social media