The political battle between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) showed no sign of ebbing, with AAP’s top gun Arvind Kejriwal questioning the central government’s patriotism.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal mounted another round of defence against his jailed former deputy Manish Sisodia, who was now sent to judicial custody for 14 days in his alleged involvement in the Delhi Excise Policy Scam, and another former Delhi minister, Satyendar Jain, who is in jail for his alleged involvement in a money laundering case.
Highlighting the work done by both the jailed leaders in the fields of education and health, CM Kejriwal alleged that the central government got these (former) ministers booked in fake cases. He also alleged that the central government is cuddling the person who looted common men, referring to industrialist Gautam Adani.
“I am extremely tensed and worried about the direction this country is headed. We have become a nation whose central government punishes patriots and celebrates education and health reformers like Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain but embraces those who swindle lakhs of crores of public money,” CM Kejriwal said.
CM Kejriwal also credited Sisodia, who was Delhi’s education minister before resigning last month in the wake of his arrest, for improving the condition of Delhi government schools.
“The condition of government schools across the nation is in a pitiable state and these are the schools to which the poorest people send their children to study,” Kejriwal said.
“It was almost after 75 years of independence that a saintly individual came forward and worked extremely hard to change the conditions of the government schools in Delhi,” he said in reference to former Delhi Deputy CM Sisodia.
“This person was Manish Sisodia and it was because of his untiring efforts that the children of the poor were also provided with the facilities that were earlier only given to the children of rich families in private schools,” CM Kejriwal said.
Praising Jain for improving the government health sector in Delhi, CM Kejriwal said, “Across the nation, the condition of government hospitals is also in a deplorable state. These are the hospitals to which the poorest of citizens have access across the country.”
“It was after 75 years of independence that an individual came forward and worked hard to change the face of government hospitals in Delhi. His name was Satyendar Jain,” CM Kejriwal highlighted the work of the former Health minister of Delhi.
“He gave the world the unique model of Mohalla Clinics and built them in neighbourhoods across Delhi to ensure that good quality free medical attention is provided to every citizen of Delhi,” he said.
CM Kejriwal was at his sarcastic best as he alleged the central government is hand-in-glove with Adani. “In contrast to these two patriots, there is another individual who looted the hard-earned money of the citizens of India,” he said.
“He went on to loot lakhs of crores of public money from the banks of LIC. However, the central government has conspired to put patriots like Jain and Sisodia in jail over false cases, but has at the same time befriended the person who has cheated crores of citizens of their hard-earned money,” he added.